The superstar tells BT why he is not so keen on roasting celebs at award shows anymore...
Renuka Vyavahare (BOMBAY TIMES; December 29, 2017)

Known for his sharp wit and humour, if there’s anyone in India who has made the concept of celebrity roast mainstream, it’s Shah Rukh Khan. The Bollywood superstar has enthralled audiences with his wisecracks and has often taken digs at fellow celebs in a light-hearted manner during award shows as the compere.

All set to host the upcoming 63rd Jio Filmfare Awards 2018, we asked the badshah if he will continue the tradition, which works well with the audience. The actor told Bombay Times, “I come from theatre; I’ve worked on stage for seven to eight years and I have a sense of humour. I like things to be light-hearted. Even if you don’t have dimples, try to show them all the time. It’s a stressful evening for participants — there’s a lot of anxiety and excitement about who is going to win, agreements, disagreements… so, I like to keep it light. It’s nice to see people smiling but I have realised something over the years. In fact, it was better explained to me by my wife Gauri. She told me, ‘When you started off and did all this, you were kind of junior in terms of your status in the film industry. It looked nice then, but now you are a senior member of the industry and when you do this, it can hurt sentiments’.”

Adding to Gauri’s advice to him, the actor explained, “Earlier it was a little easy; it’s a bit more difficult now. When I joked about a young guy or a senior actor back then, they thought it was sweet. But today, it’s important that a senior member doesn’t seem callous about someone’s work, so that makes it sensitive. I think AND because of that and partly because of my sense of humour, I have to curtail myself. Normally, when I am going to do something extremely funny, I call the person in question and ask him if it’s okay to crack a joke like this. From the outside, I may not understand my status as a senior person but people from the industry, who have probably grown up watching me, may feel hurt ke ‘Shah Rukh ne humara mazak udaya’.”

SRK concluded with a modest confession. He revealed, “Now, I have also become gentler and realised that if I have a film that hasn’t done well, it’s not really funny if someone’s making fun of it. So, I should curtail myself too.”