SRK at TED Talks


on May 11, 2017
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“…You married the first girl that you dated… Gay was a sophisticated English word for happy… Apple was still then just a fruit…"Eureka!" was what you screamed when you wanted to run naked on the streets... Migration was a term then still reserved for Siberian trains, not human beings… Most importantly, you were who you were and you said what you thought…

Ladies and gentlemen, presenting you the unconventional, not-so-chocolatey and an unapologetic philosopher cum star, Shahrukh Khan! The actor recently spoke at TED Talks (the first Indian actor to do so) in Vancouver and the 17 minute talk is a brilliant mix of wisdom and wit. And for those of you who would want to see more of SRK can now rejoice as Star India would soon be broadcasting TED Talks India: Nayi Soch, hosted by the superstar.

Nothing gives us more joy that being a part of this journey as the strategic digital media partners for TEDx Delhi (an independently organized TED event). With that subtle integration, let’s look at the 12 best quotes from the talk that will touch your heart, inspire you and make you think twice about humanity, love and yourself.

  • “I truly believe that humanity is a lot like me. It's an ageing movie star, grappling with all the newness around itself, wondering whether it got it right in the first place, and still trying to find a way to keep on shining regardless.”
  • “The internet happened. I was in my late 40s, and I started tweeting like a canary in a birdcage and assuming that, you know, people who peered into my world would admire it for the miracle I believed it to be. But something else awaited me and humanity. You know, we had expected an expansion of ideas and dreams with the enhanced connectivity of the world. We had not bargained for the village-like enclosure of thought, of judgment, of definition that flowed from the same place that freedom and revolution was taking place in.”
  • “In this new world, slowly, reality became virtual and virtual became real, and I started to feel that I could not be who I wanted to be or say what I actually thought, and humanity at this time completely identified with me. I think both of us were going through our midlife crisis, and humanity, like me, was becoming an overexposed prima donna.”
  • “I just want to tell you if there has been a momentous time for humanity to exist, it is now, because the present you is brave. The present you is hopeful. The present you is innovative and resourceful, and of course, the present you is annoyingly indefinable.”
  • “The land I come from is the source of inexplicable but very simple spirituality… The people of this ancient land embraced me in their limitless love, and I've learned from these people that neither power nor poverty can make your life more magical or less tortuous. I've learned from the people of my country that the dignity of a life, a human being, a culture, a religion, a country actually resides in its ability for grace and compassion.”
  • “I've learned that whatever moves you, whatever urges you to create, to build, whatever keeps you from failing, whatever helps you survive, is perhaps the oldest and the simplest emotion known to mankind, and that is love.”
  • “…all the books of knowledge that you might read and then go ahead and impart your knowledge through innovation, through creativity, through technology, but mankind will never be the wiser about its future unless it is coupled with a sense of love and compassion for their fellow beings.”
  • “The two and a half alphabets which form the word "प्रेम," which means "love," if you are able to understand that and practice it, that itself is enough to enlighten mankind. So I truly believe the future "you" has to be a you that loves. Otherwise it will cease to flourish. It will perish in its own self-absorption.”
  • “So you may use your power to build walls and keep people outside, or you may use it to break barriers and welcome them in. You may use your faith to make people afraid and terrify them into submission, or you can use it to give courage to people so they rise to the greatest heights of enlightenment. You can use your energy to build nuclear bombs and spread the darkness of destruction, or you can use it to spread the joy of light to millions.”
  • “My country has taught me the capacity for a human being to love is akin to godliness. It shines forth in a world which civilization, I think, already has tampered too much with.”
  • “I believe the future "you" is an infinite you. It's called a chakra in India, like a circle. It ends where it begins from to complete itself. A “you” that perceives time and space differently understands both your unimaginable and fantastic importance and your complete unimportance in the larger context of the universe. A “you” that returns back to the original innocence of humanity, which loves from the purity of heart, which sees from the eyes of truth, which dreams from the clarity of an untempered mind.”
  • “The future "you" has to be like an ageing movie star who has been made to believe that there is a possibility of a world which is completely, wholly, self-obsessively in love with itself.”

Here’s the full video of the talk.

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