Every year on November 2, crowds of fans descend into Mumbai’s Bandra neighbourhood in the hopes of spotting their favourite celebrity. Shah Rukh Khan emerges from a fenced area as if from a scene of his 2009 film Billu. He waves, folds his hands, and sends flying kisses as he welcomes thousands of his fans. So, there must be some reason that there is no Bollywood without Shah Rukh Khan.
Because of Khan’s unchallenged rule, Mannat has grown rapidly to be one of the city’s most popular tourist destinations. At the very least, hundreds of Bollywood fans frequently stop by to take pictures in front of a celebrity’s home. Bollywood actor King Khan has shown his talent repeatedly over the course of his three-decade career; the accolades and honours he has garnered on a global scale are proof of this.
From the perfect chocolate lover boy to an antagonist plotting the deadliest of attacks, Khan has managed to keep the audience hooked for almost 35 years. There’s something about him, no doubt there. The actor, 57, as many would say, is the very last superstar of Bollywood. So, there are 3 reasons for the question ‘why there is no Bollywood without Shah Rukh Khan’. Let’s explore!
Reason #1: The wit, the charm, the charisma
It’s challenging to maintain fans’ attention in today’s fast-paced, technologically advanced society. However, despite a four-year absence from the big screen, Khan has maintained the fandom thanks to his wit, charm, and unmistakable charisma. In the first two days after its release, his most recent work, Pathaan, brought in more than INR 1 billion worldwide. As people got more eager to see their beloved artist on screen, the lines at the theatres were getting longer.
A video of the aforementioned film’s screening in a Mumbai cinema went viral on social media, where the audience could be seen shaking a leg with King Khan as the credits rolled. “This is the kind of power he has over his fans,” Sameer Sewak, a Dehradun resident tells The Express Tribune in a Zoom conversation. Sewak, like millions of others, grew up watching Khan’s films. “The first film I watched of Shah Rukh Khan was Baazigar. The first film of his that I watched in a cinema was Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge.”
For Khan’s latest, Sewak took a day off from work to watch Pathaan on its second day. “It’s hard to just share one aspect of his appeal to people. I think it’s different for every individual. For instance, there are actors who resonate better with the intellectuals, others have more relatability to a common Indian. But I guess Shah Rukh Khan is just everyone’s favourite. My friends who have been doing their PHDs, friends who are software engineers are die-hard Shah Rukh Khan fans, my maid loves Shah Rukh Khan, and an Uber driver loves him just the same. He just has this command over Indians, their hearts and culture like no other actor has.”
Adding, Sewak draws a common comparison. “I think one Indian actor that comes close to his stature is Salman Khan. But Shah Rukh with this global following surpasses his counterparts by a mile. I think nostalgia also factors in when we talk about why Pathaan worked. Zero didn’t have this sort of reaction, maybe the hiatus also worked in his favour. Even though he has played a soldier in the film, if we look at his career graph, he has this softness about him onscreen. The way he delivers dialogues, the way he treats his female counterparts on and off the screen. He’s just the epitome of grace.”
A Pakistani resident of Dubai named Daniyal Malik attended Pathaan’s opening-day performance. Malik grew up watching Khan’s romantic comedies, just like Sewak did. He informs me over the phone, “No one comes close to him.”
“Shah Rukh Khan’s chocolate boy persona has reigned the screened for years and with Pathaan’s tremendous turnout, it’s evident he’s well received in characters other than his quintessential Rahuls and Rajs. As Pathaan, you see Shah Rukh Khan as a more mature, more seasoned star. He’s not playing himself but a character who gels well with his surrounding artists. It was a treat to watch.”
Reason #2: Khan’s patriotism put to the test
Although Khan is sometimes referred to be the largest Indian superstar, the far-right Hindu government of Narendra Modi has not been kind to him. The actor, who has produced a number of fervently patriotic works, is forced to again show his patriotism as a result of being unnecessarily drawn into religious debates.
For Khan, last year was a difficult one. The actor faced challenges unlike any other when his firstborn was jailed in a fake narcotics case. The Dilwale actor kept his head down while addressing the situation with a cool and collected demeanour, receiving little to no support from his Bollywood colleagues. Khan has not made any comments about the situation so far.
When it came to his significant comeback, the leaders of the ruling party came out and launched yet another propaganda against Pathaan. As multiple rioters invaded theatres to prevent the distribution and showing of the Siddarth Anand-directed movie, Khan eventually received death threats.
“It’s quite surprising how the propaganda was spread out on social media,” said Sewak, as he assured that Khan’s stardom remains very much intact. “I don’t think it matters. It has affected some people. The said propaganda has been spread through society as well. It’s rather easy to spread hatred in this day and age. The information is shared and without fact-checking, that’s what people imbibe.” Sewak shares that all the effort to malign Khan’s image by BJP has gone in vain. “Cinema touches your heart in a way, propaganda can’t. He is just above all this. People might be right-wing but they still love Shah Rukh Khan,” he continues.
“You have to understand,” Priyadarshini Pant, a 32-year-old finance professional from Ahmedabad remarks. “It’s very challenging for actors to stand against the state. They’re the soft power of this country and they eventually face the brunt of it all.”
Khan has often been called out for not voicing his support for the Muslim minority of his country and the continued atrocities against them. “Despite being married to a Hindu woman, he has faced ample backlash during all these years. He’s been the focus of media to share his stance while choosing either BJP and the Muslims in India,” she continues. “Shah Rukh always had his own way of addressing pivotal issues; be it his wit or his sarcasm, he had this way of making his thoughts known. But I think if we reflect over the last several years, he has become less vocal about political affiliations. And I don’t blame him.”
Pant adds that as fans we have “put Shah Rukh Khan and the other Muslim stars on a pedestal.” She says, “I don’t think expecting activism from these actors is fair because, at the end of the day, they are still a minority. Living in this country as an Indian Muslim, even with privilege and wealth, is life-threatening. The mainstream media is controlled by the state, anything the actors say could be over analysed or misconstrued.”
When discussing the pervasive Boycott Bollywood tendency, Pant observes that while films like The Kashmir Files and Darlings are criticized, propaganda fare like Laal Singh Chaddha is given a clean chit.
“Doesn’t this tell you everything you need to know about the current environment here?” she laughs. “It’s all very sensitive. People love extreme narratives; they eat them up and gobble them right down. But despite the obvious smear campaign against Pathaan, I am very glad that the film has received the response that it has. It is a clear indication that no matter how much the right-wingers try, they can’t dull Shah Rukh Khan’s shine.”
Reason #3: Bollywood would always need SRK
The third reason is pretty much clear there is no Bollywood without Shah Rukh Khan. SRK’s shift has been pretty rocky for someone who has followed Khan’s work since the start of his successful career.
“You know I have to say this,” Sewak adds, “Even though Pathaan has become this big phenomenon, I would always prefer romantic Shah Rukh. I am not particularly fond of this avatar but I think since he is at that stage in his career where he is more comfortable experimenting with his roles, I appreciate that he’s trying out new things.”
Pant adds, “To me, there’s no method to Shah Rukh Khan’s madness. He could work in a terribly scripted film, look at Zero, and can still pull the audience. But I would want him to carefully choose projects.” However, she hopes to see Khan in more age-appropriate roles. “He should opt for those, you know. Might actually work out in his favour. He’s King Khan after all. There’s no rationale when it comes to fandoms. They’d watch just about anything he stars in.”
If there’s one thing that’s certain, it’s that Bollywood should be nowhere near done with Khan. “The industry needs him to keep the numbers going,” Malik rightly says. “There’s no Bollywood without Shah Rukh Khan.”
