Jeff Bezos, Shah Rukh Khan, and Zoya Akhtar

Shah Rukh Khan: Tell me, have you seen any perceptible change in India apart from the traffic when you came last time? Apart from the traffic. Apart from traffic. Jeff Bezos: You know, it's interesting.

I so I guess the I the first time I came to India was about 11 years ago. I don't know that I have seen perceptible changes of any great magnitude. The thing, what I would actually say is that I notice there's certain things that seem to me to be the same, and I love those things.

One of the things I notice every time I come here is that there is so much energy here, and dynamism, and color. The word I would use for it is the whole place seems so full of life. And everywhere you go, every single thing you do, and the diversity of India.

When I come here, I've never seen a more diverse place. Everywhere I travel in the world, nowhere more diverse than India. So the energy, self-improvement.

Every time I come here, I find that the people that I talk to are focused on and interested in being better tomorrow than they are today. Everybody here seems to be focused on self-improvement. Zoya Akhtar: Did you think online retail would get this big?

Jeff Bezos: Oh, no. So, you know, when I started Amazon, it was 25 years ago. I started Amazon in 1994. When I went to seek investors, the first question I had to answer is, "What is the Internet?"

None of my investors had ever heard of the Internet. And the the idea that I had in mind was to build a bookstore. I realized that we could build a store which would have every book ever printed in any language, in print or out of print, and we could do that online.

It would be impossible in a physical store. And that was the founding idea of Amazon. And but did I expect what would happen today?

No. You know, we started, I've been at Amazon when it was one person, me, when it was 10 people, when it was 100 people, when it was 1,000 people. And today, when it's. You know, more than 700,000 people and approaching 70,000 people just here in India. So, no, I did not predict that.

And actually, I think if anybody had predicted that, they would've needed to be immediately institutionalized in a mental facility. Because it's not a normal thing to have happen. My dream when I started Amazon was that one day we might be able to afford a forklift.

So it's been a very, fun journey for me. And by the way, I still tap dance into work. I'm having so much fun.

Zoya Akhtar: Is there anything you don't sell on Amazon? Anything we don't sell? Yeah, or anything you tried to sell and didn't work?

Anything you decided not to go with? Oh, Jeff Bezos: well, there are things we tried to sell that didn't work. We tried to sell a phone called the Fire Phone, and we worked on it for four years, and no one bought it.

I think my mother bought one. And I don't think she was that happy with it. But it is.

But no, there are things, there are things that we deliberately don't sell. We don't sell guns. We don't sell tobacco.

There are things we don't sell, but and that we make deliberate decisions about. But other than those things, we try to sell everything that anyone might want to buy, and we're trying to make it as convenient as possible for people. You know, in the early 21st century, we're all busy.

Everybody in this room is busy. And if you can save people time, let them spend more time with their families, and with their friends, and doing the things that they really enjoy, then you're doing them a real service. All Shah Rukh Khan: right. Most of the people here, Jeff, are from, lots of them I see, are from the film industry.

And it was, very heartening when Amazon started creating original content. Yeah. So we don't think of our films as just products, you know? Right. So there's a very clear demarcation.

You know, some of them think we do a film for the creative fun of Yeah. For the artistry of it. Yes. Oh, yeah, this one is for business.

We don't look down upon it, but we clearly demarcate it. Yeah. So we know this girl, this boy, artist, we won't make the money. This one is for money.

Now, you are into original content. The company's into original content in a big way. What's your stance on it?

Are you still that person who says, "No, I'm gonna do this for the creativity, the artistry. Forget the the business." "No, I'm doing this only for the business."

Or is it a mix of both and you say, "Just put on lots of stuff. Let someone come on the store and find whatever they want. I'm easy with that."

Jeff Bezos: Well, I think this is a great question, and it's actually something we debate. And I think the very, if you look at the very best things in the world, they do both. And I think this is a golden age of television.

