Shahrukh-Over the Years
There are some actors whom you admire, you love their acting, you love watching them on screen. But for some actors, it goes a bit further more, you dont just admire them, you hero worship them. You watch every movie of theirs, even the most rotten one, just to see your hero on screen. You love whatever your hero does, you want to be like him, you somewhere begin to imitate his style. You wanna woo your girl, the way he does. You take great pride in delivering his dialogues verbatim on screen. You feel bad, when people talk bad about him. In short you become a total fan of that actor.
There are a few actors who made me feel that way, Amitabh Bachan, Kamal Hassan, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Jim Carrey, Clint Eastwood. As a kid, it was Amitabh Bachan and Clint Eastwood for me all the way, i watched Where Eagles Dare, at least 20 times, just for Clint. And as for Indian heroes, it had to be Amitabh Bachan all the way. I guess because as kids we generally used to love the maar dhaad stuff, we wanted our hero to go and kick ass, be an asli mard, we did not like heroes romancing heroines or weeping. That was what Jeetendra and Rajesh Khanna did, Amitabh Bachan on the other hand, was apna hero , always giving it back to the villian.
When the 90’s began however, Amitabh Bachan, was starting to fade out. Shahenshah, Ganga Jamuna Saraswati, Toofan had begun to make me lose faith in my idol, this was not the same actor, whom i idolized in Deewar, Trishul, Sholay or Don. Clint Eastwood, my other idol, had begun to concentrate more on direction, and he was not the cool, laidback, sharpshooter guy of Where Eagles Dare or the Dollar trilogy anymore. While there were many actors all around, not many could really make me go and idolize them the way i did AB. The fact is whenever an AB movie was released, i would just go and watch it, no matter what. With a Sunny Deol or Anil Kapoor or Sunjay Dutt or Govinda movie, i would watch it, only if the talk was really good, else give it a miss.
Around that time courtesy Nayakan, Pushpak, Apoorva Sahadoragal Kamal was becomming my new screen icon. And The Untouchables made me a big time fan of a certain Robert De Niro, and when i saw Scarface, i found my other idol, Al Pacino. So in the 90’s, it was more or less Kamal, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and yeah courtesy The Mask, Jim Carrey was added to the list.
And then there was Shahrukh Khan. Even before he came into movies, i had watched SRK on TV in Circus and Fauji, and liked him then also. I watched him for the first time in Deewana(92), and for me he was the only watchable part in that entire movie. And when i saw him job hunting in Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, as also his love relationship with Juhi, something in me identified with him on the screen. He was the underdog here, trying to make his place. Chamatkaar(92) was an out and out Naseer movie, who stole the show as the friendly ghost, but still Shahrukh, held his own, as the village yokel, whom Naseer helps out.
It was Baazigar in 1993, that converted me full time into a hard core SRK fan. That one scene where he throws Shilpa Shetty from the top of a building, was enough. Till then he plays a nervous, stuttering guy in love with her, and he says “Mujho maaf karo” and next time he just throws her. But what i loved was the way he comes out, cooly, as if nothing had happened, and just melts into the crowd. After quite a long time, we were seeing an actor, play an anti hero. For most part of Baazigar, SRK is an anti hero, he dates Shilpa, bumps her off, and begins to use Kajol as a pawn to get at her dad. He kills people who knew about his real identity without any remorse, and only in last scene, there was some attempt to make him a wronged guy kind. And yeah of course the killer line “Zindagi mein kabhie, kabhie kuch jeethne ke liye, kuch haarna padtha hai, aur haar kar jitne waale ko log Baazigar kehta hain”.
And if in Baazigar he was the anti hero, in Darr he was the pure evil persona. “KKK Kiran” became a by word by itself, as SRK once again excelled as the obsessive killer. Darr was well directed , but it was SRK’s performance as the obsessive Rahul, that clinched the movie. SRK actually had the audience sympathy, even among the females. I think it was because he was the introverted kind, not some one who could express his love openly, that made me emphathize with him. And oh yes, the audience wildly cheered, when he stabs the hero, Sunny Deol in the climax. After a long time, they actually wanted the bad guy to win. Sanjay Dutt’s Khalnayak made a lot of sensation that year, but it was clear who the real Khalnayak was.
