Ananya Bhattacharya
Delhi: Trying not to be overwhelmed by this man; yet he has a charm that just no one can escape being effected by. He might not be the most punctual of them all, but he sure knows how to win over people. And what’s more; he was flanked by two gorgeous ladies when he walked in to address the media recently regarding his forthcoming film and one of the most awaited films of the year, ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’. Shah Rukh, as the saying goes, is undoubtedly King Khan. The King of Romance, the Badshah of Bollywood, the Superstar. There’s just no full stop to the list of epithets that Khan has been able to gather over the period of more than two decades of his liaison with the Hindi film industry. Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma, no guesses there, both looked drop-dead-gorgeous. The tigri cracked many jokes, answered many questions and stole the hearts of many people at the freewheeling media interaction of Yash Chopra’s last directorial venture.
From the story of ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’ to the various ‘flavours’ that Shah Rukh came in, King Khan and his ladies were questioned on a number of issues. When asked about the story of the film, SRK deftly dodged the question by saying with a hearty laugh, “Are you asking me to tell you the story of the film? There are so many versions of the story doing the rounds on several social networking sites these days. However, Aditya Chopra’s is the version I like the best and it’s not on the internet yet!”
“It’s a journey actually… a journey of three people in a relationship. Who I love or who I want to marry, whether I’m successful in winning my love or whether I die in the end – you’ll have to wait a few hours more and watch the film for yourself! The story deals with human relationships. The three characters who undertake this journey – the idealistic Yash Chopra heroine, and the new wave anti-Yash Chopra heroine of the new era and the hero. There are always some or the other obstacle in love. The way the characters deal with that is the premise of the story of ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’,” says Khan.
On asking him about whether or not his film will be able to provide a new lease of life to the tourism in Kashmir, the actor left no stone unturned in declaring to people that he would be more than glad if that happened.
“Not really commenting on the political situation of Kashmir; what I think is that too much importance, sometimes, is given to movie stars. As far as I’m concerned – and I speak for Katrina, Anushka and everybody – for us the experience was marvellous. It was really nice to be a part of the place. We’d really like the tourism part of it to prosper because – as they say – if there’s a heaven on earth, it’s Kashmir; and that’s the way it should be. Having been a part of Switzerland, having shot so many songs over there; a lot of sub-continental people have now started going for holidays to the country. And I’ve always felt that I can do that to other places through my work – not just me, but my entire team of people; I want to do that for places in my country as well. Not just Kashmir, every part of our country is spectacular, equipped to be one of the greatest tourist attractions of the world. I don’t think that I can make a claim that my film is going to change the whole face of tourism in the valley, but it would be really nice if post the film is watched in theatres, people do appreciate the outstanding beauty that Kashmir has. For me, it was my first visit, and I was absolutely delighted; I was so happy to be there! I’ve been around the world, but Kashmir was one of the happiest experiences I’ve ever had in my life. I haven’t had that kind of unconditional happiness for years!” said the superstar.
‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’, as by now is a known fact, has had several parts of the film shot in Kashmir and Ladakh, and the aforementioned parts have already been appreciated for its sheer aesthetic quality. What waits to be watched is whether or not late Yash Chopra’s last film can make it to the most-loved films of the year: fingers crossed for that!