So when you look at, you know, TV series today, the really good TV series are, in terms of quality, they're as good as the very best movies have ever been. And you now, you're getting the best storytellers to come do television. You're getting the best actors to now come do television.

Of course, one of the great storytellers is right here. Thank you for the help. Thank you. And this is, this is a big deal when you can get the very best people.

'Cause this is one of those businesses where the viewer, the, is always looking for something a little fresh. And so you can never find a formula because as soon as you find a formula, it's not fresh anymore. They're always looking for something a little new.

So it really takes human ingenuity. It takes people. The storytellers have to be in touch with the zeitgeist. And what I want Amazon Studios to be all over the world, I want us to be known as the most talent-friendly studio in the world.

And the reason you need to do that. Thank you Is because at the end of the day, it is the talent that makes those stories. Storytelling is the oldest thing that humans do.

We've been doing it for thousands and thousands of years, long before there was written language, before there was any medium to convey it. People sat around and they told each other stories. And it's how we teach each other things, and we learn from stories.

We learn from fiction. We learn from fiction because we get to live an alternate life. In that moment, you watch this and you're learning it.

So it can be fun, it can be action, it can be funny, it can be comedy, but the very best things take those elements and teach a little something. There's something in there that you walk away with, and you're inspired by it. And it doesn't matter if it's drama, comedy, anything, you're gonna walk away with something.

And there needs to be lightness. You know, you can't watch something that's just all heavy and you're like, "Oh my God," you know, "I wanna kill myself now." There also has to be that gesture.

There has to be somebody who brings you out and lets you breathe a little bit. So this. And this is so hard to do. That's why there is so much bad, so many bad movies, and so many bad TV shows because it's in.

It's, it is one of the hardest things that humans do, is tell riveting, engaging, inspiring stories. But when you get it right, it's a lever that can change the world. Are you a competitive producer?

Am I a what? Zoya Akhtar: A competitive producer, and I don't mean business-wise, I mean creatively. Like, would you see a film or a show on another platform, like what you described- Yeah.

Which is brilliant- Yeah. And be like, "Why don't I have this?" Jeff Bezos: Well, I have regrets.

I mean, we've turned down things that later were so good, I wish we hadn't turned them down. But we've also picked up things that other people turned down, and we've made them great. And so the truth is, it is the the storytelling is infinite.

If I tell a good story, it doesn't make your story bad. There is not, It is. These are not substitute products.

You know, so it is I don't feel like you get the best results with storytelling by trying to make sure that other people's stories are worse than your stories. This is one of those things where you can. There can be a lot of good stories in the world.

You're really competing, not against others, you're competing against this, just the complexity of how hard it is. That's why. You guys have all seen this. If you're in the entertainment business, you can.

There are movies and TV shows where you know the people involved, and every one of those people is talented, and still the final product is bad. It happens, and because there's a little bit of mystery to it. We don't know how to do it.

It's, perfectly, and that's what makes it so fun because it is, there is an artistic element to it. It is not science. Shah Rukh Khan: Is there something you think is a sheer waste of time?

Jeff Bezos: Look, there are a lot of things that are a waste of time. You know, when you think about your life, I think. I often tell people, that I work with, "If you can get."

'Cause people have very high standards for how they want their work life to be. And I said, "Look, if you can get your work life to be where you enjoy half of it, that is a whole. That is amazing," because very few people ever achieve that.

Because the truth is, everything comes with overhead. That's reality. Everything comes with pieces that you don't like. You could be a Supreme Court justice, and there's still gonna be pieces of your job you don't like.

You can be a university professor, and still gonna be you have to go to committee meetings, and you have to do you know. There are. Every job comes with pieces you don't like, and we need to say, "That's just how. That's part of it," and and not resent those pieces or try not to.

But also try to minimize them. I tell senior executives, "You should have the least stress." You know, there's this weird, I think false, idea that CEOs.

I'm a CEO. There's this false idea that CEOs are under the most stress. Well, I look at that, I'm like, "Why? You're in charge. Why don't you delegate the stress?