With my original icon, Amitabh Bachan, now in semi retirement, there were no Big B movies from 1993-1996, it was SRK, who was now my screen idol. And the best thing was i could identify with him on the screen. AB was more of a super hero for me, some one who could fight a bunch of bad guys, walk right into the villian’s den and challenge him, a larger than life figure, a sort of childhood fantasy. With SRK, it was another kind of admiration, he was some one in whom i saw myself, with whom i could identify, with whom i could empathize. While i did like Aamir equally too, most of his characters were the Mr. Nice Guy kinda roles, SRK on the other hand was a bit of an oddity, i mean not many heroes would have accepted roles like Baazigar or Darr early in their career.
And Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, totally clinched it for me. Sunil was me in quite a lot of ways. As a total loser, who fails his exams, the black sheep of the family, whose only interest in life is music and Anna, this was SRK’s best performance. Sunil is Mr. Nice Guy, but not perfect, he lies about Anna so that he could get her boyfriend Chris away, he forges his exam marks, but is faced with a guilt later. SRK played a character, which almost every ordinary Indian guy could relate to. Sadly, the movie came at a time, of “Sarkayilo Khatiya” and “Mast Mast”, and audiences could not digest SRK losing out on his girl. But in later time, just like Kundan Shah’s other flick JDBY, KHKN, has gone on to achieve a cult status.
After a series of indifferent movies like Anjaam, Guddu, Zamaana Deewana, it was with Dilwala Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge, that SRK again made a great comeback. Yeah i guess i was young, single and romantic, so SRK’s turn as Raj, wooing his girl Simran, just made me literally, come fall in love. Again for me it was SRK’s act that made the difference. His Raj was somewhat warm, affectionate, there was a bit of a goofy air to it. And add to it, the chemistry between SRK and Kajol, made me watch the movie again and again, though the climax was a bore.
DDLJ so pushed up the stakes, that both Ram Jaane and Chaahat were big let downs. Was the SRK magic over, every one was wondering? And Koyla did not do too well either, and movie itself sucked for me. But SRK hit back first with Yes Boss, one of my favorite movies, though it seemed inspired from The Apartment, the movie had more in common with the Michael J Fox starrers For Love or For Money and The Secret of My Success. The fact is when Yes Boss was released, i was starting out my career, and like SRK, in the movie, i was ambitious, having dreams. In fact the song “Chaand taare” was symptomatic of my dreams. And yes experiences taught me that like SRK in Yes Boss, you had to be worldly wise and street smart. Raju in Raju Ban Gaya, was somewhat naive, an innocent Frank Capra kind of character, corrupted by the city, Rahul in Yes Boss on other hand, is not naive, he is not bothered about conscience or ethics as long as he is able to achieve his goal. Pardes was not a too great movie, but it was a surprise to watch SRK in a restrained and understated performance. The movie however was way too long, and just went on and on.
Dil to Paagal Hai, and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, were SRK’s biggest hits in the 90’s, and also my least favorite movies. I never really liked these two movies much. I guess maybe the fact that here everything seemed just too picture perfect. In DDLJ, you rooted for SRK, because he had to overcome Kajol’s strict Dad, you had that anticipation in you. In DTPH, there was nothing much, i mean every one was nice and good, Madhuri’s suitor Akshay, was a nice guy, so one did not really feel anything when SRK and Madhuri united in end. And same in KKHH, were Salman was again the quintessential Mr. Nice Guy, who hands over Kajol at the end. Or maybe its the fact that having been used to watching love stories over the years, where the lovers had to fight against society, parents, circumstances, to watching movies where lovers did not really have to fight it out, and everything just seemed to fall in place, some how the switch was hard for me. Strictly my opinion though.
While many rate Dil Se as one of their favorite SRK movies, somehow i am never really enthused by it. Having watched Mani’s best Nayakan, Iruvar, Thalapathi, Mouna Raagam, some how Dil Se appeared too confusing for me, a story line just going off in too many tangents, and a confused narrative. Though it had great performances from SRK, Manisha wonderful score from Rehman and fabuluos camera work from Santosh Sivan, i still cant take it as a classic or masterpiece. And oh yeah i did like Duplicate, though many hated it. I liked SRK’s double role, and movie was quite entertaining for some time, but Mahesh Bhatt messed it up in the climax. Baadshah was again good in parts, a mishmash of If Looks Could Kill, Rush Hour, Nick of Time, the movie worked in parts, and it did not in other parts.
