It’s close to a month since the release of Chennai Express (CE), but Shah Rukh Khan showed no signs of slowing down from promotions and then the celebration of his biggest hit. But now he has finally disembarked from CE to start his next film Happy New Year (HNY).
He began shooting for the film yesterday in Dubai. The actor says it was long overdue, “The schedule had to be postponed due to my injury (arm surgery).”
Also, there was a long hunt for the leading lady and the casting of HNY, till Deepika Padukone’s name was finally announced. He adds, “Yes, the film was not cast... We had intended to do that sooner. See, this is not a hero-heroine film. This is an ensemble cast, so it’s unfair to just talk about the lead pair, I think already unfair importance has been given to the heroine of the film, or the heroines of the film.”
He stresses that there is a lot more to this film than the lead pair, “I’d like the posters to come out and talk about it then. Because each character in the film, whether it is heroes or heroines or the villain, they are all equal. It’s not a Shah Rukh Khan starrer with an X or Y heroine. That’s why I am a little reluctant to talk about it. It’s unfair otherwise since it’s a film with six people, who are equal in the film. And the film will work if the six are fantastically mounted. New, old, young, top heroine it should be mounted like that, so I am waiting for one or two more of the cast to be finalised. We are in the middle of it now.”
But there’ve been too many speculations about the leading lady of this film, which is usually not the norm... He interrupts, “Not usually? With my films it’s always been the case. How many films now even for Chennai Express... Every heroine was a part of it...”
When asked if he has any favourite heroines, he says, “No, and I have never suggested actresses names ever in my entire career. Whatever my director suggests, I say ‘yes’ to that. Whether it’s Katrina, Deepika, Priyanka, Kareena, Rani, Preity... I have worked with all of them. I never suggest or ‘unsuggest’ a heroine for my film. But if they ask for feedback, I welcome them on board as a producer. But the call is never mine as an actor. I talk to the actresses post them coming on board, post narration. Not just actresses, even with Abhishek (Bachchan), I went to his house only after he was finalised for the film.”