Actor Shah Rukh Khan, who has been in the film industry for 25 years, says nobody is smarter than he is.
A proud father of three — sons Aryan and AbRam and daughter Suhana — Khan minces no words when he speaks his mind.
And so, asked if he thinks his oldest son Aryan, who recently graduated high school, is smarter than he was during his youth, the 50-year-old said with a smile: “Nobody is smarter than me. Better looking, maybe.”
Does he really think so?
“I think so... and he wears better clothes because he takes my clothes. But smart, no,” he added.
“I say this straight away — there is nobody smarter than me. Outside the family or inside my family. I am too cool,” Khan reiterated.
Khan was speaking while in Noida on Tuesday at KidZania, a edutainment destination of which he owns a 26 per cent stake.
The second such destination in India, KidZania — which first began operations in Mumbai in 2013 — opened its doors here on May 26. It offers a real-world experience and role-playing activities that promote learning.
“I try to do things for children. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. Mashallah, this one has worked very well,” said the actor-producer.
Edutainment, the Fan star says, is a “space which can grow in India”.
“Around 10 to 15 years ago, we were a developing nation, but now India is at the cusp of being developed. One has to understand that first comes roti, kapda aur makaan [bread, clothes and shelter]. Then comes entertainment and edutainment, and I think we are on the cusp of that.
“That’s why you’re seeing the IPL [Indian Premier League], the Kabaddi league, and more such things coming up. The big thing here is going to be looking after the children,” said Khan, expressing hope that “there’s a huge possibility of doing things in terms of television, films, theme parks, outdoor sports activities and more for children in India”.
“We look at the West and say, ‘How come they have so many things for their kids?’ But it is because some of them are developed nations that they can venture out into this,” he added.
But aren’t today’s children in India more privileged than before?
“I think it has two parts — privileged yes, of course, and they should be so. I think every child in this nation should be privileged, even the under-privileged. They should really rise to a level where every parent looks at them and say, ‘Wow, my child has much more’. And in every way — education-wise, finances-wise and entertainment-wise.
“But the second part is that we had a lot more outdoor stuff. We tanned a lot more. We sweated a lot more. We could all turn around and say, ‘We worked hard under the sun’. But times have changed,” quipped Khan.
A tech-savvy person, Khan says a place like KidZania is still “more outdoor” as compared to what today’s children do in the digital world.
“I am not anti the digital part, but this is more outdoor compared to what they do on an iPad, iPhone or a telephone. Plus, I would tell all children, ‘Please go outdoors’, and tell their parents to take them out to the fields.”
