Hollywood not yet for 'King of Bollywood'

Feb 6, 2010 Arun Kumar

Washington, Feb 6 (IANS) The "King of Bollywood" is dying to see compatriot Anil Kapoor's performance in "24", but is not quite ready to make the jump to Hollywood saying he is quite happy doing the films he does.

"I've never been offered anything," said Shah Rukh disarmingly in an interview with IANS over the phone from New York on a trip to promote his new film "My Name Is Khan" set for release in the US Feb 12.

"You need to work much harder and prove your mettle a longer time maybe to come in to a different world with a different language like Anil has done," he said. "I don't know if I've got what it takes. I've never been offered something...I won't lie. I'm quite happy doing the films I do."

Shah Rukh has not seen Anil's performance in the action television series broadcast by Fox. But "I'm dying to see it. A friend of mine saw it and he said it's awesome. Anil Kapoor is awesome. Maybe I'll wait for the DVD or for it to come out on iTunes and hope I'm able to see the new season."

"He's one of the finest, most conscientious, hard-working actors and one of the few people who I met initially in my career and was very helpful," he said. "He always has a positive thing to say, one of the most positive actors I've met...really nice."

On his plans for the future, Shah Rukh said, "in terms of films, I haven't worked for a year because of my injury. I think by end of February, I should be nearly fit. I guess by March I would like to start a film, which is titled 'Ra. One'.

"I'll hopefully finish that by August. It's a difficult film. It's a kind of superhero film, never tried in India before. Then I think I'll shift on to 'Don 2', which starts sometime in September, I think."

But does he have a dream film or role in mind. "I just make dreams always," said Shah Rukh. "I think my work is just making dreams and one of the aspects of my work is that whatever story appeals to me at a given point in time, which changes, obviously, depending on what stage and thought process I'm in."

"Sometimes I want to do a film for kids, sometimes I want to do a film for adults, sometimes I want to do a film which is just fun and easy on the head, like 'Om Shanti Om'."

"So depending on the state of mind, I hear a story a couple of times and say, 'OK, this is the one I'm going to indulge in and hopefully, you know, entertain people.'"

"It's never been deeper than that," Shah Rukh said. "Dream projects, no...every film that I do is a dream project, I'm assuming. It is the most important film. I take it always as the first film I'm doing and maybe the last one. So it becomes very important that I fulfil that film to its limit."

"Beyond that, no, I don't have any...I mean, I read a lot, thoughts come, but finally a film has to be created by the director and the writer. I am neither of the two...so I have to wait for something which kind of feels like, OK, this is the state of mind I'm in and I just do it.

"At this point, no, nothing, "Ra. One" is prime on the head right now." Click the Movie button below for more info:
My Name is Khan