Love and longing in the times of SRK

You started your career in the army uniform for Fauji and now you’re wearing it again in Jab Tak Hai Jaan. How same or different did it feel?
I wore the army uniform for the first time in Fauji and after 20-22 years, I am playing a character donning the army uniform again, but both the characters are very different. That was Abhimanyu Rai who did not want to join the army but is forced to do so, and in this film, my character Samar Anand joins the army by choice. He does it to give his life a second chance, and indirectly he is ready to do anything for his country. I don’t base my character on a profession. In terms of humanity, goodness, badness, anger, love, shallowness, meanness, Samar Anand is very different from Abhimanyu Rai.


How would you describe Jab Tak Hai Jaan?
It’s a journey of life. It’s about a relationship of 3 people. Katrina plays the character of Meera who is a typical Yash Chopra heroine: she’s idealistic; Anushka who is Akira is a character who is a new age thinker – an anti-Yash Chopra heroine – and how their interaction with Samar Anand happens.


The Jab Tak Hai Jaan poem… Is it for Anushka or Katrina in the film?
Like Yashji says, the most beautiful thing god has made after nature is a woman. Be it a mother, daughter, lover, sister… When you love someone, you love them to death. But the most hatred is also reserved for the person you love the most. You get most angry with the person you love the most. Sometimes I get very angry with both of them (Anushka and Katrina) and sometimes I love them just too much. I am talking about Meera (Katrina) and Akira (Anushka), not Katrina and Anushka. There is only love for Anushka and Katrina (smiles).


So will Shah Rukh romance Jab Tak Hai Jaan?
Jab tak is duniya mein ladkiyan rahengi, main pyaar karta rahunga (laughs)!


What do you have to say about the Son of Sardaar and Jab Tak Hai Jaan face-off at the box-office? Has it divided the industry?
I don’t think there’s any divide. They love their film and we love ours. That is correct and that’s how it should be. There is some legal thing going on between the producers and both of them have the right to deal with it. Two films releasing on the same day has happened very often in the past. It’s simply a big day.


Most of your Diwali releases have done very well at the box office. Do you consider yourself lucky or does the occasion help?
Diwali has this holiday period and there are 3-4 holidays around it; similarly with Eid and then Christmas and New Year too. The period of the holidays really helps every film. Yashji has often released his films on Diwali and I have been associated with most of those films. I have never really had a film release on Diwali that has not done well, be it DDLJ, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Mohabbatein, Veer Zaara, Om Shanti Om, Don… even my Ra.one in terms of collections, whatever the critics might say. So yes, the celebration period really helps.


Can we expect some more sci-fi movies from you then?
Mujhe bohot dar lagta hai yaar (laughs)! Ek toh bohot mehngi hoti hain aur bohot mehnat lagti hai (They scare me; they are expensive and they take a lot of effort). I was reading some market research the other day and in it, there were 10 genres in terms of what the audience likes in India, and Sci-fi was number 10. I had already made Ra.one by the time I read it (smiles). It is a difficult job especially in this country because we’ve not had many. Having said that, I will most certainly try to carry forward what I started with Ra.one. I don’t have a story for it now but I would love to do it, Inshallah.


You’re touted as the king of romance… Do you, like your fans, believe that your love stories are different?
Somewhere I feel that whenever we talk about love it should be beautiful and full of goodness. We all have grown up watching Dilip saab, Rajesh Khanna saab, Raj Kapoor saab’s romances… you remember the Raj Kapoor and Nargis pose and how wonderful they looked? I have always admired how those on-screen love tales were NOT indecent or cheap. Possibly times have changed now. But I have also done love stories with people who feel the need for something ‘ruhani’ in it. In the love stories that I have done, I don’t think there has been anything questionable in terms of goodness and I would like to keep it that way. Love according to me is hungry, the more you feed it the hungrier it gets and you need to keep feeding it… Actually you need to have love in your heart to love. I am not taking anything away from the rom-coms, the fun and naughty things that happen… those are fantastic to watch and I appreciate those.


In your interview with Yash Chopra, he announced that JTHJ was to be his last film as director. What was going on in your mind at the time?
I thought I had misheard him. At the end of this film, he often said ‘bas yaar, ab aur nahi karunga main’ (I won’t do any more of this). I didn’t understand it and I would insist ‘no no Yash Ji we’ll do it’. But he claimed to be happy and satisfied enough with this film. But I was still hoping in about 8-10 months time, Inshaallah, we’ll figure out something. But suddenly it became so final because he passed away. When he said it that time, I had tears in my eyes and I hugged him and kissed him. I felt bad but I didn’t think that it was to be ‘final’ in that sense.


How do you relate with the 100 crore club?
It’s limiting, giving a number to a film... I simply want people to love this film many times over, and when the numbers come, the one who counts will count. We have made the film with a lot of heart and happiness. All of us are very happy to have been a part of this film. After Yashji is gone, it feels even more weird if I talk about the film in terms of numbers. It is more of a feeling than a film and I think people will enjoy that feeling with us.


Some peg your chemistry with Katrina better than Salman-Katrina. Do you agree?
That is the advantage of a typical love story…. Whenever there is a talk about chemistry – be it Kajol and I, Anushka and I, Juhi and I, Madhuri and I or Katrina and I – it is based on the film. If someone is doing an action movie, people might not see the chemistry. I am assuming that because it is a relationship film, more visuals are that of the relationship and so you will see us like that. Each of us has worked with other actors and we never got thinking as to how we look together. I think what the role or the character demands is what makes it very beautiful at times. And sometimes it doesn’t work as much as we want it to. A film is a lot about timing; it is not the chemistry or the physics. I don’t like it when you say chemistry. Call it a song, a poem, art… anything.