'It's good to be back': Shah Rukh Khan on best actor win at IIFA 2024

Superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who won the best actor trophy for ‘Jawan’ at the IIFA Awards 2024 ceremony, said he and his family went through a “tough time” while the movie was under development, and that he was happy to end his year on a high after the victory.

Directed by Atlee, ‘Jawan’ follows the emotional journey of a man who is set to rectify the wrongs in the society. It starred Shah Rukh in the dual role of Vikram Rathore and his son Azad.

Shah Rukh, who also hosted Saturday's IIFA Awards with Vicky Kaushal and Karan Johar, said while he did not like talking about his personal life, ‘Jawan’ was made “under stress”.

“We all were going through a little bit of a tough time while making ‘Jawan’... It's good to be back. I'm extremely grateful for this award. I love awards, I'm greedy about awards... I'm genuinely back and really happy to end the year like this,” the actor said in his awards acceptance speech.

King Khan had taken a break post the release of 2018’s ‘Zero’ after some of his films didn't do well at the box office. Tough times also hit home when his eldest son, Aryan Khan, was arrested in connection with the Mumbai cruise drugs case in 2021 and spent 22 days in jail.

The family was under intense media scrutiny during this time. In 2022, Aryan was cleared of all charges.

“We are all professionals who are supposed to do our job, but I'd like to thank the team behind me Arun, Raj, Sharina, Anjali, Khushboo, Preety who did the make-up, and of course, Pooja (his manager). They all worked very, very hard for 2-3 years to make this film happen. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart,” he said.

The actor said he was accepting the trophy for all three of his 2023 releases ‘Jawan’, ‘Pathaan’ and ‘Dunki’.

“I have a little happiness from the audience this year because I have worked after a long time. So, I take this award for all the three films that I happen to do this year — the wonderful ‘Dunki’, the magnificent ‘Pathaan’, and absolutely mad ‘Jawan’,” said Shah Rukh, who returned to the big screen with ‘Pathaan’, almost five years after ‘Zero’.

“All of them deserve it in one way or the other,” he added.

The legendary actor was presented the award by his ‘Dil Se’ director Mani Ratnam and music composer AR Rahman.