'Money has never kept me going'

'I truly believe that in this rush, hatred and running around, we have forgotten love.'

'I am not just the best lover in the world as I have shown myself in the films, I am love itself, I truly believe in the power of love.'

Shah Rukh Khan speaks out.

There's nothing Shah Rukh Khan doesn't have in life.

God has been kind to him in every aspect of his life, professionally, financially and emotionally, and the superstar accepts that.

"Never ever have I done anything for the love of money," he says, at the launch of his new television show TED Talks India Nayi Soch, in Mumbai.

"Money has never kept me going, it never will. I am very well to do," he adds.

He has some advice for youngsters: "If you really desire something, one of the things that will surely follow is money. It's the least important of the pegs that you should try to fill in when you are trying to do something as a job, work, love, hobby... Money is not going to be a problem at the end of it all. I say it from the point of view of being a lower middle class boy, who has had a bigger share of financial benefits from the work I do than I ever imagined, dreamed of, in my wildest dreams."

The king of romance believes in the power of love.

"I have started feeling, lately, since I turned 50, that it has become easier in this world to hate, be blatantly aggressive, to put your thoughts out there because 'I think so.' It's very nice, maybe it will bring about a great change in the world. But I truly believe that in this rush, hatred and running around, we have forgotten love," he says.

"I am not just the best lover in the world as I have shown myself in the films, I am love itself," he says. "I truly believe in the power of love."

Shah Rukh, who has hosted quite a few television shows before, claims that TED Talks has been creatively challenging and personally satisfying for him.

"This is a show that has kept me more alive. I hope I can enhance the ideas, thoughts and talks that people have on the show," he says.

"I was a big fan of TED Talks," SRK shares, "I have followed it for years. I still look forward to hearing a TED Talk happening anywhere in the world."

"I was extremely nervous," the actor continues, recalling his recent TED Talk in Vancouver. "I did not know how to speak there. To go and speak in front of some of the best minds because they have the simplest of ideas and are willing to share it with the world... I truly believe the world changes by the smallest of ideas."

TED Talks India gives Shah Rukh a platform to be himself.

"I have been working for 30 years as an actor," he says. "I sing, dance, fall, fight, romance, emote... I do everything but very seldom, I am able to nudify myself for who I am and come in front of people on a platform and say this is who I actually am. This is who I am as a father, husband, friend, as just a normal guy who came from Delhi 30 years ago to make a living in Mumbai and has done rather well for himself."

Shah Rukh modestly feels he's 'not in the same league' as the other superstars -- like Salman Khan (Bigg Boss) and Akshay Kumar (The Great Indian Laughter Challenge) who are hosting shows on TV presently.

"Salman and Akshay, what they are doing, they're in a league of their own. I am not even competition with them. They are doing wonderfully well and I think it's sweet of Salman to say whatever he said," he says.

"This show is a little different from that," he says. "That does not make it better or worse, but this is just different. Hopefully we'll be able to compete with ourselves and do our best," he says.

Shah Rukh claims that personalities like Milkha Singh, Mohammad Ali, Mother Teresa and P T Usha have inspired him. He finds the Indian Hockey Team quite inspiring as well.

"I am not saying that because I have done Chak De! India but I used to genuinely follow the national sport," he says.

Photograph: Jahnavi Patel/Rediff.com
Video: Afsar Dayatar/Rediff.com