When Shah Rukh met Will Smith…

Actor-producer Shah Rukh Khan touted by Karan Johar, core Chairman of FICCI, as the ‘hugest movie-star’ brought to the fore some issues pertaining to the film industry at FICCI Frames 2010. Shah Rukh said, “The three basic needs of every Indian - roti, kapda aur makaan - seem to have been fulfilled. There is now a fourth desire and that is entertainment! Movies are a popular source of this fourth ‘requirement’. Another concept popularly emerging and posing to have a great future is ‘sport entertainment’. And with the Finance Minister constantly talking about a growing GDP (Gross Domestic Product), we are all the more optimistic about the Indian film industry.”

Addressing the connection between Indian cinema and Hollywood, Shah Rukh maintained that he didn’t quite understand the meaning of ‘crossover films’. SRK said, “I don’t think that a term such as ‘crossover’ really exists. You have genres of cinema like romance, drama, action... or then a movie can be an Indian movie, or a Hollywood movie or then a movie from some other part of the world. ‘Bend it Like Beckham’ is not a crossover film, it’s a Hollywood movie just as is ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ or Mira Nair’s ‘Monsoon Wedding’. So when filmmakers say they are making a ‘crossover’ film, I want to tell them that they are chasing an illusive dream!”

According to Shah Rukh, Indian cinema is lagging behind in three aspects. “The first is screenplay writing,” said Shah Rukh, “It is more a science than an art and expertise in that area is going to help globalize Indian cinema. The second is technology - I remember when I met Will Smith, an actor who does just two films a year, I asked him how he picks his films. He simple said ‘on the basis of i) creative satisfaction and ii) a great superstar for a co-star. And just how did he judge if his co-star was a super-star? He said he referred to ‘VFX and technology’ as ‘superstar’! We have the means to bring in the machines to India, but what we don’t have is trained people to handle them. Let’s hope our smart cousin Hollywood helps us in setting up training institutes. The third thing we need here is discipline and organization in filmmaking coupled with the science of marketing. More than money, it’s important to exchange knowledge, so that we create movies for a global audience. Saying this however, I insist that we retain our stories and the Indian cinematic glory that we have.”