Hyderabad: South actor Vijay Deverakonda, who seems to be quite inspired by Shah Rukh Khan, believes that if the ‘Pathaan’ actor can become one of the biggest stars of the industry without any Godfather, so can he.
While referring to Shah Rukh’s remark about being ‘the last of the stars’, Vijay said that the superstar is wrong as he is soon going to be as successful as King Khan.
“I can’t tell you how much Shah Rukh Khan’s success drove me. It showed me in clear terms: if he could do it, why couldn’t I? You only need one successful person as a reference point. Even when I was a nobody, I refused to do so many films. I always felt that I was meant for bigger things. People said, ‘You will never get an opportunity like this,’ but I had higher expectations of myself,” Vijay said during an interview with GQ India in 2022.
Asked what he would like to say to Shah Rukh if he met him in person, Vijay said, “When I saw his interview, I remember wanting to say, ‘Shah Rukh, you’re wrong. You’re not the last. I’m coming’.”
For the unversed, during a conversation with Anupam Kher on ‘The Anupam Kher Show’, when Shah Rukh was asked if he ever thought someone else would surpass him in success, the actor confidently said, “No, that won’t happen. I am modest, as Anu sir said, but that won’t happen. I’ll tell you honestly — I am the last of the stars.”
The audience, along with host Anupam, erupted in cheers.
On the work front, Vijay will next be seen in Gowtam Tinnanuri’s Telugu spy thriller ‘Kingdom.’
Produced by Naga Vamsi and Sai Soujanya under the banners of Sithara Entertainments and Fortune Four Cinemas, the film is slated to release on May 30.
Shah Rukh, on the other hand, is currently busy with Siddharth Anand’s ‘King.’ The film also features Suhana Khan, Rani Mukerji, Deepika Padukone, Anil Kapoor, and Abhishek Bachchan.