Riyad: On stage at the Joy Forum 2025, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan gave a powerful message to young artists and filmmakers. Joined by fellow legends Salman Khan and Aamir Khan, he spoke about the true meaning of creativity the challenges of modern technology, and the need for every artist to protect their creative innocence.
The Core Lesson: ‘Art’ vs. ‘Craft’
Addressing the next generation of creators, Shah Rukh Khan started by explaining the key difference between the ‘art’ and the ‘craft’ of storytelling.
“There are two parts to being a creative person,” he said. “One is the art, one is the craft.”
- The Craft: Khan explained that ‘craft’ refers to the technical skills of creativity. “All the youngsters now are very video-literate,” he said. “Cameras are on their faces, in their hands, everywhere… The craft is now very easily available because of technology.” He recalled his own early days, when the loud “grr-grr” of old cameras was scary and actors had to shout over the noise—a problem solved by today’s technology.
- The Art: But his most important advice was about protecting the ‘art’. “The art has to be the innocence,” he stressed. “The innocence which Salman Khan has retained…, what Aamir Khan has retained…, hopefully, I can retain…” He said art is the simple, pure desire to tell a story—just like the ones they heard from their parents as kids.
Don’t Lose Your ‘Art’ in the Noise
The superstar warned young creators not to get lost in the distractions of modern fame, like social media trends, marketing, and the pressure to be on magazine covers. “There’s lots of noise around telling a story,” he said. He advised them to learn the technical skills but never to “let the craft take over the art that you have. And the art is the heart. That’s all you have. You have to feel from within.”
Lessons in Humility and Handling Failure
Shah Rukh also spoke with great humility about his own failures. “There are days when we get it wrong. We know it’s gone wrong,” he admitted. “We go back home and think, ‘Oh, I could have done that better’… We also feel very sad when it all goes wrong.”
He then shared the secret to bouncing back: “We wake up in the morning and feel that we have to get back to what we know best, which is just basic storytelling.”
He finished his speech by saying he was touched to hear that superstars like Salman and Aamir were inspired by the stories their fathers told them. “It’s as simple as that,” he said. “The stories you hear at home are the ones you want to tell the world. That simplicity is the art. So please hold on to that. Work hard, through good days and bad days, just keep working hard.”
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