‘I am number 1’
Shah Rukh Khan talks to Janhvi Patel about Ra.One, his most challenging film till date. The superstar also familiarises us with G.One, the superhero, and Ra.One, the villain
Shah Rukh Khan is a man with a mission this year. He has to aggressively promote Ra.One, the most ambitious film of his career. He unveiled the teaser trailer of his beloved project recently. He talks about his character in the film, the villain of the film and converting it to 3-D.
You play G.One in the film. Tell us about your character.
‘G’ stands for my wife Gauri and ‘One’ stands for my position in the industry. There should be no confusion about that (laughs). Please don’t take that seriously. Actually, G.One is the ‘good one’ who is the life-giver, hero, and rakshak and I am playing him in the film. We will reveal Ra.One gradually. You saw his hand in the trailer. Ra.One stands for ‘random access version one’ and also for the mythological character Raavan, a bad person. His ten heads represent the ten worst qualities in the world. Evil doesn’t have a physical appearance as anybody can become evil.
Why is the film called Ra.One instead of G.One?
Whenever I have seen superhero films and Bollywood films such as Mr. India and Sholay, we remember the villains as much as we remember the heroes. I don’t want to compare anyone; I am only citing examples. We remember Shakaal, Mogambo, and Gabbar Singh. Negative characters are always memorable in films with larger-than-life heroes. Even when I see Batman, I remember Joker. I wanted something different.
The stunts in the film look quite spectacular. Did you do all of them and how difficult were they?
I did 80% of the stunts myself. I had to wear a harness and do them and wearing that is very difficult and taxing. We jumped about 30-40 feet. It is not the jumping that is tiring, but wearing the harness is. I could not go to the washroom, I could not eat. I lost 6-7 kilos because holding onto the harness was very strenuous. Now that I see the shots, I feel very relieved that it is over because it was very difficult.
Are you going to present the film in 3-D as well?
We have already shot the film in 2-D so it has to be converted now. We are doing a few tests with Prime Focus because they have the technology. I want certain scenes of the film to be in 3-D only if we can convert it at this stage. But, audiences must remember to wear the special glasses otherwise they might say that SRK has shown us an out-of-focus film after shooting it for so many months (laughs).
Ra.One will be releasing in October. So get ready!