Comming to SRK in this decade, so far, well, its a different story. No i don’t hate him still, but i was not the big fan i was of SRK in the 90’s. The SRK of the 90’s was a kind of underdog, a person with whom i could emphathize, whom i could root for. In fact not just SRK, but if you consider most of the Bollywood movies till 2000, 80% of the movies were about the underdog, who wins in the end. Be it a love story, comedy, action or drama, we went to the movies, to watch the underdog, root for him, and see him win at the end.
The Bollywood hero represented what we wanted to be, but could not be. Critics may deride Bollywood movies before 2000 as being escapist fantasies. No they were not, they represented the hopes of many Indians. Living a life of struggle, having to deal with a callous elite the movies for us, were the life we wanted. The bad rich man, was not an overblown, communist wet dream, it was a reality we faced in India, at every point in life. In real life, we see the rich break the laws and get away with it, thanks to their ability to manipulate things, and so when we see the underdog hero, challenging the bad rich guy, we feel a kind of release. The major issue is that most of the people who write on Hindi movies, often come from the privileged sections of society, most of them have no clue about the feelings and aspirations of the Aam Junta.
Anyway comming back to topic, the underdog as a character was slowly disappearing from Hindi movies. Now most of the characters, seemed to be created to please the NRI junta. So the heroes wore designer dresses, drove in flashy cars, lived in huge mansions, and so most of the ordinary Indians living beyond metroes and in small towns, started to feel distant. In earlier Hindi movies, good or bad, we could identify with the characters, now we just could not, at least those in India. We applauded Amitabh Bachan in Sharaabi, when he choose to leave all his riches and wealth, and walk out with poor girl Jaya Prada. And when the same Amitabh Bachan, ordered SRK to leave home, for marrying a poor girl Kajol, in K3G, we felt a kind of let down. I loved SRK in Kabhi Haan, Kabhi Naa, even when he could not get the girl, but yet when in every other movie, he began to get the girl belonging to another guy, it some how became more repetitive. In most of the SRK movies in 200o, there seemed nothing to root for, he seemed to have everything, money, girls and luck.
Its like the Mills and Boon novels, females read them, because they dream of that rich and handsome guy. But guys hate them, because it makes them feel inadequate, guys generally like a book or a movie, where there is an underdog to root for or a character with whom they could identify. I think this is where Aamir scored over SRK in 2001. Lagaan was the quintessential underdog story, so every one could identify with it, and though Dil Chahta Hai, was about rich kids, Farhan Akhtar concentrated on characters, rather than the grandeur. Dil Chahta Hai, worked because the focus was on Akash, Sameer and Sid not the homes they lived in. The guys hanging out, discussing females, going to Goa was something which many guys could identify with. You could have set the movie in Jogeshwari or Patel Nagar, and it would have still been the same. I could identify with Akash or Sameer or Sid, but in no way i could identify myself with Rahul or Rohan in K3G, just seemed way too distant for me.
And that is why Mohan Bhargava of Swades and Kabir Khan of Chak De India worked for me. I could identify with Mohan’s feelings for the country, his ambitions, and i rooted not just for the hockey team in CDI, but also Kabir, to achieve his personal redemption.
The fact is the SRK of 2000’s is not the same person whom i admired in 90’s, but i feel we should not blame him totally for it also. Today the media and every one is praising him as “King Khan” and calling him the superstar. But the same media, effectively wrote his obituary in 2000, when they said that with Hrithik comming now, SRK was dead and burried forever. When Ashoka and One Two ka Four flopped, they said SRK should now retire as it was the turn of the Hrithik’s and Abhishek’s. Never mind the fact that even at the height of the Hrithik mania, SRK still managed to deliver success with Josh and Mohabattein. The same Taran Adarsh, who now sings praises of SRK at every given opportunity, wrote after the flopping of One Two Ka Four, that SRK’s time was over, he was too aged, he should quit movies, he could never be the hero. I guess this has what made SRK insecure for some time. He is a kid at heart who does not like his toys to be snatched away.
