SHAH RUKH KHAN: THE MISSIONARY

By Fuad Omar.

Shah Rukh Khan is one of India's biggest superstars and he's coming to London and Manchester's biggest venues this Summer for a live spectacular event that will promote Indian cinema for a worthy cause. Meeting Shah Rukh is always more than a pleasure, it's an experience. Seeing him perform on stage is another experience altogether.

When I meet Shah Rukh, he's lost weight since I last saw him and is looking thin, making me enquire as to whether he's eating properly. "I lost it for Devdas," he tells me as we sit down and spend some time catching up first as he's just got off a plane and walked into a press junket. If he's tired he doesn't show it, but then again with Shah Rukh you can never tell. He's forever the bundle of energy that inspires others and once more he's coming to our shores to sing, dance and shout about his favourite topic: Indian cinema.

From India With Love is the biggest Bollywood event to occur in the UK and is set to be an experience of a lifetime. When Shah Rukh came in 1995 with Aamir, his concerts were the most-talked about in years and are to this day counted among people's all-time favourites. Two years ago he returned in a visual spectacular which saw him descending onto the stage breathing fire and presenting a self-made parody on the Indian film industry pioneering a live stage theatrical story infused with the songs of his most popular films. He single-handedly brought London to a standstill last year when he came for the premiere of Asoka and has gained fans in everyone from Jonathon Ross to David Fincher.  So this time too, it's a little surprise his arrival is nothing short of an announcement of a huge event.

"I was sitting in the plane and I read Mr. Bachchan's interview saying it's a great honour to be performing in Hyde Park. For me, I'm used to playing with my son in Hyde Park with the ducks!" he begins as I ask what it's like to be performing in an open-air venue much larger than the ones he's previously graced in this country.
"It hit me that I'll be performing there and it's a very big event in front of so many people, it's a major institution and for a great cause which is the Prince's Trust charity. I was sitting in the plane thinking all this, and also for me it's just like you mentioned, coming and blowing fire all over again!"

"I don't like to differentiate between the audiences of different venues, I just like to come and do things from the heart. I'd like to come and give it my best and just have a great time on stage.  Yes there will be a language barrier because this show's for both Asians and non-Asians, there's a cultural barrier and a location barrier because we've never performed there, but I don't want to think about it. I just want to concentrate on doing what I do best and giving it my all and I'm sure Mr Bachchan and Aamir feel the same way too."

If there's one man who's been pushing the barrier that holds Indian cinema from the acceptance and appreciation it deserves for a long time and is all set to break it, it's Shah Rukh Khan. He's appeared on almost every mainstream and alternative television show and spoke to so much of the international press explaining the ethos and essence of Indian cinema, converting many along the way to the truth that cinema is cinema, whatever language it's in. He's aware of the show's associations and venue and that it's aimed at a wider audience than just the core Asian fans, and is prepared to once more be part of a pioneering project. 
"We will concentrate on doing maybe one or two items in English or speaking more in English which will be the live equivalent to watching a Hindi film with subtitles, and so the other audience don't feel left out but enjoy it as much and take home memories of these five people who came down and sang and jumped around and danced and gave it the best shot they had. And hopefully not only will we take back with us a part of London, but those who see the event will also retain a part of Asian cinema very close to their heart as well."

For as long as he can remember Shah Rukh has looked up to and idolised Amitabh Bachchan. As a youngster, he knew everything about him and even bought the same cologne as him, adopting it as his favourite. When you look up to someone for so long you one day outgrow them as you make your own achievements and conquer your own obstacles, Shah Rukh explains how for him, the man who changed Indian cinema history and is a living legend will always be someone he's proud to look up to.
"If you discount Aishwarya and Preity, I am the most junior of the guys, so I don't think I can come close to Mr Bachchan or Aamir where their achievements are concerned. I've never worked with Aamir in films but know him very closely and have worked with Mr Bachchan in a few films and the desire has always been to just stand there and let him do his stuff and his brightness will let me create a shadow, which in itself is very beautiful. I 'm just honoured to be on stage with Mr Bachchan and Aamir and be a part of this and that alone is a very big achievement for me."

