Born a Muslim and brought up as a Hindu, Shah Rukh Khan is very sad to see the happenings in the Islamic world. The reigning star of Bollywood says he "needs to be standing for the goodness of Islam".

Stating that he is "truly" an ambassador for Islam, Shah Rukh says his childhood fascination with the Ram Lila hasn't changed. "But as I've grown older, and I see what's happening to Islam around the world, I think it's important that even without full knowledge of Islam, I need to be very clearly standing for the goodness of Islam."

In an interview with the weekly newsmagazine Tehelka, the star who is married to a Hindu and whose children are being brought up by the tenets of religions, says he stands for what a modern Muslim should be.

"I'd like people to know that Islam is not only about being a fanatic, or radically different, angered person, or one who only does jehad. I'd like people to know that the actual meaning of jehad is to overcome one's own violence and weakness. If need be, overcome it violently," says Shah Rukh.

In a deeply personal interview that gives a rare insight not only into his identity as a Muslim but also a husband, father, son and brother, Shah Rukh says of his elder sister: "My sister reminds me everyday that I cannot have a life like my father's."

The superstar, who has often spoken of his anguish at his parent's early death - his father when he was 15 and his mother when he was just 25 - speaks at length about his sister who "suffered a lot from their death".

"And I had a sister who was not well at all. Lala. She's much better now, but she'll never be fully well. Beautiful girl - physically and mentally, again an MA, LLB (like his father). But no good. After my father died, she got very shocked. Psychiatry wasn't so big then, it took us about four or five years to find help. Then it took five - six years for her to get very close to her mom, and then her mom died, so she was really shattered.

"Medically termed, she had a potassium imbalance. Physically, she started going very wrong."

By the time she came to Mumbai, she was really unwell, says Shah Rukh. "It took time for me to earn enough - during 'Dilwale Dulhaniya...' I took her to a doctor in London. Now, she's all right. Matlab, she'll never be fully all right, but she's better than what she was. She lives with me."

When he prays, the actor says, the closest he comes to a face are his mother and father - and his dogs! "I love my dog - Chewbacca. Is that blasphemous?"

And for those who have often wondered why Shah Rukh Khan talks so much about his son Aryan and so little of his daughter Suhana, here's the answer: "It's not that I'm not proud of her. In fact, I'm more proud of her in a certain way than even my son perhaps. But I'm shy of women.

"It's very shocking, but even with her friends, I can't play for too long. I think girls should be left on their own. And I've got this thing - I've never seen the inside of my wife's cupboard, or her handbag, or her drawers, or whatever. I've been married since '91, and I can't do it. I think a woman should have a lot of privacy. I'm like that even with my daughter."

He admits that most of his closest friends are women - Farah Khan, Juhi Chawla and Kajol - and most his male friends like Karan Johar are not very macho either.

About his much discussed "asexuality": "Its not asexuality. I'm just shy of women. I wouldn't know how to pick up a lover. If that's the right word to use."

"Sometimes girls say they like me. I don't know what to say, so before she thinks I'm foolish or asexual, I just say something funny. The best way to kill romance is to joke. And, again it's that conservative thing - I can't make the first move..."

Often castigated for dancing in marriages for money, Shah Rukh answers why and how: "I do perform at weddings. But it is very difficult to afford what I demand. You have to do it like a show, it has to be in an area where nobody drinks and eats, it will start at 9 p.m. and end at 11.30 p.m., the stage will be 30 by 40 feet, we will make our entries, we will not chat with anyone, we will not eat your food, we will not take pictures with your daughter or daughter-in-law, unless we personally want to. We will come, perform, and we will go away."

Discussing films, he says he simply that he doesn't watch them. "I get corrupted. When I see a good film and it doesn't do well, or I see a bad film, and it does well, it confuses me. I saw 'Rang De Basanti'. It was very well done. I was supposed to do a part in it. It was lying with me for about a year. I was shocked by the fact that I couldn't read into the script. I just didn't see any of it."

Shah Rukh also admits that he didn't like close friend Aditya Chopra's hit film "Dhoom 2" because it lacked sensibility.