Shah Rukh Khan admitted that he was anxious while filming for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas and even turned to alcohol to pull off his character.
In 2002, Sanjay Leela Bhansali brought Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s classic novel ‘Devdas’ to life on screen with Bollywood’s ‘Badshah’ Shah Rukh Khan playing the titular role. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan essayed the role of his childhood sweetheart Paro while Madhuri Dixit played the courtesan Chandramukhi.
While King Khan’s portrayal of Devdas enjoys a massive fan-following, the actor, in a recent interview, shared that many veterans from the industry had advised him against taking up the role. However, Shah Rukh still went ahead with it as he believed that his late mother, Lateef Fatima would have liked it.
The superstar while speaking at an event at the 77th Locarno Film Festival said, “For some reason, I always felt if I make films which are very big, my mom and dad could see them from heaven. It’s a childish thought, but I still think my mother is a star. I even know the star she is. I just felt that if I made Devdas, she would really like it and appreciate it.”
The ‘Jawan’ star humbly added, “I don’t think I could play the character because some of the greatest artistes in our country like Dilip Kumar, KL Saigal and Uttam Kumar had played it flawless earlier. I don’t think mine is so brilliant or good. In spite of a lot of senior actors telling me not to do it, I just wanted to do it.”
Further while speaking about his rendition of Devdas, Shah Rukh Khan warned fans from taking inspiration from his character. He said that he didn’t want people to feel love for his character, but he also didn’t want them to hate him.
“I didn’t want you to feel love for him, but I didn’t want you to hate him. Nor did I want you to like him for being an alcholic who runs away from every girl that he falls in love with. I just wanted him to appear indescribable,’ the actor said during the course of the conversation.
The Bollywood superstar also admitted that he was quite anxious while shooting for Devdas, and even turned to alcohol to pull off his character.
On being asked if it helped him, SRK displayed his trademark humour and said, “Well, I got the Best Actor award. It might have helped, but I started drinking after the film and that’s one downside to it.”
Workwise, Shah Rukh Khan was last seen in Atlee’s blockbuster film Jawan. His next is Sunjoy Ghosh’s upcoming film King co-starring his daughter Suhana Khan and Abhishek Bachchan.
