Shah Rukh Khan may have regained his status at the box office with three breakout hits last year, but it’s important to remember the slump that came before that. In a new interview with Variety, the actor spoke about the failure of his 2018 film Zero and how he “just didn’t want to act anymore” after that. (Also Read – Shah Rukh Khan reveals details about his next film King: “It’s a cool, massive, emotional film”)

Shah Rukh says he didn’t want to act

Shah Rukh announced that he was set to shoot a new film in January 2019, barely a month after Zero released in December 2018. The film he was referring to was reportedly Saare Jahan Se Achha, the biopic on Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian man in space. It was directed by Mahesh Mathai and produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur’s production company Roy Kapur Films. However, Shah Rukh has now revealed why he dropped out of the film at the last minute.

“I called the producer and told him I didn’t want to work for a year. He said, ‘That’s not possible. You don’t sit there for a minute without working. So if you don’t like the film, say no, don’t say you’re not working for a year.’ And a year and a half later, he actually called and said, ‘I was really surprised that you’re actually not working.’ So I just didn’t want to work. I just didn’t want to act. I didn’t feel like it. Because for me, acting is really, really organic,” Shah Rukh said.

Shah Rukh described his departure as “unprofessional”

“I have always said that the day I don’t want to get up in the morning and do the shoot, I don’t want to work. Honestly, it wasn’t the failure of the films. I shot a film in January and this (Zero Release) was in December. Very unprofessional of me. I just woke up and said, ‘I don’t want to go and shoot this film,'” Shah Rukh added.

Shah Rukh will next be seen in Sujoy Ghosh’s ‘King’.