SHAH RUKH INC

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Vi propongo un estratto da una lunghissima intervista, suddivisa in due articoli, concessa da Shah Rukh Khan a Forbes India, in occasione del numero speciale dell'8 febbraio 2013 dedicato alle 100 celebrità più famose del subcontinente. Vi anticipo che la superstar cita ben due volte il nostro Paese (il Re ci ama). Per quanto riguarda la classifica, SRK si aggiudica il primo posto, Salman Khan si posiziona saldamente al secondo (clicca qui), Akshay Kumar è quarto, Amitabh Bachchan quinto, Kareena Kapoor settima, Katrina Kaif decima. Aamir Khan deve accontentarsi del dodicesimo posto, Hrithik Roshan del sedicesimo, Aishwarya Rai del quarantacinquesimo. Primo fra i registi, Karan Johar al trentasettesimo.

SHAH RUKH INC, Charles Assisi, Deepak Ajwani, Sohini Mitter:

'He ambled in trailing charm and cigarette smoke. An assistant placed a glass of whiskey in his hand. And we began to talk. Or rather, he did.

“I can do a line in a minute. I can memorise 20 pages and deliver it. I go for these rehearsals because in the space of work I am in, my performance, somewhere, besides the lines and production, I should be able to do something to improve the experience of someone watching it. That is the essential aspect of business I am in, or why I am in it, mashallah the business has prospered, I have the best of people and I have fantastic people, but we never discuss monies in this office.”

Huh?

We had been warned: By people who have seen him from close quarters - “He’s a master of the rehearsed ad-lib”; “He can speak and speak and say nothing, and you’ll only realise that two days later”; “He will duck all questions on Red Chillies Entertainment” - by those who said we were wasting time talking business with him - “The man has no clue what he’s doing” (a big-name producer); “He’s lost it in his head” (a distributor) - and of course, we knew he’d be late - “With him, I just kill my ego and wait” (a director known for his punctuality, and whom most actors would kill to work for) - and so we spent a day waiting for the call from his office - “He’s busy, you’ll have to get here on a two-hour notice” - which didn’t come, and then another day, and then we’d got the call, and scrambled to his home, where we had waited... Five... Mind... Numbing... Hours.

And then his publicist (...) told us he was coming. But: “Be gentle with him please. He’s sick and running 101 degrees.” And then, yes, he ambled in, and smiled, and we suspended disbelief and forgot our irritation and were enthralled listeners. At some point, though, self-preservation kicked in. Perhaps it was the realisation that we were hearing things we’d heard before. Some we recognised, word for word, from quotes we’d read in a story on him in Outlook 13 years ago. He was feeding us pre-digested faff. Charmingly, convincingly, with all the smooth delivery and sincerity of a used-car salesman on crack cocaine. But faff.

We gently reminded him we’d heard all this before. As gently as possible, we told him many people think he’s all gas. He didn’t blink. “They’re completely right. I don’t take offense to that.” Did we hear a switch click? The tone was the same, but he seemed to be going off-script. “I don’t need to do all this. I have enough money to last a lifetime. But you’ve got to have passion. You’ve got to be like Walt Disney. (...) I’m focussed, and I know why I’m doing what I am doing.”

For the rest of the evening, platitudes were in short supply. We got logic, even if coated in self-deprecation, plans rather than sound-bites. About building a sustainable business, using lessons learned from the superstars of the corporate world. He claims he doesn’t understand business. But 72 hours after leaving his gravity field, the effects of his charm have worn off and it is possible to look dispassionately at what is obvious: SRK knows exactly what he is doing.

