SRK opens up on hiatus from acting, his conditions for working in Hollywood

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan has has opened up on his five-year hiatus from acting and why he chose not to work in Hollywood in an interview with Variety.

When asked about his hiatus from acting and the poor performance of some of his films before 2023, the superstar said some of the films he loves the most have ended up not doing well, and his hiatus had nothing to do with their performance at the box office.

"Some of these films which didn’t do well were so personal that they were not simple enough, they were so personal they got very shrunk," he said.

According to the actor, one day he woke up and did not feel like working for a year (which later turned to five).

"I was doing a film in January, and this was in December. Very unprofessional of me. I just woke up and I said, 'I don’t want to go and shoot this film,'" the 14-time Filmfare Award winner said.

Regarding how he spent his time during his long break, SRK said that he learnt to cook, clean, and continued working out.

And in his quintessential style of humour, the actor added, "I did work out, because nothing else to do during Covid, because my hiatus went into Covid. Actually, the whole world went into hiatus when I decided not to work."

Regarding why he has not yet worked in a Hollywood film, the actor said that if he is ever offered a role, it should be worthy of his star status, albeit in not so many words.

"I don’t want to sound uppity, but it should be a role worthy of the status the Indian audience has given me. It should not let down," SRK believes.

On the work front, Khan is set to voice the Hindi version of the upcoming Disney adventure musical Mufasa: The Lion King with sons Aryan Khan and AbRam Khan.

Directed by Oscar winner Barry Jenkins and original songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the film will release in cinemas on December 20 in English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu.

He is also working on a project called King, helmed by Sujoy Ghosh, in which Khan will share the screen for the first time with his daughter Suhana.