But now i think having proved himself, and shown that he still rules the box office, SRK has reached the stage, where he can now diversify out into other roles. I am hoping Surinder of RNBDJ, would slowly bring us the SRK of yore back. Or maybe i am hoping too much. I guess its that thing, the girl whom you loved intensely in your younger days, has found some one else, and while you feel bad about it for some time in your life, you accept it later and just move on in life. I think just accept the fact that the SRK whom i adored in the 90’s, will not be back, but appreciate a Swades or CDI, and then just move on.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
nice write-up and i m glad tat for once it does not come in part1, part2, part3 etc
a phenomenon like srk, akshay kumar, rajnikanth will always succeed as long as they remain in their familiar terrirtories [wrt characters/storylines/dialogues etc]. once they try to break out of this they face failure and this reassures their faith that they shud stick to their trademark style and they get back to playing themselves all over again. hence not much variation in the movies which have come in later part of their careers.
Ratnakarji,
Kamaal ka write-up. I think the beginning of the economic boom in early 90s and SRK kind of helped me and ppl of my age dream and aspire. At that time, it does not matter who is a better actor technically. We root for SRK in each and every thing he did.
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I think even in 2000s he is reinventing himself, he was the one who took all the risk at the beginning of his career and I am sure he will be doing again.
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For it will be a bit sad that if he will be only remembered for Raj/Rahul. More than me, I suspect he knows that :-)
@ Vishesh
The sole reason why i have not given up on SRK is because of Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, Yes Boss, Swades, CDI. I think the main issue was that like AB in the 70’s, SRK created a sensation in the 90’s with his choice of roles. And that made people expect a lot.
You dont have people discussing about how Salman Khan has let them down, because he has been doing the same old roles for the past decade or so, barring a Tere Naam or Phir Milenge in between.
I miss the good old Shahrukh of Circus(you have to watch him, mind blowing performance, don’t remember who his dad was, but the reluctance of son to fulfill his dad’s dream is fucking fantastic), my dad says a lot about Fauji, haven’t, I miss the Shahrukh of Kabhi Haan, Kabhi Naa, even of the theatrical Darr, the Shahrukh of DDLJ, heck even K2H2 worked for me, after that he becamse SRK and played the same in almost every movie, his last decent performance was Swades…YRF and Dharma have killed the actor we liked so much..!
@3 Tanul, absolutely true.YRF and Dharma have truly killed Shahrukh.Actually it is Aziz Mirza who created the very likeable Shahrukh both in tv and in films earlier in his career.
There was a time when Shahrukh was slowly and steadily gaining fame for taking the roles that were very new for Hindi cinema. Playing second fiddle to Rishi Kapoor in Deewana, as a careless, carefree youngster who falls in love with a widow; playing sore loser in Kabhi haan Kabhi Naa and Chamatkar; playing negative roles to Sunny Deol in Darr – he was an actor who took roles that no top heroes of that time would dare to take. He was our underdog, and he was often us. We rooted for him, as he was that rare transition from television to the big screen which seemed to work fine so far.
Then DDLJ happened, and still things were ok. We hadn’t seen someone so flamboyant in years, with addition to being an NRI. He became the bona-fide star. (Oh how I love to use this word after watching “O Brother, where art thou’?”!!!)
And then started that routine!! We have seen the same flamboyance for last 10-14 year, and it’s getting old. He still does roles of a 20-30 years old hero, and his on-screen naivete does not fit within the age we have in mind.
I see the same happening with Akshay Kumar. When Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and bunch of others were doing family-oriented romantic drama in late 90s and early 2000’s, Akshay Kumar was doing all different action roles and later ventured into full-fledged comedy that no one else was doing. It was all well, till he decided to become new-age Manoj Kumar in some films, and do the same Priyadarshan comedies. He is having good success with it, but it looks so stale he is on screen doing the same routine!
There is one more topic on my mind about our top heroes not doing roles that rather suit their age, and going shirtless at 42 to show their six-eight or twelve packs, but I am tired of typing now!! But I mean…how many times do you see a George Clooney taking shirt off unless it is required!
Tejas aapne to mere mooh ki baat chini. Yeah i was getting bored with his 20-30+ roles, but am hoping that with RNBDJ, we would SRK playing his own age. But truth be told, he is million times better than Salman, who still seems to be stuck in the roles he has been playing for the last 10 years.
