I have no stamina left, says Shah Rukh Khan

Author : Team DNA

Shah Rukh Khan says filming for ‘Chak De’ made him realise how

much water has passed under the bridge since he played for his school

team

What was it like working with a whole lot of newcomers in the film?

Fantastic. Earlier I thought that working with newcomers would be a

bit of a hassle because they would not know their lines. You know, you

become a little patronising — you become a little kind at times, a little

agitated and irritated at times. The whole team had worked very hard with

them. And not to take any credit away from these girls — I think they are

very hardworking and wonderful. They put their heart and soul into the

film.
At the end of it all, after having worked for 18 years as an actor, I thought I

got a lot to learn. There is a bit of rawness when newcomers come and

face the camera. After working for so many years, you tend to become a

little mechanised. You see a scene with a young girl who has never acted

before —she says her few lines and they don’t seem like you would do

them this way, but when you hear it out it sounds very right. So it’s a great

learning process.

We know you are a very sporty person. Have you taken any special

training for the film? Did you play hockey in school?

Yes, I use to play a lot of field hockey in my school days. I was good

at it but when I went and played for the film, I sucked. I was really awful. I

have no stamina left. I think the technique of hockey has changed.

Astroturf itself is very tiring. I have no stamina left.

As shameful as it is to say, but I thought I would be able to beat the

girls — but they kicked my butt! They were really good and I am no good

at playing field hockey, I realised. I thought while playing with them it

would be better to use my status as a super star and not practice at all. I

mean, tell them that I can pull it off by acting — so I did that. I realise how

much ever I practise, I’d never be good at it. But I have given it my best

shot, and hopefully, it looks good enough.

Tell us something about your character in the film.

Kabir Khan is a coach; an ex-Indian hockey player. He is living with

some demons and has got some problems in his life. He hasn’t been

successful and wants to overcome that, but without being cynical or

disturbed. He decides that he is going to do something positive about it.

So it’s a film about achievement in the face of failure. It’s a film that looks

at failure in a positive way — that if you haven’t done well, fairly or

unfairly, the idea is not to give up or become cynical.

The idea is to take on some kind of a challenge and try to overcome

that obstacle which had stopped you earlier. So I would say the character

is quite aggressive when he wants to be. If you really ask me, though I

have played it, I really don’t know what the character is. I have played

from my heart. It’s mix of Jaideep’s writing, Shimit’s outlook and Adi’s

belief in the film. And it’s a bit of my mannerisms and style. So it’s all

rolled into one.
I would like it to be thought of as an elderly, brotherly kind of a character

who you feel confident in, who himself is shattered from inside. So it’s

very complex — its not just like a simple explanation. I haven’t been able

to understand it myself yet.

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