25 years of SRK!

A story of brilliant hits and sorry misses!

Shah Rukh Khan, popularly known as “King Khan”, has completed 25 years in the industry; we all know this! Writing about any successful public figure's professional journey is tough. As many people know most of the stuff about the person.

The biggest statement you can make in SRK's favour is that post-Rajesh Khanna no one has ruled the genre of romance as this man has. He also brought work ethics to the table; when most of our male superstars were known to be self-obsessed egomaniacs this man demanded change from Bollywood when chaos was considered a way of life.

For me SRK became noticeable, not in ‘Deewana’ but what he did post that. Legend has it that Manmohan Desai approached him for a movie and SRK demanded a hardbound script. In those days the only other man who was known to be this "eccentric" was Aamir.

However, I found SRK's approach gutsy and refreshing. Aamir came from a family backing and was a big name when he made these demands. SRK was an outsider, a man who then belonged to no camp and irked the ego of a famous filmmaker.

Then SRK turned the rules of stardom. He attempted roles and cinema, which many chickened out from. Aamir turned down ‘Darr’ thinking it was too negative and the idea of getting beaten by Sunny Deol in the climax did not appeal to him. SRK took the challenge and the rest, to use the cliché, is history.

The biggest benefit of ‘Darr’ came from the association he then went on to forge with YRF. Some of his most memorable stuff came upon his partnering with the Chopras and Karan Johar also got connected with SRK through the YRF days.

SRK's biggest achievement is the fact that he actually contributed to the revival of a sinking Amitabh Bachchan. Post-ABCL debacle and the duds that his movies were turning out to be, the legend has it that Amitabh approached Yash Chopra. The big-hearted Chopra was quick to understand and ‘Mohabbatein’ happened, which was directed by Aditya Chopra.

Difficult as it might be for Bachchan fans to digest ‘Mohabbattein’ was as much a hit because of Bachchan's super effort as much as the fact that SRK presence ensured that fans came in droves to see the clash. Bachchan won the screen clash and SRK won a piece of history for himself.

SRK continued his approach of "change the rules" and "better" cinema with efforts like ‘Swades’ and ‘Chak De’. Post that while his movies continued the gigantic BO numbers, came what one can conclude as his creative block. Most of his movies have started appearing as it has been there and was kind of repetition of his earlier better stuff.

‘Fan’ looked like another repeat and a very bad re-run of his ‘Darr’ and ‘Baazigar’, while ‘Dilwale’ though not so bad as critics will tell you, looked like a very weak effort to bring back the Kajol-SRK aura of ‘Karan Arjun’ and ‘DDLJ’ days. His biggest drawback in last few years has also been the Bachchan obsession, which keeps surfacing. The ‘Don’ series, which he indulges in, frankly comes across as making a caricature of his own self.

As we all wait for ‘Harry Met Sejal’ let’s hope that SRK can quickly reposition and continue his good work. It has been a good two-and-a-half decade all said and done.