Have nothing to lose: Shah Rukh Khan

The actor, who turned 54 on Saturday, said he had already seen the worst early on in his life and believes the only way to survive is by living in the moment.

"I was very fortunate and unfortunate too because when I came to Mumbai to work I had lost everything in my life, my parents, money and I had a sister, who was rather unwell and I had just got married and had no house. So I couldn't think anything could be worse than this.

"I felt whatever happens will be good only. In a strange way the negativity in my life made me feel that nothing bad will happen. I never thought I would lose anything," Shah Rukh said at the meet and greet event with his fans on his birthday.

The actor celebrated his special day with thousands of fans at St Andrew's Auditorium in suburban Bandra last evening.

Shah Rukh said he is grateful to his industry friends and collaborators -- Juhi Chawla, filmmaker Aziz Mirza and Rajiv Mehra and actor-producer Vivek Vaswani -- for standing by him in times of crisis.

"...They gave their houses on low rent to me and looked after me. I think I was happy and everything seemed very good. I never had a problem. I am same even now. There is nothing to lose.

"I always tell people, in life things do become alright, they may not seem so, they may take a little while. But things become alright. We have a habit that when good things happen we tend to look at some negativity in it. We keep thinking about negative things. So doubts should be removed and you should enjoy every moment," he added.

When one of the fans asked how he balances stardom, personal life and fans, Shah Rukh said he doesn't have to manage anything.

He said he just concentrates on his work as his fans are creating a legacy for him through their children.

"For the last 15 years, when I see other actors, actresses or their films I feel all of  them are better than me. There is a saying, when people give you a lot of love, you become really great and sometimes you become great enough to be humble. I think that is real greatness and I think I have reached that level.

"The humility is not because of the achievement but because how much you invest in me as people, boys, girls, parents, kids. For a young kid to know me because of you, it is something that you are passing on my legacy not only to my children but other children also. So God has been kind, you have been kind. I don't have to do anything. You all have done my future investment so well that I don't have to do anything."

The actor's last release was 2018 film "Zero", which underperformed, and the actor has since taken a break. He now aims to try something new but wants to ensure that the films are entertaining.

He said since he comes from a theatre background and reads and thinks a lot, he believes he can create interesting characters. He hopes there is a marriage between commercial and content cinema.

"Sometimes when I do new characters people do not like it and I do feel sad that you are trying to get that balance where people enjoy the film, get entertained also and if I can entertain you with a new character. I think I have enough in me to be able to do a few other good characters.

"Since I am in commercial cinema and so not many people offer me that kind of work. The main reason why I took a year off, where I can get this marriage happen, where I do commercial films with song and dance and if I can make the hero have a different kind of character, instead of it being only artistic."