'Smokin' Hot' Shahrukh Khan at DIFF 2011

“When I’m good, I’m good, when I’m bad, I’m even better” – it was vintage SRK in Dubai! 

Shah Rukh Khan at the Dubai International Film Festival 2011

If Shah Rukh Khan were to be a movie, he’d be 'Don' and 'Don 2'. Just like the character he plays in the Farhan-Akhtar directed films, Shah Rukh is all about wicked style. It was plain to see this as the superstar, who was in Dubai today (December 8 2011) for an open forum as part of the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) with co-star Priyanka Chopra, director Farhan Akhtar and producer Ritesh Sidhwani, charmed audiences.

But let’s begin at the beginning. In usual SRK fashion, he was almost an hour late for the event 'An Afternoon with Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani', which was part of the festival’s day dedicated to Indian cinema. And in usual SRK-fan fashion, the audience barely remembered the wait once King Khan arrived.

And Shah Rukh arrived all guns blazing. “When I’m good, I’m good; when I’m bad, even better,” he said with a smile, leading the 1000-plus audience into a fresh round of cheering.

SRK confessed that Don was his favourite among the many characters he had played so far. The reason for the choice was simple. Don was just so much fun! “There’s so much meanness in him, he’s so conniving – he troubles the girl and there’s no justification for any of his behaviour,” Shah Rukh said, explaining why he loves the character.
Priyanka Chopra, who reprises her role as Roma (Don’s ‘Junglee Billi’) in the sequel, added. "He makes bad look so good. He's an alter ego to all of us."

So Don has his faults, and SRK was asked by a young audience member about all the smoke (and by implication smoking) that his character seems surrounded by in the promos for ‘Don 2’, and how this bodes for someone who is a role model to many children. Shah Rukh had the entire auditorium erupt in laughter, when he replied, When you’re as smoking hot as I am, you have smoke coming out of every orifice!” laughs SRK, adding more seriously, “I am not justifying the character. I don’t see myself as a role model."

What King Khan did see was the good in 3D. That’s the format ‘Don 2’ has been converted to, and Shah Rukh thinks it is the way of the future. The audience at the Madinat Jumeirah today wore 3D glasses to check out the preview – the promo and two songs – of ‘Don 2’. But SRK, who sees 3D becoming the norm rather than the exception going forward, believes that soon the technology will progress so much that people will not even need the glasses.

What movie-loving people need are compelling characters and stories, which is why Farhan says that he didn’t want to fall in the sequel rut. “Sequels tend to fall into the trap of having to be made. We didn’t really want that.”

“Don is a character that people have a lot of affection and attachment for,” the director said, justifying the sequel.

Meanwhile, Priyanka talked about how her character was “just so angry” in the movie. Speaking of the changing equation between Roma and Don, she said, “There's a love-hate relationship between the two characters and that was the best part of the film.”

PC also explained how she thought Indian movies were becoming more international in terms of their treatment. When I was recording my album in LA, the trailer for Don 2 came out and my team in LA were so surprised by it - they hadn’t expected it to be so slick.

“Whenever we travel abroad people have so much interest in Indian movies. Don 2 was shot in Berlin and we have so many people who obviously don’t speak Hindi so excited about the movie.”

So what’s the last word on Don 2, at this point? We’re going to go by Ritesh Sidhwani’s words - “Don 2 is leaner, meaner and sexier than the first movie was.”

That’s just what we’re looking forward to!