Question from Procrastinatrix! Which I really liked so I am using. We have talked a lot about the movies or TV series we want from him as an actor, but what would we like to see him do beyond that?
I know this wouldn’t be possible, but I would love to see him go back to theater. It wouldn’t be possible because no matter how hard he tried and how humble he was and how good he was, it would still be covered and watched as some kind of Shahrukh Khan stage extravaganza. Maybe if he was playing a role like King Lear (he would be SO GOOD as Lear!) under a fake name and with a lot of make-up and it only came out months later that he was in it? What do you think? And what theater role would you like him to play?
(Put him in something like this, change his hair, maybe a bald cap, and don’t promote it, and you could get away with him on stage again)
Oh, and then the other thing I would like to see him do is some kind of podcast. Can you imagine? Like his Ted Talks, but not in the stupid Ted Talk format. Instead him sitting down with interesting people, not movie people but like his favorite authors or academics, and having long free-ranging conversations. What do you think, Shahrukh as the host of a talk show for big thinkers?
(Shahrukh in a long free-ranging conversation with the head of Netflix? Tell me you wouldn’t listen to that!)
What else do you think he could/should do? More philanthropy, more direct political commentary, more writing? More kids?
Oh, bonus question that came up in the comments yesterday and I am hoping to build momentum so we can make it happen: Aryan marries Malia Obama. Tell me you wouldn’t be down for that! Imagine Gauri and SRK and Barack and Michelle hanging out! Imagine Sasha and Suhana becoming best friends! Imagine the international opportunities for doing good works and pushing political agendas! Imagine the b-story love story between Aryan and Malia’s bodyguards (his big scary thug like guy who’s been with him since childhood, her professional female secret service agent who always follows the rules?) What do you say, yay or nay? I figure if we all put it on our dream boards or whatever, we can make it happen through the power of positive thinking.
(Look, her father already quoted his father’s dialogue! It’s the perfect opening! She goes to LA for spring break with college friends, they end up at the same party, sparks fly….)
dontcallitbollywood 
I’d like to see him write a memoir!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’d like that too! Either an introspective personal story, or a tell-all that reveals all the scuzzy stuff he has seen and had to put up with over the years.
LikeLike
Nott the theater. I’d like to see him host a real talk show with intellectual guests. I’d like to see him do a “small” film with Juhi or Tabu or Vidya with no songs, just a strong strong story. As to Aryan’s love life….I know from experience that one cannot direct the youngsters…I doubt Aryan would even like her. He is used to a very different kind of woman. Although, I do love the image of the body guards hanging out.
LikeLike
I don’t know if I would want a traditional talk show, because that is more about hearing what the guest says. I want an actual conversation, SRK and the guest equally balanced in discussing an issue. If he could manage that, no tricks and no games, just two people sitting across from each other at a table and having a real conversation, I would love it.
On Tue, Oct 30, 2018 at 10:23 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
Theater! Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman! And he should hire me to ghostwrite his memoir.
LikeLike
No, I want him to write his own memoir!!!! Well, his own personal memoir, you can ghostwrite the tell all scandalous version.
Love Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman. Just occurred to me, I’d also love to see him in a Tom Stoppard play, all that witty fast talking, he would be great at it.
On Tue, Oct 30, 2018 at 10:34 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
Noises Off!! With a great ensemble cast.
LikeLike
Oh right, you’re our theater person! What I would really love is seeing him in a brilliant one man show. What’s a famous one man show that he could do? Something where he is on stage for 2 hours telling stories and switching characters and so on?
On Tue, Oct 30, 2018 at 11:18 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
He should do his memoir as a one-man show, with all the characters from his films in conversation with his ego.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’d be down for that, if it was paired with a personal version with him playing both his parents, then his sister, himself, Gauri, Karan, Adi, Juhi, everyone else important in his life. All the way down to playing 5 year old AbRam.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Musical theater – The King and I.
LikeLike
Or an Indian My fair Lady – the older man teaching the younger woman…
LikeLike
Now, that would be a really interesting adaptation! The caste/class stuff in India would be a fascinating translation of how it was in Edwardian England. And if Anushka played his co-star, that would be really perfect. He could even do his own singing for live theater, because he could do that patter-singing perfectly already.
Or if they didn’t adapt it, another West End type production, then it could be a really interesting unspoken thing that he is an Indian British gentleman who clearly at some point learned all these things himself since he wasn’t born into this level of society, that they are both some kind of outcast.
On Tue, Oct 30, 2018 at 10:57 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
YES!!!!! Oh my gosh, he would be amazing at it. Totally the wrong ethnicity, but perfect personality for him. And he could play that overseas where the audience wouldn’t know so much who he was. And he could co-star with Cate Blanchett.
On Tue, Oct 30, 2018 at 10:55 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
I love the podcast idea, and I’d love it even more if he partnered with a smart woman who would both make him think and make him laugh, so that they could have some banter, then bring in the interviewee, then have a post-interview discussion.
The thing I would most love Shah Rukh to get into is audiobooks. He’d be so amazing reading novels and plays, but also non-fiction histories, biographies, philosophy. And poetry–can you imagine? I’d buy any audio book he would do in any language. I have no idea what might motivate him to get into that arena though. I should start a campaign begging Audible to hire him for a lucrative contract (if such a thing exists in audiobooks).
