I've become gentler with age, says Shah Rukh Khan

As the country’s favourite romantic hero turns 52, he talks about his recent cinematic failures, the quality of love stories produced by the industry and more.

Shah Rukh Khan doesn’t have the time to look back and ponder over his achievements. He reserves this time instead to think about his cinematic failures. Every year on his birthday, the actor makes sure that he does one thing for sure: greet the thousands of fans that flock outside Mannat to wish him a long successful life.

The superstar, who is known to be witty, never fails to speak his heart out honestly. He was last seen in Jab Harry Met Sejal, alongside Anushka Sharma. While fans throughout the world were waiting with bated breath for the film to release, it didn’t see success.

And, Shah Rukh is well aware of it. He believes that his age might have something to do with it. “Maybe I am too old for a love story; maybe they expect something more worthwhile.  Maybe in India we don’t have too many mature love stories,” he says.

However, the actor is quick to defend the film, written and directed by Imtiaz Ali. “It wasn’t an immature love story,” he clears. He adds that because the movie-going audience in India hasn’t watched a fair share of mature love stories is why Jab Harry Met Sejal didn’t manage to meet their expectations. “People expect you to do a certain kind of cinema, the kind that they want you to do. Bu, I don’t think actors should succumb to that. They should just do what they feel like,” he says.

Coming to genres, Shah Rukh has been touted as the best romantic lead the industry has ever seen. Despite this, the actor hasn’t failed to experiment with roles, playing the antagonist and the anti-hero.

Talking about one such tryst with a different genre, Shah Rukh talks about playing G.One in Ra.One. “I made the film for kids based solely on the fact that they need an Indian superhero. Why should they have Spider-Man as a superhero when Indian mythology has characters with more depth?” he questions. Ra.One, directed by Anubhav Sinha, was another high budget film to have failed at the box office.

Despite this failure, Shah Rukh has no qualms about trying his hand at the genre again. “The film industry is over 100 years old, but we still have no character close to a superhero!”

Having turned 52, the Baadshah of Bollywood says his priorities have changed with age. Like any other parent, today, his expectations in life are to see his children happy and well. “I think with age I have become gentler and that is what I want to achieve. With age, my thought process has changed and now I want my children to be happy and healthy,” he says.

But even so, the actor is nowhere close to where he intends to be in life. “But now for me, achievement is about how much gentler I could become in life, how much patience could I have towards people. When I become a gentle person, I will feel like an achiever,” he says positively.

While there have also been reports about him working on Dhoom 4, he says he hasn’t signed any film and won’t be taking up any projects till December either. The actor wants to be available for his upcoming next, the untitled Aanand L. Rai project.

Shah Rukh doesn’t want dates to clash. “I have to first finish Aanand’s project, it’s taking time, so I don’t want to waste Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif’s dates. I want to be clear that at least I am available whenever they are,” he asserts.