EXCLUSIVE: Raees is a commercial film with substance in it, reveals Shah Rukh Khan

Shah Rukh Khan, one of the biggest superstars, is on a promotion spree for Raees and the actor clearly does not get tired of interviews even at 12 in the night.

Also Read: Fans will love both Shah Rukh's Raees and Hrithik's Kaabil, says Narendra Jha

Raees releases on Wednesday, January 25, with SRK playing the role of bootlegger Miyabhai (Miyanbhai) and Mahira Khan appearing opposite him. In an exclusive chat with International Business Times India, Khan spoke about his character in Raees, how the movie is different, and what plays an important role while promoting and marketing a film.

Here are the excerpts from the interview:

International Business Times: Rahul Dholakia said there is nothing of SRK in Raees, so what convinced you to sign Raees?

Shah Rukh Khan: I think the writing of the story is interesting. It is a very different kind of a world for me as an actor. I have worked for so many years, but I have not been in this space to offer. Rahul (Dholakia) is also a very substance thinking director-writer, so this is interesting to try, it is a mix of the commercial film with substance in it, and I will hopefully pull it off. Third like I said, it's a new world, new language and it is always challenging, I have Excel team with me Farhan and Ritesh, with whom I have worked before and are friends, so if we all come together and are able to give each other something new, it formulates a good thinking commercial film.

IBT: Vicky of Baazigar, Rahul of Darr, Vijay of Don, Gaurav Chandna of Fan or Miyabhai of Raees? Which one would you choose and why?

SRK: Each one had their own place at the time I played the character. Baazigar was completely off the cuff, all of us understand that not too many negative roles were done that time, post-Baazigar a lot of people did negative roles. Darr was after that, I was obsessed with working with Yash Chopra at the time and Raees because it is very reality based, so it is not just taken out of context to play a bad guy. Don is very interesting to me.

IBT: Talking about Don, how is your character in Raees different from your character in Don? And which character you enjoyed playing the most?

SRK: Don has James Bond, who has gone bad. Stylish, sexy, smart, cool and you are always going to be, even if he does the worst thing, you wish he gets away so that he can come back in part two and three. Raees being so real, we have not tried to glorify him or stylise him so much that you can't take a decision to like him or dislike him. You may not like him or you may. The only good thing about Raees is he stands for and takes responsibility for his actions. All my negative characters are nice, but to me, Gaurav from Fan is the most interesting. As an actor, Gaurav is my favourite favourite attempt at the enactment of my own self.

IBT: There is obviously a lot at stake when two big movies clash, so how does the marketing and promotion strategy change?

SRK: It does not change much. Marketing is about informing people what your film is about and it cannot be based on what another film is about. You have to talk about your film that is what I have always believed. A lot of people think I am a marketing genius and I do XYZ, but no. I just go out there and depending on the world of the film, I say this is the film and please come and see it if you like what I have told you about the film. 

So nothing changes, you just stick true to your film. Raees was 99 percent going to be marketed like this whether it has released with any film or released solo. As a matter of fact, because of the dignity of the film, it can't be on too many platforms. The units have come out after a long long time, it is not too much, and we have tried to refrain from telling you too much about the film. The film has been in news for around 2 years, but we haven't changed much about the marketing of the film. As I said, it is about informing people, so we are informing people what Raees is all about.

IBT: You said a mindless film is difficult for you, so does that mean that we will see Shah Rukh Khan in more of serious films?

SRK: I will never call a film mindless. I think there are films that are different and differently tuned. There are a lot of films I can't do as an actor as a star as a believer of what I can do, but I think whatever is more difficult and new I would like to try. If there is an over the top happy go lucky film space, which is not too serious I would love to do it. When I get a serious film, I will do it. Whenever I get a film I will try and do it, so it is not that I will do only serious films. I am an actor I will do all kinds of films and I get excited for all kind of opportunities.