Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Alia Bhatt and other stars dazzle at WAVES 2025, celebrating media and innovation

Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Alia Bhatt and other celebrities on Thursday brought the glamour quotient to the inaugural WAVES summit here. The four-day event, which aims to position India as a global hub for media, entertainment and digital innovation by bringing together creators, start ups, industry leaders and policy-makers from across the world, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

SRK uncensored on insider vs outsider debate

Sagarika Choudhary 

Two of the biggest stars of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone, attended the WAVES 2025 event in Mumbai on Thursday. While at it, they opened up on the much-discussed insider vs outsider debate, and both opined how the words hold very little weight compared to what they are assumed to.

Speaking on his journey from Delhi to Mumbai with no contacts and connections, Shah Rukh said, “I would like to clarify, hunger, struggle, and ambition are lofty words. I have a problem with the distinction of insider and outsider. It is not important where you come from. What is important is that you want to make a place for yourself in this world and how you plan to achieve it. If you pity yourself and keep wallowing, then you will not be able to make your way into the industry.”

The superstar went on to say, “The world is a sphere; there’s no entry and exit door. You just have to learn and find the way. Also, this world does not give a damn about anyone. We are very insignificant. The world does not care where Shah Rukh or Deepika come from; it cares about how they’ve found a space for themselves in that sphere.”

“When I came to Mumbai, I never thought that I was an outsider in this world. I just had one thought: that this is my world now. And everyone in the industry embraced me with open arms, like the rising sun of a new day at Marine Drive. What matters is your belief that you belong to this place. I don’t know if I have hunger, ambition, and all those words, but I know that I can work hard and I have the determination,” he averred.

Deepika on being a Bollywood newbie

Sagarika Choudhary 

Deepika Padukone, who marked her debut with Shah Rukh Khan’s Om Shanti Om, agreed with the Raees actor’s words and recalled, “When I had started, these words like ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ didn’t exist. For me, it was just a new world. I was a 16-17-year-old girl who had come from Bengaluru to Mumbai.

Farah Khan must have spotted me at some modelling gig and she didn’t even audition me for Om Shanti Om. I remember doing a meeting with her, and she said she wanted me to meet Shah Rukh once. He was shooting for Chak De! India in Australia at that time. Once he returned, we did a meeting and that was it.”

“So, I never felt like I was an outsider trying to make my place in a new industry. I had the dedication, passion, and hard work — those things were in my control. I just knew that this was the thing I was passionate about, and I wanted to do it, and do it well,” she concluded.

The WAVES 2025 summit is a four-day event bringing pioneers of global cinema and other entertainment stakeholders from across the world under one roof. The initiative is the government’s aim to propel the Indian entertainment industry into the global scheme of things.