Yaar even i am fed up with this six pack, 12 pack stuff. Am hoping that our stars concentrate on acting, rather than just looks.
You know Ratnakar I feel that Shahrukh would have continued to rule in candy floss romance films had not people like Irfan Khan,Vishal Bharadwaj,Dibakar,Farhan Akhtar,Madhur,Kay kay,Anurag Kashyap,Navdeep Singh,Abhay Deol been so successful(I bet I missed a lot of names) and talked about..In the 90’s most of our favourite films had Shahrukh.In this decade things are different.But I think as an entertainer he is still right up there!!!
@anindya- irfan, Vishal, dibakar, farhan etc are nowhere near that successful that they would make it a difference to ‘king’ khan:)
Jitesh, i dont think we r suggesting that any of them wud come close to King Khan, in fact given a chance, they wud love to work with him. But the difference they made was in overall atmosphere. It is their movies, which has caused SRK’s movies to be evaluated more critically than before. But as far as entertainment, he is still the best.
Ratnakar,
That was a very nice piece. Shahrukh of the 90s was willing to experiment – I remember being completely bowled over by his evil-psycho act in Darr, no hero then would dare do a negative character-, but now he is a prisoner of his image. Karan Johar and Yashraj are the worst things that have happened to him.
@ Raj, thats what we been saying, but am hoping that with Swades, CDI and now to some extent RNBDJ, we could see SRK trying out more diverse roles.
Aaah… no talk of Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani? I really liked the Aziz Mirza – SRK – Juhi Chawla combo right from Raju Ban Gaya to Yes Boss to PBDHH. I think PBDHH would have been perfect around this period (ofc the 2nd half was a bit too off, i guess, but still). And then, even Asoka was good in parts and was probably well intentioned…
I do feel it was the failure of these two and the simultaneous success of the KKHH and K3G that further pushed him into the Karan Johar/YRF camp away from the Aziz Mirza sensibilities…
RB, i did like PBDHH in first half, but second half was totally off kilter. It was like watching 2 movies in 1 for me. First half was a Black Comedy kind, and the second half was like all that patriotism, Vande Mataram stuff, making it look like one of those 80’s flicks. Actually Aziz again directed him in Chalte Chalte, typical YRF kinda movie. But i guess with success of KHNH, SRK slowly choose that route.
very passionately written….
Hmm. I think YRF has still given good roles to SRK.
They gave him Darr, DDLJ, Veer Zaara, CDI and Rab Ne. We can discount Mohabattein and DTPH.
I think its Karan who is to blame. He has given KKHH, K3G, KHKN only in KANK he thought of giving SRK some meat.
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Yup, when SRK started, nobody knew what he is he gonna do in his movies, is he gonna throw the girl down or stab the boy friend/husband or beat up the goons. Now he is in a more known territory. That’s why I liked his Don a lot. He is best as a Bad Man!
Sallu bhai ka toh pata nahi why is he still in the movies. I know his movies take good initials but it seems his heart is never there in the movie (as I feel it). The last Sallu movie that I really liked was in 90s. Tere Naam was OK too.
Even his interviews are so off. Anyways, won’t talk about him in this thread :-) lest I offend somebody.
@ Ratnakar
Lovely piece that you’ve written.I share your sentiments a lot.Because for me also Amitabh Bachchan & Kamal Haasan are my Indian favourite actors apart from SRK.Yes I do like a lot many more actors but if I had ever been guilty of hero worship in my days of school & college its these 3 actors.
I’ve myself liked SRK immensely from the Fauji days.With Deewana, Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, he touched me with his simplistic portrayals.When he doesnt get the girl in Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa , I really cried and then felt happy with the way the movie ended.
With Baazigar & Darr- I found a new dimension to the anti hero.I watched “offbeat” movies like Maya Memsaab & Oh!Darling Yeh Hai India only for SRK.Even in movies like Chahat & Ram Jaane I was rooting for him.Of course there were odd movies like Guddu & Zamana Deewana which were too much for me also.But then I considered them to be exceptions.
