'I am anti-social'
Kunal M Shah
[ 29 Jan, 2007 2125hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
As his wax statue is raised at Madame Tussauds, Shah Rukh Khan reveals that despite his stardom, he remains a shy guy at heart.
After being introduced as the new host of KBC, Shah Rukh Khan is now ready for another unveiling of sorts. The curtain will be raised on a wax statue of the actor at Madame Tussauds in London later this year. SRK has received the confirmation letter from the prestigious Madame Tussauds.
How does it feel to be the third Indian actor to get room at wax museum? "I was so tied up that I did not even check my emails for over a month. My inbox was flooded with over 300 emails, most of them were from a lady called Niki Hobb and others from Bobby Khan who coordinated the deal. My mother always wanted me to be there for some strange reason. It certainly is a great honour for me. I never took my children to Madame Tussauds, and always told them that I would take them there once I had wax figure of mine there. I have finally got the confirmation letter. They want to unveil the statue around Easter time," he says.
Coming back to KBC, Shah Rukh says, "The best compliment I received is that I am doing KBC my way. My friends from the film industry, Arjun, Preity and Priyanka called me up to congratulate me. It is a challenge to do a new episode every day. But I am loving every minute of it. I am here to see that at the end of the day, even if contestants lose the game, I bring a smile to their face."
Criticism is part of the game, literally. "I got a message from a little girl in London who said that I should not massage people as I am too big for that. She said that I should ask the contestants to massage me instead. I guess I will try that in one of the episodes. Some people have said that I should not be so informal; I think the host's chair in KBC is like that of a barber's. It takes me back to my days in Delhi, when I would visit a roadside hazaam (barber) for massages."
But the comparisons with Amitabh Bachchan are inevitable? "Actually, there is no ground for comparisons as Mr Bachchan is physically very different from what I am. When someone else takes over from me, he will be different too. I can't do what Shekhar Suman and Karan Johar do on their respective shows. I think it is a little silly to compare people. As for my rivalry with Mr Bachchan, it is nonexistent and to bring up this issue is embarrassing. I have had such so-called problems even with Hrithik Roshan, Yash Chopra, Ajay Devgan, Salman Khan. And these are as fake as fake can be."
SRK loves to interact with people, but will still term himself as shy. "I am anti-social and hate going out. My family has to literally drag me out. But I love to perform and I like people. And at some level, they identify with me. Fans who have seen me doing live shows will vouch for it. I love the fact that I meet my fans. I dance with them, I click pictures and sign autographs for them, and I like it," he says.
Posted on 2/1/2007 7:34:03 PM