Shah Rukh Khan was at his candid best as he broke down myths associated with a movie star’s persona during a session with Hollywood superstar Brad Pitt.
The hour-long chat last evening covered various aspects of cinema and while Pitt was a bit reticent in his replies, Shah Rukh was his usual witty self.
The Hollywood star, 53, who was in India to promote his Netflix satire “War Machine”, seemed more comfortable discussing his future as a producer that, he said, has become seems more appealing to him.
Pitt has produced the David Michod-directed war drama via his company Plan B. The film releases on the video-streaming service this Friday.
While the conversation, moderated by Rajeev Masand, mostly focused on the various aspects of films, Shah Rukh, 51, had interesting anecdotes to share.
When asked how he avoided becoming a self-obsessed movie star, the actor said it was not all that bad to be a bit self-absorbed.
“I think certain amount of self-absorption is necessary for any creative person to be. You are not a machine that you will be following what people think should be doing. You have to have free thinking. A little bit of self-absorption… It is required to be individualistic but beyond that no,” Shah Rukh said.
Filmmaking is a collaborative process and there is a sharing of ideas, which would not be possible if one was self-obsessed, he said.
Shah Rukh admitted that he has encountered some self- obsessed people in his long career but they were few in numbers.
“It’s a cliche that movie stars are self-obsessed… I think an actor is the person who loves himself the least, but yes as a star you need to love yourself. Brad and I, we love ourselves because we are stars and good actors.”
The actor said while one has to be a part of system when it comes to movie-making, digital platforms like Netflix were opening up doors for talented young artistes.