It's your choice." And so it's, you have to figure out how to set up your life in such a way that you can minimize the things. And I find people don't dislike hard work. What people dislike and is being, out of control.

Like, they can't control their life. They can't control their environment. This happens to me when I get overscheduled.

I hate being overscheduled. I want some time to be able to think and free myself. We all have the same amount of time in the world.

Nobody has more time than anybody else. And when you become a very successful person, one of the things, you start to get overscheduled. You have this event.

You had to agree to do this, and maybe last night you were like, "Why did I agree to do this?" "I have to go on stage tomorrow. I wish I were really with my family."

And you know, or I hope maybe not this case. Let's say that you like this one. But in general

That kind of thing happens. And so you have to guard your time and and try to stay a little bit flexible. So that's, for me, it's not a waste of time, but I like to have some freedom of movement, rather than having every minute of every day scheduled.

Zoya Akhtar: What is your one hot tip for somebody on the onset of their career? Jeff Bezos: So a young person starting their career, I think there are probably a lot of things. Some of them are very well known, and people have heard them many times.

They're still true. One of those is you should always focus on a young person should find something that they're passionate about to do. And that's not gonna surprise anyone. It's, it's a clear thing to do.

It's very hard. If you don't love your work, you're never gonna be great at it. I think the other thing I would suggest to, any young person, even before they start their career, is to really think about their choices. Because I find young people and I when I was young, I had I made this mistake, too.

You can get very fixed on your gifts. So everybody has gifts. You know, you have gifts, and you have things that you didn't get gifted.

Maybe you're extremely beautiful. Maybe you're extremely good at mathematics. Maybe you There are a lot of things that you can be given.

But those things can confuse you because they're not the things that construct your life. It's your choices that construct your life, not your gifts. You can celebrate your gifts.

Be proud of them. Be happy of them. Actually, don't be proud of them.

Be celebratory of them, because you can't be proud, because they're gifts. They were given to you. You didn't earn them.

You can only be proud of the things you earn. And so as I got older, I started to realize I wasn't proud of my gifts. I was always good at school.

School was always easy for me, and I was always proud that I was a great student. I got As in all my classes. I was good at math, all of that, and I thought, I thought that's who I was, but it's not true.

Those are the things that are gifts. What was hard for me is deciding to work hard, deciding to use my gifts in certain ways, to challenge myself, to, do things that I didn't think I could do, to put myself in uncomfortable situations. We all get I would say to a young person, "You can choose a life of ease and comfort, or you can choose a life of service and adventure.

Which one of those, when you're ninety years old, are you gonna be more proud of?" Shah Rukh Khan: I want to know, Jeff, where I started from, actually. Is there a job If it wasn't Amazon, if it wasn't business-related, is there something else?

You started all over again at this age and stage, and you took on a different profession. Would there be one that is close to your heart? Jeff Bezos: I would be very curious today.

If I were a young college student today, I would be very interested in biotechnology. I think biotechnology is a, just a fascinating arena that probably in the near in the next ten or twenty years is gonna be a golden age of biotech. One of the golden ages that's happening right now before our eyes is also artificial intelligence and machine learning.

So that's another arena that I would, I would be very interested in. My backup career is, I'm a very good bartender. So if all else fails, you'll see me at the local bar, and I'll be making your drinks.

Slowly, but they'll be good. Zoya Akhtar: If there's one thing you could have more of, what would that be? Jeff Bezos: Hmm. One thing I could have more of.

I mean, the obvious answer is time. You know, it is, time to do. I like time. I don't I'm not efficient with my time.

Because efficiency, there's an embedded efficie there's an embedded assumption when you're being efficient, and the embedded assumption is that you know where you're going. And I like to wander, because it's wandering that allows you to invent and to explore and to follow your curiosity. But wandering is very time-consuming.

And so if I could have one more thing, it would just be more time. Shah Rukh Khan: So wonderful. A big round of applause for Jeff and for Zoya. Thank you. Thank you so much.