ITALY: Shah Rukh Khan discusses personal life and his latest movie "I Am Khan" at a fan encounter in Rome

Record ID: 220195

  • Title: ITALY: Shah Rukh Khan discusses personal life and his latest movie "I Am Khan" at a fan encounter in Rome
  • Date: 2nd November 2010
  • Summary: ACTOR SHAH RUKH KHAN ARRIVING
  • Embargoed: 17th November 2010 12:00
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  • Location: Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Reuters ID: LVAE6DADWL59N179HYB6JJJ47DQS
  • Story Text: One of India's most popular superstars, Shah Rukh Khan, on Sunday (October 31) brought his charm and a bit of Bollywood to the Rome Film Festival.
    Fans and Indian dancers performing Bollywood numbers lined the red carpet as Khan arrived for a fan encounter and a screening of his latest movie "My Name is Khan".
    The film, directed by Karan Johar, is about a man named Rizvan Khan, a respectable Muslim played by Khan who suffers from Asperger syndrome, a mild form of autism.
    Khan falls in love with a single mother, played by Indian actress Kajol, who runs a hair salon. But their budding romance is interrupted by the spread of prejudice against Muslims following the September 11 attacks.
    In the film, Khan is arrested at Newark airport and questioned by authorities because of his name, an episode Shah Rukh Khan himself experienced last year whilst enroute to Chicago to mark the Indian independence day, sparking outrage among his large fanbase.
    Speaking to reporters on the red carpet Khan said he hoped the film would encourage dialogue.
    "I think Indian films are all about hope. If you make a beginning with the counterpart you need to have a conversation with, that beginning is enough. So, hopefully in the world also, in the Western world and the Islamic world will have this conversation. And I think the beginning's already been made and if they can be carried forth, yeah, I think there is huge hope. If we can fight so vehemently, I think we can be friends also very strongly," he said.
    The actor took to the stage during a special "Encounter with Shah Rukh Khan" event ahead of the screening of the film and told the audience he had taken research for the film seriously in order to do justice to his character and those suffering from similar conditions.
    "I'm normally playing, romancing girls in my films. A lot of times other people's girlfriends and wives and that is scary. This wasn't very scary. but in the seriousness of it all, I was going to somehow represent a syndrome or a challenge, or a special way of thinking for some people who we wrongly perhaps call abnormal, which I don't think they are, it's just they think and see and hear things differently and react to it differently than what we know as normal. So, when I was going to depict a syndrome, Asperger's or Autism, one needed to be very clear that in no way should it demean or belittle any person who is suffering from this syndrome," he said.
    Khan, who is known for guarding his personal life fiercely from the media glare, also opened up about some personal details, telling fans he could be both very outgoing and reclusive.
    "A lot of my friends think I'm schizophrenic which I'm not. I'm not. Like, my wife calls me, my full name is Shah Rukh Khan and most of the people address me as SRK and my wife calls me SRK One and SRK Two. Many times my friends call and say 'hello, am I speaking to SRK One right now or SRK Two?' because I do promise a lot of things to a lot of people and then forget I've even spoken to them," he said.
    The 44-year-old actor also praised his children, however adding that a few new additions to the family would be welcome.
    "I have two very beautiful children, I keep telling my wife, I keep requesting, let's have another ten but I don't know, she's not really listening to my pleads, but I'm trying. You know, I would like to have a full soccer team and come down to Italy and play against an Italian football team," he said.
    "My Name is Khan" is screening in the Special Events section of the Rome Film Festival which runs through November 5.
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