He has reportedly charged Rs 12 crore for Farhan Akhtar’s ‘Don’. And that makes him the highest paid actor in Bollywood. Yes, Rs 12 crore is the cost of an overseas territory for a Shahrukh Khan film. And that’s exactly what SRK has been given for re-playing Amitabh Bachchan’s stylish double barreled masala-classic of the late 70s. “I’m working with Karan and Farhan because I love how they work and think,” says King Khan who is confidently looking forward to ‘Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna’ this August 11th.

SRK dismisses the new wave of smaller thinking films as nothing but a creation of a ‘flippant media’ that has got too much space to fill in with inane news items. He is of the opinion that serious or ‘real’ cinema has always been there. Earlier it was called ‘Art’ or ‘Parallel’ cinema and today maybe it is termed as ‘multiplex cinema’. But that segment of filmmaking had always been there. He points out that even Yash Chopra made a film like ‘Ittefaq’ which had no songs and was serious in nature.

Amongst the new breed of actors, Shahrukh is fond of Shiney Ahuja and Vidya Balan. “It takes just one good film to change a career for almost everyone. Even Abhishek came with the Bachchan baggage but one good film later he just shook it off to settle down.” He remembers how at the beginning of his career Mani Rathnam once told him that he should try and create a niche for himself. And what niche has SRK created for himself? “The Whole World,” says the Badshah