I have no outlet for venting my personal issues: Shah Rukh Khan

Superstar claims he often gets lonely, awkward when talking about feelings

NEW DELHI: In the last 25 years, Shah Rukh Khan has delivered several blockbusters, earned millions of fans around the world and been dubbed the ‘Badshah of Bollywood’ on account of his success. Yet, the superstar claims he feels lonely a lot of the time and has no one to vent out his personal issues to.

Although Shah Rukh essays the role of Alia Bhatt’s psychiatrist in the latest film Dear Zindagi, he himself doesn’t talk to anyone for help or advice. “I am very cloistered, very shell-like. I feel awkward talking about my personal feelings. In fact, when a friend does try to talk to me about myself, I get very awkward,” the actor said, in an interview.

The 51-year-old claimed that he would never seek professional help unless he is admitted to a mental asylum. “I don’t know how to behave when people talk about personal issues. I don’t talk to my closest people,” confessed Shah Rukh. “It’s not that I’m uncomfortable about my personal feelings — I just keep them to myself. I don’t think I will ever seek professional advice unless I am admitted to an asylum because people force me to,” added the Dilwale star.

Asked if his private nature ever overwhelmed him, the actor replied, “Yes, my head become busy with a lot of thoughts but I just live with it. It makes you a little lonely, a little sad. But I have no outlet for venting for my personal issues, except for the fact that I am an actor.” Shah Rukh claimed he expresses his real emotions onscreen, taking advantage of emotional scenes. “I come on screen and take it out. There are days when I cry on screen with actual tears but I don’t make a big deal of it. Other days, I just could be very happy in a scene and that could be my personal feeling.”

Shah Rukh also opened up on being a father of two teenagers, 16-year-old Suhana and 19-year-old Aryan. According to the actor, he refrains from talking to them about personal things such as relationships. “I don’t talk to my children about relationships. I don’t talk to them about anything that they don’t wish to talk to me about. So if they come and ask me something, I will talk to them about it but I would never say, ‘Sit down, I need to talk to you about the birds and the bees’ or about relationships,” said Shah Rukh. “I have never asked what they do, how they do, where they go and whenever they ask me for advice, it’s not really so serious. In fact, they give me advice to not smoking but I have never given them advice,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2016.

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