Born a Muslim and brought up and married to a Hindu, Shah Rukh Khan is Bollywood's brand ambassador. The star of Bollywood, who is all the time all over the place, is troubled lately by the happenings in the Islamic world.

At the same time, he feels it is important for him to stand up and be counted, "to be standing for the goodness of Islam".

As much an ambassador for Islam as Bollywood, 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 news magazine, Tehelka, the Bollywood icon whose children are being brought up by the tenets of both 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 jihad. I'd like people to know that the actual meaning of jihad is to overcome one's own violence and weakness.

If need be, overcome it violently," says Shah Rukh. In an interview where he lays bare his soul, he gives a fascinating insight into his identity as a Muslim, a husband, a father, a son and a brother.

Shah Rukh says of his elder sister, who lives with him: "My sister reminds me everyday that I cannot have a life like my father's." His sister, Lala, was medically described as having a potassium imbalance and physically, she went all wrong.

SRK, who has often spoken of his anguish at his parents' early deaths -- his father when he was 15 and his mother when he was just 25 -- reveals unknown facts about his sister who was traumatised by their deaths. Lala is much better now, but will 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," he told Tehelka.

By the time she came to Mumbai, she was really unwell, and it took time for SRK to earn enough after which he got her treated in London.

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

We know of Shah Rukh Khan always talking about his son, Aryan, but so little of his daughter, Suhana. He claims that is because he's basically "shy of women".

He finds it difficult to play too long with her friends too, and adds that he's never seen the inside of his wife's cupboard, or her handbag, or her drawers, or whatever though he married her more than 15 years ago.

Strangely, his closest friends are women -- Farah Khan, Juhi Chawla and Kajol -- and most his male friends like Karan Johar are known to be on the effeminate side, too.

His shyness with women extends to his not being able to "pick up a lover" or make a pass. Even if a girl takes the initiative, he quickly kills it with jesting.

Often rammed for dancing in marriages for money, SRK reveals the 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 pm and end at 11:30 pm, 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."

The Bollywood Big Dad is not into watching too many films either for fear of getting "corrupted" or "confused" depending on whether it does well or fails. He was supposed to be part of 'Rang De Basanti' and the project was lying with him 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," he readily admits. Shah Rukh Khan also admits that he didn't like close friend Aditya Chopra's huge hit 'Dhoom 2' because "it lacked sensibility". - (SAMPURN)