It does seem fantastic, but if one were to describe the young Shah Rukh, he would be a lot like Raj, the character he played in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. The way the introductory scenes portray him in the movie is exactly what he was like then.
Much like Raj, Shah Rukh's main interest in school was sports. St Columba's Boys High School would wind up its scholastic activities by two or three in the afternoon, after which Shah Rukh would head straight to the practice grounds -- for football, hockey and cricket.
I raise my eyebrows. All three? "All three. I was just like what I am now. I could do five things at a time. I am a multi-tasker," he says, lounging in his chair. But which one was he good at? "All three," he says. "And I was the captain, captain of all three."
He leans forward, shifts the stuff on the table and fires footballs positions at me. "In football, I was the left out at times, but I was better at right. It was the 4-2-4 formation. Earlier it was 5-3-2. In 4-2-4, the winger, the inside actually, performs the job of a centre forward and the left in. In 5-3-2, there was the centre forward, there was a right in, left in, right out, left out. Five players. When it became 4-2-4, these two guys did the job of the centre forward and these two became the left in. So I used to play the right in. The right out is the flank. And there is no centre forward in 4-2-4; two guys go into midfield and four guys for defence or it could be changed to 4-4-2."
I stare nervously at Shah Rukh's finger drawing imaginary players on the table, my mind drawing a blank. This is much Greek and Latin to me. I hope my annoying recorder is picking this up at least. Shah Rukh then hurtles down to the cricketer's crease. He was the wicket keeper. And captain, of course! He wasn't a great bat, coming in fourth down or fifth down. But he made up for it with his excellent wicket-keeping skills. "My reflexes are very fast," he explains.
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