Stick to what you know

Red Chillies Entertainment, (RCE, the banner he runs his various companies under), he believes, has the potential to generate a few hundred million dollars a year, much like a Hollywood major. And it will outlast him. “Else I would have called it Shah Rukh Khan Productions. Everybody in the business names their companies after themselves. Not me. I wouldn’t put my face on my company. I’d say this guy fights too much, smokes in public and does all the wrong things.” From his idols he has learned this: Focus ruthlessly on what you know, to the exclusion of everything else. And entertainment is what he does know, understand and get excited about. If he has got into businesses that don’t play to that strength, he gets out. Like when he started an equipment-leasing division. “It wasn’t entertainment.” He sold it to an assistant who had interned on his sets. And “I don’t understand or watch these saas-bahu [suocera-nuora] kind of soaps. It’s worked well for Ekta Kapoor. She is a close friend and has done a great job. I can’t.” So Red Chillies Idiot Box, a firm he started to create television software, is now defunct.

Sport, however, is entertainment. “Sport brings kids in. It makes business sense to keep the young happy.” (...) Then there is his VFX (visual effects) business. (...) “I like to think big. I don’t think short-term. The short term doesn’t scare me. I have the guts because of repeated failures in the past. If Ra.One hadn’t succeeded, I would have gone on and made Ra.One II until I made it a calling card for VFX in this country. The bottom line is that all of these are entertainment. I’ve been entertainer of the year for 20 years. VFX is entertainment. Film production is entertainment. And cricket is entertainment. I am not as diversified as people think I am.”

Slick is good

Ten years down the line, SRK believes, Indian film-makers will be toast. Hollywood will take over, like they did in Japan, Korea, Europe and other parts of the world. By way of examples, he talks of Christopher Nolan’s Inception and James Cameron’s Titanic. Back in 1997, when Titanic was released in India, it grossed Rs 6 crore. But when Inception was released two years ago, it grossed Rs 12 crore from South India alone. In Hollywood, that’s peanuts. But they’re playing to a plan and every big studio, whether it’s Fox, Sony, Columbia, or a you-name-them, wants a piece of India. To drive the point home, he talks of how Fox Studios first tied up to release My Name is Khan across India. The idea wasn’t to make money, but to break the gates down. “Because I am Shah Rukh Khan, every Indian outlet opened their doors to Fox. I called up the ten-twelve people who represent all theatre owners in India, and they agreed.” That was the opening they needed. Fox is now the largest distributor in India and use the channels they built with My Name is Khan to push Hollywood content into India. (...) But, as more people flock to cinemas, Hollywood’s finesse will eventually win them over. India may make the most movies in the world, but “With all due respect, the production values are s***. Why will my kids watch that kind of crap when Hollywood offers something slicker?” (...)

If need be, plead (...)

He is (...) the best public relations ambassador RCE could have. “I was the first to go on the road, do television shows, go to malls and market films in those big, stupid, silly, over-the-top ways that people do today.” Usually, he says, “I never go out and ask for business.” But for the VFX part, he does. “I have to convince people to trust RCE. I get access because I am Shah Rukh Khan. I went out, met Rakesh Roshan and told him ‘Sir, let me work on Krrish.’ He likes me and knows I will do the best job possible because I have this technical keeda [itch].” There’s more. “Hollywood collaborations are happening as well. What we refuse to do is low-end work. We want to work on the core effects. In Ra.One, that special sound effect you hear requires intricate software. These are things we build. Once you have it, you can rent it out. (...) We live in fortunate times. The American economy is in a bad shape. It allows us to get the top VFX guys from America and we employ them on short-term bonds. For Krrish, the top people have come down. We employ them for short periods, give them the best possible lifestyles, and ask them to teach our kids how to do it.” (...)

Use yourself

He is intensely aware of how powerful he is as a brand, and isn’t bashful about using his weight. And he doesn’t think quarter-on-quarter. (...) “So when we were doing Ra.One, I was told we have superb sound, but theatres can’t reproduce it and owners won’t cough up the money to invest in the systems. So I personally went to Dolby and asked them if they can put 7.1 Dolby surround sound in theatres. They said they would if I added my branding to it. I called up theatre owners and told them, ‘Listen guys, I’m Shah Rukh Khan and I’m getting you this hardware from Dolby. Just put it up for me.’ They agreed right away. It added to the viewers’ experience without them even realising it. The graphics cards that were used to make Ra.One, each one is horribly expensive. Nvidia, the company that manufactures those cards, gave me 300 of them in return for my brand name. It’s a win-win proposition for everybody.” (...)