LikeLike
I was trying to think of what smart woman he should work with, and then I realized it should obviously be ME! But even if it isn’t me, it is still a good format. I could even see a rotating group of co-hosts, the same pool of maybe half a dozen people but changing it up depending on scheduling and other availability, and then the interview subjects being one time one offs.
I would love him to do audiobooks! He’s narrated a surprisingly random group of films (obviously just personal favors for whoever asked) and he does a great job. That’s how I could see him getting into Audiobooks, if Anupama’s brother asks him to read Sacred Games or Paula what’s-his-name asks Shahrukh to do his book. Or, most tempting of all, Artemis Fowl! Although I understand Eoin Colfer does his own audiobooks? So that might already be covered. But yeah, Shahrukh’s favorite authors personally asking him to do it as a favor, that I could see working. Or even better yet, a curated “Shahrukh Khan Collection” that is just him reading his favorite books, everything from picture books for AbRam to grown up novels.
LikeLike
Well, I just retweeted your Tweet about this post, and copied Paulo Coelho into my retweet, as well as Shah Rukh. Fingers crossed? 🙂
Great idea for you to co-host with Shah Rukh. In addition to your brain, I’d really enjoy the juxtaposition of your Chicago accent (to my Ohioan ears) and voice with his accent/s and voice/s. Would you be prepared to re-locate to Mumbai, at least for part of the year? You could do a bunch of episodes in the span of a few months, I’d think.
LikeLike
Oh yuch, I forgot that means I have to travel. Might not be worth it, even to spend time with SRK. Although, maybe if I was able to bring Dog Hazel with me, and never had to leave air-conditioning so I could trick my body into thinking it hadn’t moved.
Or maybe I could learn to love international travel. So far every time I have traveled internationally, I was near complete physical collapse at the end of the trip (wasn’t able to sleep or eat the whole time I was there, just because my body was rebelling at the change), but I have heard that if you are there long enough to power through the first two weeks, it gets better. And I am sure if I was staying at Mannat, everyone would be very kind and sympathetic and caring as I moaned gently in my bed.
On Tue, Oct 30, 2018 at 12:27 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
Maybe you could meet in NYC or LA for a recording spate. Then you could network with the film studies and media folks in both places to land a sweet sweet teaching/writing gig!
LikeLike
But I also hate NYC and LA!!!! He should just come to Chicago. He could stay at my parents’, and I could take him to meet Grandpa, and we could record in my living room. Oh! He could help teach my Sunday School class! He would love that! He has more energy, but they would outnumber him. Yes, that is my biggest wish for Shahrukh outside of film and TV, he should teach my Sunday School class.
(you know all my “wah wah wah” about not having opportunities? Part of it is because I am not willing to move, there are grad school programs and stuff out there, but I’d have to move somewhere for 3-5 years while I work towards maybe having more opportunities and I don’t want to. I’d rather be a little frustrated professionally, but happy with my life-life than miserable with my life-life and gambling on professional fulfillment at some point)
On Tue, Oct 30, 2018 at 12:54 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLiked by 1 person
He definitely could read the Artemis Fowl serie in Hindi! However, I bet he hasn’t enough time to do so…yet. He still is in high demand for advertisements with not only shooting but also dubbing. And I bet he is more involved in what’s going on with RedChillies (and the Knight Riders) as he makes us believe.
I fully support the kind of Podcast idea but more in the “walk the talk” – format, even more in the “V.I.P.-Schaukel” documentary format that the Autrichian Margaret Dünser did in the 70ies…an honest old-style talk with the respective person in it’s own environment ( https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0344743/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm )
Yep, theatre would be great…there are a lot of interesting monodramas (e.g. “A Night in November”, “On the Harmfull Effects of Tobacco” or “Krapp’s last tape”)…he could start with something like a monodrama and actually, he can rehearse even at his home-studio-rooms.
Writing columns under a pseudonym.
LikeLiked by 1 person
But if he is writing columns under a pseudonym, we wouldn’t know it was him! Heck, he could already be doing it and we wouldn’t know.
I like the idea of the format of him visiting people in their homes and having an intense discussion. I’d love something like visiting an NGO and talking with the founder and also shadowing her as she meets with clients or whatever.
LikeLike
Combining ideas: Oprah-style book club with guest co-hosts or authors, podcast and video-streamed, timed to release with select audiobook versions as possible/feasible recorded by SRK.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes! Perfect!
On Tue, Oct 30, 2018 at 5:58 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
And he should launch it by publishing/recording his own memoir. The one he’s been working on for ten years and read from in the THINK interview. I want to read that book.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A real-life possibility. There has been major talk going around Hollywood of a reboot of Jules Verne’s 20000 Leagues Under the Sea. As written in the original book, Captain Nemo is an Indian. In the movie The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Naseeruddin Shah played Nemo. In 20000 Leagues, why not Shahrukh? (Of course, Hollywood would probably go with Chris Pine, Hemsworth, Pratt, Evans etc).
LikeLike
Kal Penn would get it, I’m sure. Although I would also be happy with Irrfan.
On Wed, Oct 31, 2018 at 6:34 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike