Shah Rukh Khan’s cinematic journey: A masterclass at Locarno Film Festival

A star-studded event

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan captivated audiences at the 77th Locarno Film Festival with an engaging masterclass conversation. The event, moderated by festival director Giona A. Nazzaro, delved into Khan’s illustrious 30-plus year career, his unique approach to acting, and his reflections on stardom and the film industry. The venue was brimming with fans from various nationalities, who frequently interrupted the session with enthusiastic declarations of love for the actor.

Early influences and cinematic beginnings

Khan began by sharing his early exposure to cinema, crediting his mother for his initial interest. “We had what was known as a video cassette recorder… it was a big thing to own one,” he reminisced. His mother’s sister, who was affluent, gifted them the recorder. Khan fondly recalled watching films while massaging his mother’s feet, a common cultural practice in India. His first theatrical experience was a reward for excelling in his Hindi-language class, leading him to watch Yash Chopra’s “Joshila.”

The unexpected journey to stardom

After a stint in theater in Delhi, Khan moved to Mumbai in 1990 with modest ambitions. “I thought I’d work for a year, earn one lakh rupee (INR100,000, then $5,715), buy myself a house, and then go back and become a scientist or a mass communication journalist,” he said. “And I haven’t gone back yet.”

Khan shared an amusing anecdote from his early days in the industry. A famous director once told him, “The most attractive part of you is that you’re very ugly… because all these heroes, they look really Swiss chocolate-like. I didn’t look like Swiss chocolate. So I said, okay, if I’m ugly, I’ll do bad guy roles.” This led him to take on villainous roles, including in Yash Chopra’s “Darr,” which was filmed in Switzerland. It was during this period that Chopra cast him in the romantic lead for “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge,” directed by Aditya Chopra. “I’m now the Swiss chocolate boy,” he quipped.

Celebrating achievements and iconic moments

Khan was honored with Locarno’s career achievement award, a moment he described as coming full circle. “For me, it’s like a full circle to have gone from Switzerland to getting the highest award in Switzerland.”

The session was interactive, with the audience singing some of Khan’s hit numbers and him demonstrating his famous arms outstretched pose. He explained that this pose was a clever ploy by choreographer Saroj Khan to spare him from difficult dance steps.

The art of selecting films

Discussing his approach to selecting films, Khan emphasized the importance of spending time with directors. “I take a long time because I want to spend a lot of time with the person who’s going to direct me. Why? Because you spend a year of your life with them,” he explained. “I really want to have fun. And when I say fun, it’s not dancing and drinking; it’s just talking about films and getting to know each other.”

Khan’s next film, “King,” is an action-drama directed by Sujoy Ghosh, who previously directed “Badla” for Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment. “There’s a certain kind of film I want to do, where maybe it’s more age-centric, and I want to try something. For six, seven years, I’ve been thinking about it, and I mentioned it to Sujoy one day… and he says that I have a subject. So it’s as simple as that.”

Exploring complex roles

The conversation turned to Khan’s 2016 film “Fan,” in which he played dual roles as a superstar and his obsessed fan. “Normally, when you play a superstar in a film, it’s all glory and bigness and people jumping and screaming your name. But I wanted this guy to be scared of his stardom, which is very difficult to do because it’s like exposing a part of every star that is in the world.” He added that the process was “very schizophrenic, very strange, very awkward” and that he “actually started feeling like two people.”

Khan also revealed a behind-the-scenes detail about the prosthetics used in “Fan,” mentioning that the jaw prosthetic was originally made for Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”

A unique perspective on stardom

On the topic of stardom, Khan offered a unique perspective: “I wear stardom like a T-shirt, not like a tuxedo,” he said. “It’s not important, and it’s there. I’m careless about it, and it’s very nice, and I hope it remains.” He emphasized that stardom is a byproduct of his work, not the goal itself.

Embracing South Indian cinema

Khan discussed his recent foray into South Indian cinema with the film “Jawan,” directed by Tamil filmmaker Atlee. He praised South Indian cinema’s storytelling and technical prowess, calling it “really, really fantastic.”

The role of technology in filmmaking

Reflecting on the evolution of visual effects in Indian cinema, Khan emphasized that technology should remain secondary to storytelling. “I think at the end of it all, technology is going to be the backdrop, not the backbone of filmmaking,” he said. “It will always be the nuances, the emotions, the thoughts, the basic, simple truths of human beings… which are going to mount a film on the back of technology.”

The drive to continue

When asked about what drives him after decades in the industry, Khan spoke about his desire to continue bringing joy to audiences. “I think cinema embodies many facets of life, so many emotions that it’s very difficult and impossible for one person to be able to express all of them in one lifetime,” he said. “I live with that hope that maybe I can keep on doing different films.”

For more information on Shah Rukh Khan’s films, you can watch the trailers for Joshila, Darr, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, and Fan.