He is not conventionally good looking. But one must confess that the megastar of Bollywood Shah Rukh Khan is striking with his words and wisdom. Blame it on the way he engages you in a conversation, or the way he employs his mannerisms, SRK grows on you steadily but surely. Every time you meet the man, you certainly walk away with something to ruminate over--it could be an idea, an expression, a book or even a film.

Even when he is dealing with a bunch of journalists, Shah Rukh Khan's trademark swagger and style remain the undeniable component of his personality. There are no props here, which come in handy when he is blazing on the silver screen. The clarity of his conviction is palpable when he talks. He puffs on those 'mandatory' white sticks as he chats about his forthcoming mega movie Zero where he plays a vertically challenged man.

He is polite with his words, quite starry when he arches his eyebrow everytime he is about to respond to the questions posed, and unbelievably humble as he hugs you post interview for a photo-op.

Excerpt from the free-wheeling chat....

As your film ZERO is set for a mega release, are you excited or nervous?

To be honest, I am so busy with the promotions that I am not thinking about anything, I am excited as this is one such film which is so real and relatable that I myself have enjoyed playing it to the core. There are lines and dialogues in the film that are so witty that they crack you up. Initially, I wasn’t convinced to say certain dialogues, but then I learnt that people in small-town do say such lines. For instance: Taking the name of your father. I haven’t done that so far in my real life or wearing such loose kaccha or baniyan. I don’t think I would ever be able to be comfortable wearing those. But now, the stylist says it will become a trend. Normally, we are now working so much before the release, you get so tired, that you have no feelings left. You just hope that what you made is liked by people. I have worked for so many years now, but I can’t analyse how the film should be, the audience who spent money on it are the only ones who should analyze.

Do you think ZERO is an experimentative film considering its theme, your character in it and the way the story is promised to be told?

No, I don’t think it’s an experimentative film. It’s how you try to create a character which is physically different. It's like growing a moustache. But the technology to do this is very different. Also, the film revolves around people telling us how we should be. We don’t realise that nobody is perfect except Katrina Kaif! (Laughs). But nobody is perfect either emotionally, mentally or physically. I think we should accept ourselves the way we are while life passes us by.

Will ZERO celebrate incompleteness, which I am sure we all feel in one form or the other at some point in our life? 

Instead of thinking anything as incompleteness, you should think of it as a uniqueness. You should just enjoy this one life that God has given you. To be able to create that we needed three kind of incompleteness. One chracter is physically (incomplete), the vertically challenged person, other is mentally challenged (Anushka's character) who is actually a genius, but has cerebral palsy and other (Katrina's character) who is the most beautiful woman on the planet but she is emotionally challenged. We did not want people to focus on only the physical challenges. we want the audience to see the emotions and the relatability behind it. Nobody wants sympathy or empathy, everyone wants love, friendship and happiness.

Is this one of the most challenging roles for you as an actor as you had to transform your physicality and operate emotionally as per the character you are portraying here?

No, not really, I think the VFX made it very easy. It took us much longer to make the film than we realised, that is 200 days! This film is very cosy, emotional and with real emotions. We didn’t want to lose out on the smallness, the relationships and every angle in the film. We were told by the VFX people to behave the way we are and they will manage everything around us.

Have you met a dwarf in real life before shooting the film?

We have a person BTS, (Behind The Shoots). His name is Ashish and he is an actor from Delhi. So we took certain ideas from him, as we didn’t want to use a body double or a duplicate. But he worked really hard, he is indeed helpful and sweet. Shah Rukh Khan Reveals Why Daughter Suhana Can Turn Out To Be A Better Actor Than Him!

Does SRK feel incomplete in his personal as indeed in his professional space? How do you strive for perfection or completeness, so to speak? 

Zero is a perspective. I have never felt complete. As an artist, I am very incomplete. If I am not (incomplete) then I would not like to work. Why would I wake up in the morning and work hard for something as an artist? I am still very restless! I am always thinking of bringing something new both as an actor and as a producer. If you think you are complete, then you are boring. I don’t think of things as completing. I believe that the journey is important. If I cross something, then I don’t think of it as an end line. I think of it as a milestone. But I never plan for it. If you work in films as long as I have, then specifics become less important.

Do you think this film would be a game changer for you?

I think technologically it already is. VFX has to be made very prominent in Hindi films. We assume that we are the best filmmakers in the world, but the new influx of audience that will come, say kids around 7-8 years old, they are not going to be very forgiving about the cinematic visual and sound experience. We must be the last generation to see a tacky film! Youngsters are going to be used to that quality of VFX. People think that I am thinking of VFX as only a Baahubali, but that’s not true. VFX have to be used even for the smallest of films. We cannot tell sometimes when the VFX is used for the smallest things like lighting, speed or camera movements. So, big and small directors should come forward to use the technology.

How did you switch from your character in the film to your normal life, as far as the psyche is concerned?

I shot in pits which were one and a half foot deep. So personally I wasn’t short I was inside a pit. When Anushka is sitting on the wheelchair and I am standing, we actually of the same height. Its like two steps below with others, it is quite difficult. We didn’t reshoot anything, couldn’t afford it time wise. I was asked to add style while doing a few scenes. But when I added my style, it looked a little wrong on a shorter person. So few things like hand and leg movements had to be adjusted!

Your character shows a wicked sense of humour, is this your brainchild?

Well, It could be, me, Himanshu and Aanand (Rai), as we have a wicked sense of humour. But there is a reason for this. We didn’t make the character angry or wicked badly. In fact, we have made him funnily wicked. But sometimes Buaa does say rude things, but as the film progresses you find these rude things, very honest. So his honesty becomes better than his wickedness.

Do you wake up and think ‘what’s next for me’?

Initially, most journalists thought I was very rude and arrogant. But I wasn’t arrogant, I had lack of knowledge of art and craft of acting. Over the years, I realised how little acting I knew, when I knew very less, so I said a lot of things. Now that I know more, I realise there’s so much more to do. There’s a lot to do for me as an actor that keeps me going. We sometimes, unfortunately, reduce commercial acting to singing, dancing and fighting, which I don’t look down upon. But as I am growing, I wish I had known that there was so much more to this earlier.

Is there a filmmaker you wish to work with?

I really enjoyed working with Mani Ratnam, it was too much fun. Anand sir is someone I would like to work again with. But I want to make an action film with him. It would be really good. Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s fun too. There are many interesting filmmakers these days. Amongst the new ones, I think Raju Hirani would be fun to work with.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 20, 2018 11:03 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).