"I did a show with Mr Bachchan in New York with Govinda, and was called in at the last minute, flew in and rehearsed something in the afternoon. What came across from working with him was that I used to think I work very passionately and very hard with a lot of attention to detail, but when you work with Mr. Bachchan you realise that he's like a nervous child doing his first show, his first school play every time and that quality is what I feel makes him very endearing. More than the persona or the greatness of his acting or the amazing quality of control that he has, that's the side everyone sees, but more amazing than that is the manner in which every time he mouths a dialogue or walks on stage he's doing it as though it's the first opening of a school play in that rare manner. So I'm going to just go there and react to whatever he's doing which is what I did in Mohabbatein and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham"

The live experience is very much a personal interaction with the audience unlike cinema. Shah Rukh may have been told by certain sections of the press that his Asoka didn't work, but the audience in every cinema internationally said otherwise. When the lights go down and the microphone's on, all that he knows is that thousands of eyes are on him, something very different and more personal than the direct response a film can generate. Asking him about the live experience, I catch the sparkle in Shah Rukh's eye as he enthusiastically reveals the nirvana of being on stage. 
"I've always been more of a theatre actor than a film actor, and what we do on stage now is different when theatre was more serious. It's 50 percent like a rock concert. People say you go and dance at weddings and private parties, and my view is that when I come down and perform here it's like a wedding or a celebration too, except in New York or London or Australia or wherever. And I know the Asians who have thronged there it is a great moment of pride that someone has come from abroad and is doing what they would love to do in their houses but are unable to because of the pace of life here or the position of life in a Western country away from their homeland. When people are cheering you can feel it, it's as though they're saying 'Whatever you're doing, we're really liking it' and it reminds them of back home, so whenever I do something live, it's about returning that warmth. It's not about how many people there are or how hard they're clapping or how much they've paid, it's about me trying very hard at that point in time in saying 'you've invited me to your party, I'm going to do my best to make sure you go home having had a great, great time and night out'. That's my whole take on shows, it's about having fun and generating happiness. When a show's over, I'm really tired and my knees are hurting and I'm carried off the stage and I wish I could carry on all night, I get that much out of a live show."

Being whisked away with him as he describes the experience, I try to visualise the sea of faces that will all be mesmerised this June and be chanting his name, alongside cheering for their favourite stars who are bringing the magic of India.with love. The magic of the movies is not something that is replaceable and as Shah Rukh goes on to explain, he's hoping he can just introduce a spark of that magic to the audience and relay the warmth that exists on the peacock screen. 
"I think magic cannot be recreated, it just happens. You cannot plan it and go into that much detail and say this one show will sum up Indian cinema and say what it's all about. I think already because of people like you, because of the films that are coming here and the curiosity that surrounds our films and the fact that our country is producing the largest number of films in the world, all contributes to the attitude that this cinema can become a part of my life. It's not about a fad or forty-two days of Bollywood, it's about the essence and I hope it does become a part of people's lives. So when you go to Leicester Square and see a film by Quentin Tarantino or Spike Lee, you can see an Indian film also. It will take time and slowly we might get there, but hopefully this show will give them a taste of the warmth of Indian cinema and show how different it is, and they find it very different from a rock concert or anything else they've seen on stage. They'd never expect Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro or George Clooney to come up on stage and start dancing, so they have to be aware of the fact that yes, we have songs in our films and that is why we can do this dual role. If we didn't have songs we wouldn't have what we have in live shows, we could only come and speak and mouth dialogues. It will take a little time for people to understand that a film star of India is not just a film star, he's a rock star, an action and singing star and is all of them rolled into one, he's a walking-talking variety machine. It will take some time for them to understand but I hope we're able to make them aware of the fact that this is how Indian culture and cinema works."

As I'm told that my time is almost up, I thank Shah Rukh for once more giving me much more than I expected, and that's the very marvel those coming to the biggest live Bollywood event can expect: the unexpected. 

His back-catalogue lists the best films of recent times and the spark in his eye hints that this is just the beginning.
"I'm very proud to be a part of some of these films and very proud that Devdas too now is going to Cannes. It's great to see good cinema coming down from India and being appreciated as the faxes and emails reflect and Inshallah we'll be able to explain Indian cinema better to them." 

You have been warned. Shah Rukh Khan is coming to town and this time he's a man on a mission.