Salman: I like SRK though we don’t get along

Excerpts:

Are you and Shah Rukh friends today?

I like Shah Rukh though we do not get along and don’t talk. Upar wale ne use itni izzat aur shohrat di hai and then there are people who will come and bitch him out to me that I can’t stand at all. We are not best friends any more, but are normal and cordial. He thinks. He plans. God has given him a mind and he uses that and is a hardworking man.

Sometimes I seriously think that the way he thinks is far more correct than the way I think. As in, the way he is and the way he thinks for his family is 100% correct.

So jab tak kisi aur ka fayda nahi hota hai, he is not a good person and they will say woh selfish hai aadmi, woh kisi ka nahi hai because he is protecting the interest of himself and his family. Till the time you are benefitting someone else, you are a great guy. I know he is correct when it comes to his family and stuff like that, but I can’t get myself to do that. People come and bitch him out, given that they know that there is a distance. They will come and tell me, you are a different guy and he is a different guy. I ask them what is the difference? The fact that you can make a fool of me and you can’t make a fool of him? I may allow you to use me and I let it go as I feel the person will get exposed or it will spoil relationships. But I always know. But if Shah Rukh is not allowing it, he is 100% correct and that is his personality.

My personality is different and I let things go. We are totally different kind of people. It won’t be a compliment to God if we were alike. Two brothers are not alike. He is correct in his life and I am correct in mine.

How have you emotionally managed to face so many ups and downs in life?

Actually, I have not seen many ups and downs in my life. I see people around me and what they go through and I feel that I have not even been through 0.1% of what they go through. For me, my life has been so cushy that, for example, I don’t need to take a holiday as my whole life is a holiday. I appreciate that all the time and feel very blessed and lucky. And that is hugely due to the emotional security of my family. My emotional anchor for women problems is mum and for all other stuff related to life, dad. I don’t ever cry in front of them, but they always know. And the amazing thing is that they have always been on the side of the girls, as somewhere I have not been correct and I have been open to say that. Each one of my relationships has been more correct than me. I was growing up having fun, partying a lot, I was not the most faithful person and I doubt that I can ever be. I am never going to change and still feel that I am 27.

Talk about your relationship with Aamir Khan?
I can best explain my relationship with him through an example. In Andaz Apna Apna, there were two scenes he did very well. They were his solo scenes and I loved them. But when he saw the edit, he got them cut off from the film as he felt that he was hogging the limelight and that made his role more than mine. Aamir is a person with whom if you are there with your heart, he will be with you by heart. If you are there with him with your mind, then he too will be there with you by his mind. Aamir’s beautiful quality is that ‘I will play with you the way you will play with me.’ My relationship is with him by heart. He doesn’t need anything from me and I don’t need anything from him.

Talk about Akshay Kumar?

If you see from the point of view of working with many producers, the number of films he does in a year, money rotation within the industry, money he makes at the box office, I feel he is the No.1 star today. He works with everybody and he is the only star that has grown as an actor. It is difficult for anybody to do the kind of work he does and to do so much of work. He comes, works and goes and does not badmouth anybody. He dances well, is a very good-looking man and can act. His diction has improved. He is the only one, who is growing and learning and I love the fact that he still enjoys the pain of learning something. I am a big fan of his.

Talk about Sajid Nadiadwala?

We have been friends for the last 18 years. I have done more films for him than for my own brothers. He is a great guy and is a family member. He is exactly like Sohail or Arbaaz for me. Even the films that we have done together have mostly all done well. Sajid is a brother. He is a very correct man. His business dealings are very correct. Emotionally, he is very sound and he is a fully family man. He comes from a big family, where his father had been neglected and Sajid has seen a lot of hardships. It’s his hardwork and his sensibility today that has given him all this. If ever I would need any money, he would be the one I would go to. And, sometimes, when I am broke na, I ask him for money.

What did you see in him as a director?

He was supposed to be a director 10 years ago when we were making Lai Bhaari in Hindi. Behind the scenes, anyways, he does everything that a director does and he has a tremendous sense of music, visuals and screenplay. He is as big a film fan as Adi Chopra or Karan Johar and he has grown up watching Yash Chopra, Subhash Ghai and Raj Kapoor films. He understands the Salim- Javed punches as well as he is a modern man.

What do the box office numbers mean to you?

They mean a lot. I would want Kick to break all the records. It’s good for the industry. And then someone else should come and break all those records. It hurts, but it should happen. It then gives you the kick to beat that. Sometimes you can beat it and sometimes you can’t beat it. After 5-10 years, all the rest of them will becomes character artistes. I will still be at it I hope they read this so that they will feel chalo usne yeh bola, chalo usko kar ke dikhate hain. I want them to do that and not to be character artistes. I want them to remain heroes. I believe that a hero on screen has to have something attractive about him off screen, that is why he got his first role, that is why he is a hero and that is why he has sustained himself as a superstar for 25 years.