DDLJ is among my all time favourite movies- dont know how many times I’ve seen it.Its a classic romantic.I even liked him in DTPH & KKHH.He could complement a Pardes with an Yes Boss very well.I even liked him in the lighter movies like Duplicate & Baadshah.
Though K3G was an excess show of pomp, there were still some lovely moments in it.Same with Mohabbatein, the encounters between Big B & SRK had some amazing dialogues.As a producer SRK has taken the risk with Ashoka , Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani & Paheli.
Yes in the recent past maybe he’s been guilty of catering to the “overseas” crowd, but every time he does a Swades or an CDI, I know the actor in him is still alive & kicking.
I am confident that with My Name is Khan & other movies to come , we’ll only have better things to expect from SRK.
I think I like SRK as a film personality more than SRK as an actor.. By saying that, compare to Aamir, Akshay, and Saif Ali, he is below par.. At the same time, he is idol as screen personality.. He seems perfect for upper-class guy roles like what he did in Yashraj movies.. But, when it comes to other kind of roles like comedy or gangster dramas, he seems lost..
On the side note, my favorites of his are Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naan, Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, DDLJ, Chak De India, and some of other Yashraj movies….
Nik
@ 19, Nik I will not go in comparing him with AK, or AK or SAK. I mean how do you compare it? Acting is subjective. What works for one may not work for the other. Yeah, you can compare the choice of roles and movies and discuss them.
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I still believe SRK has a fine comic timing which he has shown in movies but has not done out and out comedy movie a la David Dhawan or Priyan’s.
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@ 18 Sethu,
Bhai I agree with everything you said. The only highlights of Mohabbatein were SRK and Big B. I could never complete Zamana D and Guddu. Atrocious is the word for them.
and yeah, Duplicate had Babloo a total goofy, over the top, ham-fest which I liked.
Mohabbattein was totally ruined by Uday Chopra-Shamita Shetty, Kim Sharma-Jugal Hansraj tracks. Uday cant act for nuts, and he just hams it up big time. As for Kim, i think she has been lucky to act in the few movies she has done so far, totally hopeless.
Had Adi removed those 2 tracks, and just stick to the Jimmy Shergill- Preeti Jhangiani track, it wud have made a lot more sense. Because that was the only one which i liked in the movie.
Duplicate was fine for some time, but the climax was totally ridiculous. It just dragged on and on.
@ Ratnakar,
Jimmy – Preeti track ended up as a movie by another Chopra – Ravi. Baabul had a similar story except AB wants his bahu to re-marry.
Yeah seen Babul too, boring not too great. AB was fine, but Om Puri hammed badly. As for Rani, her weepy eyes act, in every movie is just so jarrinng.
But of the 3 couples in Mohabbattein, Jimmy & Preeti were the only ones who looked to be doing some acting.
@ Ratnakar
I agree with you on the Jimmy-Preeti track being the better of the 3 tracks in Mohabbatein.Babul was quite boring especially when compared with Baghban ( both from the same production house).
Duplicate was fun for most part of the movie.The songs by Anu Malik were also good!!!
for me, the best has been KHKN and the worst, Guddu. Zamaana Deewana, ODYHI, Chaahat were plain atrocious, PBDHH was ahead of its time, with a hammy climax, Maya Memsaab was foreign in story-line and treatment, and Dupliate was a guilty-pleasure for Juhi-Babloo track and that Katthai aankhon waali song.
RBGGentleman was good entertainment, and yes boss was cute. DDLJ was GOD, and KKHH & DTPH were trash.
Its purely my list, and the movies not mentioned here are due to space constraint.
Raam Jane was one of the worst SRK movies i had seen. Even for a hard core SRK fan like me in the 90’s, just cud not sit through that movie.
BTW i did like Josh, it was good for quite some length, but climax was totally atrocious, also Priya Gill, just did not fit in SRK’s love interest. And Chandrachur Singh, was so lifeless, so boring.
@ Ratnakar: your mention of Raam Jane does remind me of that atrocious movie, but i wud still votefor Guddu to be the worst movie of SRK. re: Josh, i liked his tapori act, and yes, priya gill & chandrachur singh were a complete misfit. and while we are at it, i may take the liberty of addingthese last two names in the list of our ever increasing FLOPIYA masterpiece. (I thought of taking the liberty of mentioning the exercise here, cudnt resist, hehe)
Oh yeah ur welcome dude. Updated FLOPIYA list- Uday Chopra, Kim Sharma, Shamita Shetty, Esha Deol, Priya Gill, CC Singh.