RCE is making profits now, but the Hollywood-sized scale Khan wants for it is still some time away. Can it get there? What could get in its way? Shah Rukh Khan is RCE’s biggest strength and potentially, its biggest weakness. He is promoter, ambassador, mascot, rainmaker, inspiration and fund-raiser, and to fit it all in, he drives himself at a pace that would prostrate ordinary people. Sure, that’s not unusual for business barons, but they are not also called upon to simultaneously spend many hours a day on film sets leaping, dancing and projecting charisma at a billion people. He’s 47 now, and the abuse he has put his body through will begin to take its toll. Will his superstar status last? That’s unpredictable, given the vagaries of the industry, but at a conservative estimate, he could hold his place at the top for four or five years. Is that enough time to take Red Chillies Entertainment to the top of the food chain? Yes, business empires have scaled up in less. But there’s this: Many actors, around the world, have started businesses, with ambitious, visionary plans. Not one has ever truly made a genuine success of it. King Khan won’t be just fighting himself; he’ll have to beat history. And we have the best seats in the house'.

I PRAY TO GOD THAT I NEVER BECOME A BUSINESSMAN, Charles Assisi, Deepak Ajwani, Sohini Mitter:

'Becoming India’s biggest showman

To be really honest, I don’t know how all of this has happened. (...) When you ask me to be honest, I don’t know how it all happened. I do a lot of things. This business has given me the opportunity to meet some of the biggest world leaders. I am personal friends with some of them. And the only ability I have learnt is to say I don’t know and I want to pass that on to my son.

Equating failure with poverty

I come from Delhi. (...) I lost my father when I was 15. I lost my mother. I had a sister who was not well. I equated failure to be poverty. I have come from there. I am scared of poverty. I have succeeded because I am scared of failure, which for me is poverty. I believe in dignity of labour also. (...) Where I came from, I had no money to eat. (...) I come from a very realistic place. My parents died in debt. I remember, during the promotions of Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa in Gurgaon, someone from the audience yelled at me saying that my mother owes him five lakhs. My mother was no more then. Here I was, being a star, and I was being told she owed somebody Rs 5 lakh. I don’t want that to happen to my son. (...) I have so many awards. But I am still scared for me or my son 40 years from now. That’s why I don’t want to ever take a loan. (...) I just want to give a good education to my kids and tell them listen, we don’t owe anybody any money. (...)

SRK: Actor or entrepreneur?

I’m only an actor. I pray to God that I never become a businessman. What turns me on is working on a line or singing a song or being able to create a moment in front of the camera. It does not turn me on cracking a deal. (...) I like to get more into the creativity of film making which is writing. That is the starting point. I want to graduate inwards. I will get it wrong more often than I get it right. But the idea is that I do it for the creative part of it, for the excellence and tech creativity of it. I have never done it because of money. I’m all right losing money but I live to the purpose of the business which is to give happiness. (...)

Diversify but get the core right

Everything else follows. Film production is related to my core. It’s in the same business as I’m in. VFX is only going to enhance them. Action, production and VFX are at my core. These are the things I like. I even draw the sets sometimes. I write my fight scenes. These are extensions. I really like kids. Business wise too, I feel the biggest gap India has is in the sector of children. Our entertainment (...) gives no opportunities to them. Sports are also related to that. Because sports allow kids to come in, it becomes entertaining and commercially viable. It makes great business sense to keep the young happy.

Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment

The bottomline is that all of these are entertainment. And that’s my business. I’ve been the entertainer of the year for 20 years. VFX is entertainment. Film production is entertainment. Cricket is entertainment. And television is entertainment. So if you really look at it, it’s under the masthead of entertainment. So I am not that diversified [as you think].

