Contentment is overrated, you need to always question yourself: Shah Rukh Khan

Superstar Shah Rukh Khan says creative people need to be “dissatisfied” in order to break new ground, advising the youth to not rest on past laurels.

Shah Rukh became the first Indian film personality to be honoured with the Pardo alla Carriera award-Locarno Tourism, or career leopard, award at the 77th edition of the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland.

The actor, who returned to the big screen after a five-year hiatus with three back-to-back releases “Pathaan”, “Jawan”, and “Dunki” last year, was speaking at a Q&A session at the film gala on Sunday.

“Contentment is overrated. You need to always be questioning yourself. It doesn’t mean you go and become anxious, but you need to always be dissatisfied as a creative person, so I don’t ever get satisfied. I don’t think I’ve achieved anything. I don’t think it’s over and done with, and I’m successful. I think it’s all irrelevant. What is relevant is, Can I do something new tomorrow?

“What I’ve done yesterday is over and done with. When my movie gets over, I take a two-hour bath. After that, I don’t think about the success of the failure. I’m on to the next one. If I can’t move on to the next one, I think I’ll rust and I’ll finish off, and I will say to all youngsters, please do not rest on your laurels,” Shah Rukh told festival’s artistic director Giona A Nazzaro at the session.

The 58-year-old said people often tell him to do “more meaningful cinema” that should stand for something, but he doesn’t want his films to be a statement.

Also Read: Fauji to Jawan: Shah Rukh Khan’s Delhi connection

“My cinema stands for everything for somebody, because it should have a little bit of happiness, colour. I don’t want my cinema to be a statement. I want it to be a testament of life in its beauty, good and bad. So sometimes it’s a testament about right things.

“Sometimes it’s about corruption, bad things, and love. It need not just be a statement. All these things confine you, compartmentalise you. I like to keep it open and believe what I’ve done today is the first day I’m doing it.”

Shah Rukh, who has worked with Tamil filmmakers like Mani Ratnam (“Dil Se..“) and Atlee (“Jawan”), said south cinema is “cinematically and technically” fantastic.

“With recent hits like ‘Jawan’, ‘RRR’, and ‘Baahubali‘, the world is finally starting to notice what we’ve always known in India. South cinema has a specific style, with larger-than-life heroes and lots of music. I really enjoyed that.

“It was a new experience for me, and I even found myself asking my kids if I looked okay on screen because it felt like I was part of something grand. ‘Jawan’ was one of the first true fusions of Hindi and South Indian cinema that transcended boundaries and was loved across the nation,” he added.

When one of the audience members at the session asked how his iconic open arms pose was invented, the actor said he had no idea, but it was late legendary choreographer Saroj Khan who came up with the step.

“In the ’90s, it was important that you knew how to dance. We were shooting for a song and I couldn’t do the step called the dip. I felt very ashamed and all night I kept doing this (dip).

“In the morning, I came and the choreographer, I remember, it was Saroj ji. I said, ‘Ma’am, ready?’ She said, ‘Haan beta, so you can’t do that so just stand there and put your arms out’ I said, ‘But I can do this’, she said, ‘No, no, we don’t need it, doesn’t look nice’,” Shah Rukh recalled.

When he went to another set, things again got a little difficult for him and he asked the choreographer, “Can we cut it? Can I just put my arms out?”

“And I kept getting arms out and I think because I was putting my arms out so much, I had to do it more intensely. Then I made it scientific… I am only fooling you all. It’s nothing, it is just arms out.”

The Bollywood star also shared how he trained his elder son Aryan in the martial art form taekwondo, assuming he would grow up to be like Jackie Chan.

Also Read: Interviewing SRK: A reporter’s diary of speaking to the Bollywood heart-throb over the years

“Jackie Chan is physically amazing and enacts things well. He continues to inspire me. When my first son Aryan was born, I really felt he looked like Jackie Chan. I trained my son in taekwondo, assuming he grew up to be Jackie Chan.

“I think three-four years ago I had the privilege of meeting him in Saudi Arabia. And he was as wonderful and sweet as I’d expected him to be. He had promised me to open a Chinese restaurant in partnership and he hasn’t done so yet,” he said.

Shah Rukh, who shot for hit films such as “Darr” and “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” in Switzerland, said being honoured with Locarno’s career leopard award was life coming full circle.

“Either give me Swiss citizenship or make me meet (tennis icon) Roger Federer,” he quipped.

The Locarno Film Festival will come to a close on August 17.