Shah Rukh Khan opens up about dropping out of Slumdog Millionaire, says he’d love to play a Bond villain: ‘I’m brown enough’

Shah Rukh Khan opened up about why he hasn't ever worked in a Hollywood film. He also spoke about his rumoured project with Leonardo DiCaprio, and dropping out of Slumdog Millionaire.

Shah Rukh Khan dropped out of Slumdog Millionaire.

Shah Rukh Khan in a new interview opened up about why he hasn’t ever worked in a Hollywood film, and his decision to drop out of the Oscar-winning blockbuster Slumdog Millionaire. Shah Rukh was slated to play the antagonistic game show host in director Danny Boyle’s film, but was uncertain about how it would affect his image as a figure of hope. He also said that he’d love to play a Bond villain, although he’s ‘too short’ to play James Bond himself.

At an event in Dubai, journalist Richard Quest asked Shah Rukh about his rumoured international projects, such as a crime movie from Martin Scorsese that would’ve co-starred Leonardo DiCaprio. Asked why he hasn’t crossed over to the West yet, Shah Rukh said, “I’ve said this honestly, but nobody believes me. Nobody has offered me any crossover work of substance. I may have had conversations with people. I know lots of lovely people from the West, from the English film industry, from the American film industry, but nobody has offered me any work. I hear actors talk about wanting to cross over, but I still have to learn to deliver to the audience that likes me, instead of spreading myself too thin. So, really, I’ve never been offered a film in Hollywood or England.”

Also read – Shah Rukh Khan opens up about ‘disappearance’ after 2018, admits he was ‘licking his wounds’ after massive flops: ‘I wasn’t listening to audiences’

Addressing the Slumdog Millionaire episode he continued, “Yes, Slumdog was there, and I spent a lot of time with Mr Boyle. He was very sweet. But I was doing Who Wants to be a Millionaire on television, but I just felt that in the story being told, the guy who was hosting was very mean. The guys who were producing the show wanted me to do the film. But the character was cheating and being dishonest as the host, I found that very strange, and I explained to Mr Boyle that I wouldn’t like to do it, please, and there are way better actors than me. Mr Anil Kapoor did it, and he was fantastic as the host.”

In an earlier interview with Jonathan Ross, Shah Rukh said that Boyle ‘felt bad’ about him dropping out of the film, and explained, “I was very keen for that film to be made. I didn’t do it because the host was a bit of a cheat, and I thought people might think I would do the same thing.” After Slumdog Millionaire’s release, the actor also defended the filmmakers against criticism of showing India in a poor light.

He said at an event, “I think it’s really nice that it will open doors for people to understand that there is a lot of visual appeal to India. I hear a lot of people saying that India has been shown in bad light. But then my logic to everyone is that why is it that somebody comes from outside and makes a film like Gandhi and Slumdog. It becomes internally acceptable. All we can say about it is that it is showing India in a poor light.”

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