Inner World of SRK – A Review
Hi Folks,
Caught a viewing of this and enjoyed it thoroughly. Before I get into
the review, one thing is that it is produced by SRK’s Red Chillies
and hence one cannot help but notice that he reveals only as much as
he wants to and also gives the revelations a certain direction. After
all he has done a course in Mass Communications from Jamia Milia
Islamia in New Delhi, and knows how to communicate with the masses.
This time let’s analyze the Inner World
Inner World: Talks about his formative years and one thing is there
that he gives a lot. I think Delhi/a solid family/classic
education/Barry John/Delhiwali – Gauri (clearly you can scent my
bias) have shaped SRK into who he is and Mumbai then provided the
commercial opportunity. This is evident from his visit to St
Columba’s (it is indeed one of the prime schools of Delhi), SRK’s
keen sense of observation is evident when he says that “they don’t
make schools like that in Mumbai…” true being a product of both
cities I can vouch for that and that is why it is “Bebe and
zabardast” in Delhi, along with “Curzon Road and New Freinds colony”
and “Apun and Tapori” and “Hutatma Chowk and Pt Puluskar Chowk” in
Bombay (or it is Mumbai). Clearly his command over Hindi and English
was shaped by the Irish School (Columba) and the Anglo Indian
Dramatist (Barry John).
He also talks about his dad taking him to Pragati Maidan on DTC bus #
503 and how he asked him to get off on the 10th stop in case one can
make it and one cannot in the crowd packed bus. DTC indeed is packed
and 503 indeed does go from Mori Gate Terminal, via Pragati Maidan to
Malviya Nagar – F Block, passing SRK’s Defense Colony.
There is that shade of a tear, as he talks about losing his dad at
age 15 and his mom in his 20’s and how his sister still cannot cope
with that. You have to hand it over to the guy who has made a fine
life for himself therafter. I know there are people who belittle SRK
for doing anything for money, but in my own situation having lost my
dad at 17 and my sis at 15, I know things like that cannot just
dissapear from your psyche and at the same time one has to cope and
carry on with life and make the best of the opposrtunites that
present itself, so more power to you SRK.
He also talks about Fauji, the TV serial by Col Kapoor which launched
him and how he got recognized while travelling on a two wheeler on
Ring Road. He is unapologetic about his fame and lives life so that
he can look himself in the mirror and feel good about who he is and I
take my hat off to him for that. There is no deceit here. Here is a
guy who has broken all the rules in a positive manner. a) Don’t get
married when you are starting your career, it will mess it up, be
like Amir Khan and hide your marriage until a few years, b) Don’t
start with Television, thank god he didn’t listen to that. His
following serial Circus had him, Gauri and Ashutosh
Gowarikar…SWADES may never have happened. (as he says ‘Woe Betide
To Such Acting Which Makes You Lie About Your Marriage’)c) When you
become a star and driving through Mumbai, always have a driver and
always wear shades lest people recognize you (why should I do that
when all my life I have craved for that recognition…good point
SRK!!)
One feels for his bad back, but admires the secular atmosphere in his
home, where Diwali and Eid are both celebrated, where the Pooja and
the Namaz co exist and the kids are taught both the worlds. The
houselhold comes across as a very normal, punjabi couple and it
appears to me that the kids are being brought up just right, much
like how AB seems to have brought up his offsprings. Indeed the
middle class values seem to be very much in play, although his
excesssive smoking is also evident.
The negatives – Dialogues like – One Day I will rule Bombay, is said
for dramatic effect since when he came to Bombay he got Circus almost
immediately and then Deewana with Rishi Kappor and the late Divya
Bharti followed suit, hence there was no question of a lack of
acceptance. Also it is all the action surrounding him, it would have
been interesting to get quotes from folks like Barry/Gauri/Fellow
actors, etc.
What he does mention is that he has two “selfs’ the exubriant,
viviacios one for the world outside his house and the other quiet and
introverted, introspective one within the four walls of the house.
That, I have reason and corroboration to believe, is absolutely the
truth. What is admirable is his balancing act bewtween the two worlds
and how he does not let one over rule the other.
The fact that despite all this, he is a grounded St Columba grad, who
leaves home at 11am and is back at 8pm, six days a week, earning a
livelihood and fighting depression by going to work and working like
a manic, is very evident.
BY THE WAY FOLKS I WILL BE IN MUMBAI AND DELHI FROM DEC 29 THRU JAN 17, COINCIDENTLY WITH SRK’S WIFE GAURI’S FORMER BROTHER IN LAW, SO IN CASE ANY FOLKS FROM PFC WANT TO CATCH UP, FEEL FREE TO CONNECT
Sincerely,
Vivek “it is not about idolising him, far from it, it is about
celebrating the professional and personal achievement of an Indian”
Kumar
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Nice post .. vivek …
do contact me at this email id … Would like to meet up with u :-)
this came on tv sometime back right?
AFAIK, this is part of a 2-DVD set, the other one being “Outer World…”.
randramble, that’s the one. I remember them showing this on Star Plus a year ago now. Backround scenes to his concert and him visiting his parents grave etc.
TBH it wasn’t all that insightful to me, but then I’m no big SRK fan. The inside of his house was the only interesting thing.
i saw both the parts long back. i liked the documentary. not because it was about SRK, but because of the way it was treated.
more such things should be made in this star struck nation. it throws more options to ppl who conventionalyy dont fall in wannabe film maker category.
nasreen munni kabir definitely stands for some huge amount of works on bollywood, if not consistent with quality.
i am not a big fan of SRK.. but he did work hard to get where he is today… so i might just watch it.. anyway good review!!