Shah Rukh Khan
Superstar Shah Rukh Khan is on a short "break" from movies, but the actor says he still has a lot of capacity to create some "really good" cinema. The 53-year-old actor, whose last few films - "Dilwale", "Jab Harry Met Sejal" and "Zero"- were not well-received by the audiences, said the passion for cinema he sees in the people around drives him to tell good stories.
''What drives me to do a film is the people around me who make such a great cinema... And I think I have a huge amount of capacity to do some really good cinema. I have 20-25 years of good cinema left in me," Shah Rukh told PTI. The actor was talking on the sidelines of the 10th edition of Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM), where he is the chief guest.
Shah Rukh also revealed that post "Zero" he decided to take a break and has been travelling and discovering new stories. ''I just finished the last film I made and to put it lightly, it was a disaster. I said to myself that let me enjoy a little bit of un-success as I had success for so long. So I have taken some time off for next four or five months," he said.
"As a matter of fact, I'm on these breaks... Coming here (Melbourne) and meeting people, realising and discovering new stories, doing intellectual speaking," the actor added. Shah Rukh officially opened IFFM on August 9 with the screening of Rima Das-directed movie "Bulbul Can Sing", which on Friday won the National Award for Best Assamese Film.
As a part of his trip, the Bollywood star was conferred with an Honorary Degree, Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) by the Melbourne-based La Trobe University, in recognition of his efforts to support underprivileged children, fight for women's empowerment through Meer Foundation and his achievements in the Indian entertainment industry.
The 10-day-long IFFM will screen over 60 films in Hindi and regional languages including Assamese, Tamil and Bengali. Other celebrities attending the festival include Das, Karan Johar, Malaika Arora, Arjun Kapoor, Vijay Sethupathi, Zoya Akhtar, Tabu, Onir and Sriram Raghavan, Thiagarajan Kumararaja and Vijay Krishna Acharya.
