I remember when I met Will Smith: Shah Rukh Khan

Shah Rukh Khan spoke passionately at the inaugural session of FICCI – Frames which kicked off in Mumbai, as he urged the film fraternity to be a little more adaptable and absorb important features from ‘smart cousin’ Hollywood. During his speech, SRK also talked about meeting Will Smith and his little talk with the acclaimed actor.

“I remember when I met Will Smith, an actor who does just two films a year and I asked him how he picks his films. He said, `On the basis of creative satisfaction and a great superstar for a co-star.` When I asked him how did he judge if his co-star was a super-star, he said his superstar was `VFX and technology,” the actor said.

SRK highlighted some key issues plaguing the Indian film industry. "The three basic needs of every Indian - roti, kapda aur makaan - seem to have been fulfilled for most. There is now a fourth desire and that is entertainment and movies are a popular source of this fourth requirement. Another concept popularly emerging and posing to have a great future is sport entertainment. We are at the threshold of a huge burst on the entertainment arena in India and entertainment is the packaging of a growing economy."

The actor pointed out the areas where Indian cinema needs to learn from Hollywood. "The first is screenplay writing. It is not an art but a science. We need to find expertise in screenplay writing in order to globalize Indian cinema. The second is technology. The third thing that we need to learn from Hollywood is discipline and organization in filmmaking coupled with the science of marketing films. We need to learn from them. Only then we can ask their help and not just monetary help. We don`t need their investment as much as we need their advice and expertise."

SRK also gave a discourse on ‘crossover films’. “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,” he said.