This year’s India Today Conclave 2017 was graced by the likes of Bollywood legends Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan. The purpose of the event was to shine a light on the great achievements coming out of India, with the actors highlighting the media and creative developments, as well as the lessons they’ve learnt during their own successful careers.
Khan delivered a captivating speech and also got into character of his Dear Zindagi doctor role, where he answered interview questions from the three India Today moderators, Koel Puri Rinchet, Padmaja Joshi and Avantika Singh.
Regarding success and fame, Khan delivered a poignant and heartfelt message:
“The spotlight can be a frightfully lonely place. But accepting the beauty and the gift that comes from being in the spotlight is the only way to go.
When people start throwing themselves at you, just make sure you always smell good, brush your teeth, have soft hair. I have a lot of ladies who like to smell me and grab me, so now I have lady bodyguards.”
Whether on the big screen, in real life or even social media, Khan’s life has proved to be a whirlwind. He added, “If I were to say ‘shut up’ to someone on social media, I’d get a much louder shut up in my face” and joked, “Speak your mind to yourself in front of the bathroom mirror, or say them out loud in a padded room where your voice doesn’t leave the room.”
However he did have some positive things to say about social media. The actor, who has 24million followers on Twitter, said, “The good point about social media is you can put your point across. I do find good-thinking, smart, intelligent people going out there and kind of making a fool of themselves by refuting (rumours). You can’t spend your life explaining things and what you feel and what you mean to people.”
On his children, Khan said, “I am planning to give up all (smoking and drinking) and try to be healthier and happier. I don’t want my children to hold that against me that I was not there. I want to be there to give them advice completely out of context and irrelevant. I want to find out about their personal lives when they are hating me for doing so. I want to be cumbersome and troublesome to my children. So I should work towards it and get healthy.”