@ Ratnakar: hey, btw, (no to hijack your toic though, its absolutely personal..), i have just submitted an article on Abhay Deol through Projekt iView, hope it passes the test,and is published.
i can send that to u on ur personal mail, if u r interested in going thru my musings, in case its not published on PFC (god forbid..i’ll b shattered though)
No Satyen its fine, will wait for it, guess it takes 2-3 days, so i guess this wud be ur first post on PFC. All the best for it.
Anyway as of now, just have Ghajini and Jumbo, to be seen this year. I am interested in Jumbo, we need more and more animated features, and Akshay has been promoting it well also.
Dil Ashna Hai, King Uncle, Trimurti, English Babu Desi Mem, Army, Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam are some of the other gems where SRK hammed, but i guess the worst of the lot would be HTHS, which I cudnt tolerate and hadto leave midway, madhuri or no Madhuri.
yeah, Im also waiting with baited breath for the publishing of my first post, hopefully it gets thru. my email id is satyendrajha30@gmail.com. leave a test mail and i will fwd my write-up to u asap.
btw, ur take on my list of SRK duds…
yeah, the song everythings gonna b alright sounds n looks very promising. and Akki looks a million bucks too. someone comparedthe success path of Akki with tht of SRK,and i really liked the similarities.
Akki still has to go a long way though to match up to the craze SRK has generated globally. im waiting for CC2C eagerly…
Of them had misfortune of watching Trimurti, Army, HTHS. Pure torture.
Missed out Dil Ashna Hai,King Uncle,EBDM luckily.
BTW i felt Koyla itself was terrible.
Basically i think SRK is not the planned actor Aamir is, thats why he just signed every movie left right, center during 90’s.
But post KHNH he has become choosy in another way though.
CC2C will be comming in first week of Jan, i think. But Deepika rocks, and Warner Bros are really promoting the movie well.
Well Akki as of now is mostly restricted to entertainers, but give him a serious role, and he can do it well, as we saw in Khakee.
I am awaiting his movie with Nagesh Kukunoor.
he realisedthe burden of success on his shoulders post his Darr-KKHH-DTPH, plus dont forhget bythen he had already amassed a fortune to build his castle on sea-facing Bandra, so he didnt need to earn a quick buck, which had made him do some atrocious movies of tht era.
@ 38
Satyen i guess u have a point, neither SRK nor Akki had Godfathers in the movie industry, backing them, and they had to just sign whatever comes their way.
But right now i think both are past that phase and can afford to diversify.
Ratnakar, if I’d ever written anything about how I feel about SRK, it would’ve been a Xerox of this article! Tumne meri mooh ki SAARE baatein chheen li. In fact I feel the same way you feel about every one of his movies!
@ Ratnakar
CC2C releasing on 16th January.And regarding Jumbo do you know the movie is actually a dubbed release in hindi of a thai movie ???
Among SRK’s worst for me it has to be Guddu,Zamana Deewana & Yeh Lamhe Judaai Ke.Somehow I always found something good in most of his movies those days.I was rooting for SRK in Ram Jaane when he would confront Puneet Issar, liked his antics when he sang ” main to hoon pagal munda tu hai meri soni kudi ” in Army, was happy to see Sonali & SRK waltzing to
“Deewana, dil tera deewana” in EBDM,liked him even in the supreme disaster called Trimurti-
“Duniya re duniya ,very good ,duniya wale very bad,very bad”, Chahat- though bad I really flipped for the songs of Anu Malik then- can still hear the title song and the other songs like
“nahin jeena pyar bina, na ji na”,
“dil ki gehrai se awaaz suna deti hai” etc.
I’ve already spoken about my appreciation for most of the other movies.
Refer link below.Jumbo is a dubbed version of Khan Kluay a thai movie as reported by me above in 41
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/2008/12/10/12293/index.html
But all said & done I like the promotional video being aired now.
