‘Deepika is Amar, I am Akbar, John is Anthony’: Shah Rukh Khan message on unity and inclusivity

Mumbai: Shah Rukh Khan compared himself and his Pathaan co-stars to the lead characters of Manmohan Desai’s 1977 film Amar Akbar Anthony to promote the message of unity and inclusivity.

“This is Deepika Padukone, she is Amar; I am Shah Rukh Khan, Akbar; this is John Abraham, he is Anthony. And this is what makes cinema. Amar Akbar and Anthony,” Shah Rukh Khan said at a press conference on Monday. The 57-year-old spoke to the conference alongside his Pathaan co-stars Deepika Padukone and John Abraham. “There are no differences that any of us have for anybody, any culture, any aspect of life. We love you and that’s why we make films. We love you to give us love. Give us love, we are hungry for love,” said SRK.

"This is #DeepikaPadukone, yeh Amar hai, Main #ShahRukhKhan hoon, main Akbar hoon, Yeh #JohnAbraham hai, Anthony hai. This is what makes Cinema. Amar, Akbar & Anthony!"

: @iamsrk ❤️

Last evening at #Pathaan's conference 🔥 pic.twitter.com/9aj21XmPeb

— Shah Rukh Khan Warriors FAN Club (@TeamSRKWarriors) January 31, 2023

“To be honest when we make films, be it in north, south, east, west, our aim is to spread happiness, brotherhood, love, kindness… Even when I’m playing a bad guy in ‘Darr’ or John is bad in this film… We are just playing characters. None of this is meant to hurt any sentiment. It is just entertainment,” said Shah Rukh Khan, whose latest project faced calls for boycott before it was even released.

“We have to keep our culture, our old stories all that is seeped into this country, beautiful country, which is India. We have to tell the stories in modern ways, in different ways. And when we tell them in different ways there is no way we are deriding anybody. We are just trying to speak the language of youngsters which has changed,” the actor explained.