Shah Rukh Khan opens up on playing age-appropriate roles: I feel more comfortable playing my age

Shah Rukh Khan said that he is more comfortable playing roles closer to his age like in Dunki and Pathaan. However, he also joked that filmmakers are offering him younger roles owing to his looks

Shah Rukh Khan's third release of the year 'Dunki' is seeing a good run at the box office. The film directed by Rajkumar Hirani was released on Thursday, a non-holiday weekday. Despite that, the film managed to collect Rs 28 crore at the Indian box office and continues to be steady. In the film, Shah Rukh Khan's character undergoes aging as the film traces his character's 25-year journey. After the release of the film, the 'Dunki' star Shah Rukh Khan spoke about the importance of age-appropriateness for his character of Hardy Singh. He also revaled interesting details about his character Vikram Rathore in Jawan.

As part of promotions for 'Dunki', Shah Ruh Khan answered media questions during an interview and spoke about playing age-appropriate roles and characters that age during the film. He was asked whether it was deliberate that he chose to play older characters in his recent films. Shah Rukh Khan said, “No, it’s not a conscious effort. I am 58 now. Mujhe aisa lagta hai ki mujhe age-centric roles karne chahiye. If I get an opportunity in a film (then why not). The older character in Jawan is more in-your-face. I won’t call it a caricature but it’s an over-the-top old person. In Dunki, it’s quite real. In Dunki, it’s about a soldier ka vaada. So, it’s a journey of a character and that is the most intriguing quality of the film. It spans 25 years.”

Dunki star Shah Rukh Khan continued, “I would say that I have been age-honest for the first time in Dunki. I don’t know Hardy’s (his character in Dunki) exact age. He must be 60 or 65 years old. But it’s more close to my age. I think I have tried to do it as real as possible. Woh kitna kamyaab hua ya nahin hua, woh mujhe nahin pata. It’s not a conscious effort but I feel more comfortable playing my age. And when I am playing the younger version, I am de-aged. I am with Taapsee Pannu, who’s younger than me. So, character-wise, it falls into place ki hero ki wajah se young heroine ke saath kaam nahin kar raha hoon. It makes me comfortable.”

After an honest answer, the actor also lightened the mood with his wise-crack statement. “Having said that, main itna young lagta hoon ki log mujhe older roles dena nahin chahte! I’ll continue playing 27 or 28 (smiles). But in all seriousness, it is fun to play a character spanning more than two decades.”

Rajkumar Hirani, who was also a part of the conversation, said that usually his team writes the script first and then decides on the actor. However, this time he was fixated on working with Shah Rukh Khan. He shared, “I decided whatever the character is, we will (him and SRK) work together.”

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