In which he mentions my country

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At this point, TAG Heuer officials walk into the sitting room and tell me that my 15 minutes are up but the ever charming Khan very quickly adds: "She's come all the way from Malaysia; I am sure I can spare a little more time. After all, Malaysia is one of my favourite countries.

"Is it really one of your favourite countries?

Yes, in fact my favourite country outside India.

Why?

It's a country filled with wonderful people. One of my greatest friends comes from Malaysia and he is [Tun] Dr Mahathir [Mohamad]. A great man with great vision. I really like him. He was the first person who made me believe that I had a great fan base outside India. Until I met him, I thought that I was only great in India.

I will never forget the day when I was walking along down the street in his then new administrative capital Putrajaya. He was Prime Minister then. He was so obviously proud of it and while we were walking, lots of Malaysians started gathering around. I thought they wanted to speak with him or shake his hands. He looked at me and said this: "Shah Rukh, all these people want to meet you and not me. Your movies are a great hit here in Malaysia and I too am a great fan of yours."

It was only then that it dawned on me that I was reaching out to people outside India as well. I made him a promise then that I would one day shoot an entire film in Malaysia. And I finally did that with Don this year [2006]. Before that I had shot several song routines... in Langkawi and he came to see me there.

I genuinely like him, he is a sweet gentleman. I know he's currently going through a lot in Malaysia. People are saying all sorts of things about him. Putting his politics aside, one has to learn to like people beyond the work they do.