‘Both Robot and Toonpur were offered to me’

Shah Rukh Khan is peeved over gossip that he’s been re-shooting his ambitious home production, RA.One since the release of Robot and Toonpur Ka Superhero, after spotting some uncanny similarities in the plot of his film and theirs.

“Yeah, RA.One is a copy…
of Robot and Toonpur Ka Superhero… of Terminator and Superman,” he says sarcastically. “After 20 years in the industry, that’s all I can do, copy others.”

The superstar points out that all superhero films run along the same lines, with the bad guy taking on the good guy and eventually losing out to his superior powers and innate goodness. “So comparisons are inevitable. But let me tell you that both Robot and Toonpur Ka Superhero were offered to me, so I knew what these films were about. I would be crazy to follow their scripts. Both these films are brilliant, mine will be as good as I am,” he smiles.

His reasons for making this father-son fantasy adventure is not only to become a superhero in the eyes of his children. After two decades, King Khan wants to give back something to the industry that has given him so much.

“RA.One is a calling card for a studio I have set up. I’m not competing with Hollywood but I have flown down 10 Oscar-winning technicians to train my team here. I want to show the world that even using in-house, indigenous technique, we can make a VFX-loaded film that is not tacky but slickly wow,” he asserts, admitting that the reactions to the first look has been encouraging. “It’s all about colours and electricity. G.One is blue… RA.One could be red. The film’s message is encapsulated in a lovely line. The heart is the weakness of human beings, in superheroes it is their strength. I want to be a superhero with a heart.”