It Kills Me! I Get Distraught, Extremely Disturbed, Very Sad & Very Lonely: Shahrukh Khan

SRK On His Film's Failure

''It kills me! I get distraught, extremely disturbed, very sad and very lonely. And that's the offshoot of being a star. That you can't share it with anyone, you can't explain it to anyone else. At the end of it all, it's just a film for everyone else. For me, it's a part of my life which has got smashed away to completely been disregarded by the people who love me the most and who have made the star I am. So it destroys you completely so you shack up somewhere within yourself. But you do come out in a tuxedo, attend a party and still smile.''

The Sadness Is Very Personal

''I never analyse it, I feel there can be no reason for anything going wrong. It was wrong, which is why it went wrong. Exactly like that, there are no reasons for a hit, too. You just enjoy it. Balls to anyone who says whatever they want to. And likewise, when it goes wrong, balls to whatever you say to yourself. That acceptance, that distress, the sadness is very personal. That's one of the most personal feelings as an actor that I have learnt to own and live with it only with myself.''

On Dear Zindagi

"I met them as a team one day at home. To be honest, Gauri Shinde, Alia Bhatt, Kausar Munir and Karan Johar were there and they read out the film to me, I really wasn't interested in the storytelling part of it. I just believed that when women are making a film in which they believe so much, there has to be something good, that is, perhaps, beyond the comprehension of men. I'm one of those men! For me, it is more important to go along with them. Perhaps, this is the only business in the world where I can live by somebody else's belief and learn something new.''

I Like To Be Applauded

''See I'm an actor, I like to be applauded. I'm an actor, I want to be cheered. I'm an actor and I want to be accepted. And I know, as an actor who's been there for 25 years, it's not going to happen every time with every character. But this is beyond a character. Even for Alia, if I may so. It's just a very raw expression of feelings which is captured in a beautiful world - real or unreal - it doesn't make a difference. Will you ever find a Jehangir Khan? Will your life get okay like Kaira's or not? That's a question that still remains and that's how the film ends also.''

I Am Just Happy That People Liked Dear Zindagi

''It's a journey, it will continue. I am just very happy that people have liked what I've done in the film and it has nothing to do with me which is why it's more likeable for me. I had no part to play in this. I believe, as an actor, if you can do something in which you don't have a part to play and somebody else has completely guided you - whether it's Gauri, Alia or the other ladies on sets - it's the most beautiful feeling.''

Dear Zindagi Is Not A Shahrukh Khan Film

"I thought it would do very well. But this ‘very well' too has a limit. It is very important for an actor or a film to have an audience cheering for it. So the release has been very tight. It's perhaps the smallest film of my career in the recent past. I mean, what it has collected in four days is my first-day collection, normally! Still, it's beautiful because that's how it is meant to be. It is meant for a niche audience, it's a very niche film and we didn't promote it differently. The film belongs to Alia and Gauri, it's not a Shahrukh Khan film.''

I Have Mostly Done Films Where The Woman Has A Great Role

"I have mostly done films where the woman has a great role. I have never done films that are totally about me. It might not be completely female-oriented. But if you see DDLJ, Darr, Anjaam, Baazigar, Dil To Pagal Hai, Chak De India, My Name Is Khan and even Chennai Express, the ladies do play the hero. Very few heroes will get their car toppled down and shot at point-blank like in Dilwale. (Smiles) However strange and outlandish it may be. I'm okay and really comfortable if women take the lead in every aspect of life. Whether it's business, management, creativity or in love, I think women should take the lead."

On Stardom

''It will sound really arrogant on print! But I don't find it surprising that I am successful or great. I am, I was always meant to be. To me, it was a natural course of things. I worked very hard then, I work very hard now. And I am really going to be good at this. So it might sound arrogant, but it's an innocent belief of a child. So if you put it across like that, that could be the reason. But this was meant to happen. God had ordained it for me and I expected it in the nicest, humblest of ways. The second way to look at it is: I am detached from material things and am very emotional about people. But it's simultaneous, that's why I coined the term.''