Sports is passion

I remember when we were doing Chak De! India we went out to rent the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium to practise. We couldn’t get the National Stadium all the time. The officials told me it was booked for weddings. And they asked me why are you making a movie on hockey? I told them what are you doing? This stadium is meant for sports in this country. So, as a person, who has come to a position of choice, who is doing well, who wants the best for his kids, and I have a passion for sports, in fact my life’s dream is to make a stadium. People keep telling me why did you get into IPL? But how stupid is it? In a country with 1 billion people, only 11 kids can go on playing cricket for the next five years. Just think about it. What are the chances of your child or my child making it to a cricket team? So we need to build more platforms. I am not saying this [IPL] is the greatest thing. As things are developing, I feel very sad we don’t have a good football team. Ours is the only developing country that doesn’t have a good football team. From Chile to Uruguay to god-bless-them Nepal, they’re all fantastic. It’s a cheap game. (...)

Corporatisation changing the industry landscape (...)

Corporates are allowing us to market films in places as diverse as Surinam and Italy. That was amiss earlier. And now that they have come, the marriage between the two, that is the creative set of producers and the business side of studios in the last 5-6 years have turned out some good stuff. Another five years and things will grow a lot more. (...)

Star system

I remember Quentin Tarantino telling me this in Cannes 5-6 years ago; that the star system is what is going to sustain the film industry. And we are genuinely lucky to have a system like that already in place. Where there is no star system, there will be no film industry. (...)

Tap India’s youth

We [Indians] are looking at the wrong market. We should be trying to capture our own market. We should have one theatre for 10,000 people. And let’s make cinema to attract this young India that is emerging. But younger people are going to have younger thoughts and younger ideas. So if I don’t give them the best film, they will go. I can see my 15-year old son succumbing to Hollywood. We need to cater to the youngsters. If we don’t do it, before we know it, we won’t be making 200 films anymore. It will be 150, and then a time will come when we will have just 50 [films] to show and the others will be watching Hollywood films. It is already happening in the urban India. If we make it, it has to be kickass. We have to take cues from the West and that is the long term business thought I have. (...)

Image, PR and endorsements

I have an amazingly pretty face. I am a fantastic poster boy, no doubt about it. I started endorsements. (...) I endorse everything. My image doesn’t matter. What I become, the work I do is my image. I am not trying to be someone else. (...) He is a good boy, he is a family man, he is a superstar, and he is an intelligent guy. None of these things, I decided. Whatever my image is, that’s what I am. When people say I am intelligent, it is because I am educated and I am proud of it. I remember when I came in, a very big producer told me let’s claim you’re uneducated. (...) Why should it feel good to say that this guy came from the streets of Delhi and became a hero? I make educated decisions, good or bad or ugly. I keep saying this again and again. I am employee of this image and the image is who I am. I work for this image. But some days, you don’t like your boss. Some days you like to sit down with your boss and say Sir, everything is good about you. But what you said that day is stupid. I don’t work for an image. I have great PR without wanting to be so. I sell films. I sell the goods you want me to. Is it good for my image? Who am I to question a 100 year-old company? You haven’t questioned it, why question me? (...) It’s not as good or as bad when they say I am fantastic; truth is I am not as fantastic. When they say I am bad, I am not as bad. It’s all somewhere in the middle. So long as your family knows that. My son and daughter will grow up to know the right things. Are they going to live off the image their father created? That would be stupid. (...)

Future of children

The easiest thing for me to do is to launch my son as an actor. He is good-looking, and has the backing. But I really want him to be a sportsman because it is an important aspect in this country. (...) That’s a great life. You’re a star son; you should live a great life. Live in Italy somewhere, or Barcelona, have a good time. Go around with some good babes, and get paid for playing. But I would like my daughter to be an actress. I think she is talented and has a lot of interest and acts very well. I personally feel a lot of my stardom is because of the women who have worked with me and they haven’t got their due. It is my duty to make sure, that I pass on the mantle to my girl because that would make a statement that it is alright to be a girl and an actress and it is cool to be a woman'.

(Fotografie scattate da Dabboo Ratnani)