I’d Rather Have Aryan Be an Assistant to Spielberg Than Me: SRK

The ‘Raees’ star opens up on bonding with his children over food and cinema.

SRK with his kids Aryan and Suhana. (Photo courtesy: Facebook/ iamsrk)

Shah Rukh Khan, the chef? Bring it on, we say! No, we are not kidding. SRK has shared that he is learning to cook Italian and wants to open a restaurant.

In a recent interview with Hindustan Times, SRK has talked about how he is setting up a kitchen in his house and bonding with his children over food and movies.

Here are some highlights:

On Learning to Cook Italian

I want to open a restaurant. I want to cook Italian food. I’m like (boxer) Jake LaMotta. When he became fat, he started a restaurant where he used to cook Italian food and serve people. I want to be like that. When I become fat, I want to open a restaurant near Juhu or somewhere, and serve people. I really love cooking. I’ve never had the time to do it. My father and mother used to cook. I’ve started learning how to cook Italian food. I think I’ll look very sexy in just an apron. Of course, most of the guests will run away if I’m only wearing an apron (laughs), but I want to serve people.  

Shah Rukh Khan, Actor

Bonding With His Kids Over Food

I’m now making a kitchen for myself. I have bought all the accessories. I was in Europe for three months, so, I learnt from a lady was part of our team and used to cook. And I will keep learning. But seriously, I like to do it for my children. I don’t know how to interact with them, and I’m not someone who imposes. But the one thing that connects all of us is ‘khaana aa gaya hai’ (the food is here). When I cook for them, I don’t feel like I’m encroaching on their space, but khaana toh khayenge hi (but they’ll have to eat food). 

Being in the Movies for 25 Years

SRK was last seen in Raees.

I don’t even remember many of my songs. I don’t remember half the things I have done and I haven’t seen half of the things I have done. But I enjoy doing it and I really don’t feel like 25 years have passed... I am not saying that I am living in a shell or in a bubble and I have gone mad. I am not a self-obsessed mad person, but it doesn’t seem like 25 years. It feels like yesterday.  

His Recent Roles

I don’t know why, but lately, I have started wondering if my stardom or my personality is weighing down my acting capabilities. So, if I do a romantic film, people say, ‘he is playing the same lover boy’, and if I don’t, then they complain that I am not playing a lover boy. I don’t know (smiles). I do what I feel like doing in the state of mind that I am in [when I’m signing a film]. I have done that before, and have seen failures as well as successes. Be it a romantic film or a gritty one, I am equally happy. To me, as an actor, the process is really fulfilling.

Being an Actor

A still from Dear Zindagi.

...As an actor, I’m very malleable; I am like water. Actors should be like that. I believe it’s not important for an actor to believe what he is playing, but to make you believe that something is happening. A lot of actors might say things are otherwise, and they aren’t wrong. But I personally disagree with that. 

I spend a lot of time with the characters that I play, even if they are not at all nuanced. There’s a joke about me spending a lot of time in the bathroom, but my bathroom is like a living room, so I sit there and I think. I record things, watch them and read a lot. I keep my enactment a secret, and then I try to surprise the director as much as he surprises me about his ideas. So, there is a process. 

His Kids' Love for Cinema

SRK with his children Aryan and Suhana. (Photo courtesy: Facebook/ iamsrk)

Aryan (Khan), got into this big college for a four-year graduation course all on his own. He asked me for some help from me on how to go about it. He made a film and got chosen amongst the top 10. So I was like, ‘oh, isko is cheez ka shauk hai’ (Oh, he is interested in this). Every month, I also give him a list of five films that he should watch. And he sends me a message saying they are very boring (laughs). 

... International platforms can be created for Indian cinema. All of it will be done by youngsters. So, if Aryan is studying there [in the US], he may learn from there, and figure out how to probably be an assistant to someone like Steven Spielberg instead of assisting Shah Rukh Khan. That’s a billion times better. Then, he can come back to India, make a film and take it international.  

Suppose, if Suhana goes to RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art), where the patron of theatre is Judi Dench, and she talks to her for 10 minutes, I think that would be worth more than me talking to Suhana for 10 hours. I respect Judi Dench a million times more than myself. And if she is able to retain that quality of acting, then she can bring it to India and take our performances international. I’d rather my children do that. But at the end of the day, you never know, you might hear that Karan Johar is launching them (laughs).  

(Source: Hindustan Times)