What a fantastic article ratnakar..you summed up all my growing years with SRK..i had writtena similar piece on this topic, albeit not as gracefully as you have, sometime back here..
http://passionforcinema.com/shah-rukh-khan-mere-bhai/
Ok guys, just tell me one thing. What makes him the king? what credentials he has to be put on such a pedestal? Just stick to his work and quality of his work. A certain section of the media ( a significan and important section) has created such an aura around him in a systematic manner that a it has become very difficult to scrape all that and look at the core. In terms of quality of work, success ratio (no. of films to no. of successful films), popularity etc. there are stars who equal him or are better than him. He has never experienced the absolute dominence to the point of being a one man industry that Amitabh exprienced in 70s and early 80s. After initial few years, Shahrukh was always among the top stars. After Darr and Baazigar he established himself firmly in the top bracket. And that’s it. Shahrukh gave some super successful films after that. But then, so did others. Aamir, Salman and Shahrukh have always been running neck to neck though Salman these days seems to have been lagging a little due to his choice of films. Then we have Hrithik, doing select and excellent work. Then we have Saif changing gears easily and fitting into any mould he chooses. And finally we have the ageless superstar in Mr. Bachchan still experimenting, giving splendid performances and not losing the respect he commanded some years back even one bit. So, why separate Shahrukh and call him King etc? Nowhere in the world will you find such silly titles being given and discussed as far as a film industry is concerned. This king khan campaign is so aggressive and relentless that everybody seems to have surrendered to the idea. With tailormade, author backed roles, sustained PR campaign and relentless media support, the legend has been created and there is no stopping it now.
“Nowhere in the world will you find such silly titles being given and discussed as far as a film industry is concerned”.
Rudolf Valentino was dubbed as the Sheikh.
Mary Pickford was called America’s Sweetheart, as also Meg Ryan.
Jean Paul Belmondo has a near demi God like status in France.
Clark Gable in his heydays was called The King of Hollywood.
So this kind of stuff is there in all over the world. So please lets not have this It Happens Only in India kinda atttitude.
“Ok guys, just tell me one thing. What makes him the king? what credentials he has to be put on such a pedestal?”
As far as i know, we did not make him a King nor put him on a pedestal. The King Khan stuff is more of a media construct.
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And Oh by the way, the very same media, also pronounced him dead and burried, in 2000 and 2001, saying that with new kids on the block like Hrithik, Abhishek, SRK is gone forever. It was only after Chalte Chalte, when most of the SRK movies went on to become hits, that this King Khan stuff, began to be bandied around.
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The media only looks at success. And the moment SRK has 2-3 flops in a row, they wud be pretty happy writing his obituary.
All this talk of “king” and “deserving” and “dead” and “obits” was captured almost 5 decades back by a genius called Guru Dutt in Pyasaa. So its life imitating art, coz Guru Dut knew his vocation, and spelt it like it is, and will be for generations to come..
Satyen, in fact i felt that Kaagaz Ke Phool, was a more closer look at the fickle nature of the movie world, as Guru Dutt, explores the rise and fall of a director, brilliantly. But sadly with Kaagaz Ke Phool being a flop, it did not really get the attention it deserved in its time, though now its hailed as a classic.
Ratnakar, you could be writing my feelings exactly… Just too good. Except in one aspect. I like KKHH. It may be set in a world that is too perfect. But I think it is a study in scriptwriting. Just like Hum Aapke hai Kaun.
Hey Nice post,
And you know our taste on SRK movies matches very closely. My fav SRK movies were KHKN, Raju ban gaya gentleman, Baazigar, swades, yes boss, Chak de and some what DDLJ and PARDES.
But i hated on those combo offers of SRK – KJ like KKHH in which i really dont know what Rahul the hero did in it. kajol ne usse pyar kiya, beti ne kajol se milaya, salman ne kurbani di par samaj nahin aaya ki rahul ne kya kiya
yaar rahul aka SRK got to romance both the cousins, Rani and Kajol, one after another.
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Its like Archie gets to be with Veronica first, Veronica dies, Archie wants Betty now, but Betty is engaged to Reggie, and in end Reggie hands over Betty to Archie. It happens only in India.
Ratnakar, I wonder why you have left out one of SRK’s biggest hits, Karan Arjun….!!
Hmm Sanjeev, never really liked Karan Arjun much. It just dragged on and on in parts.
@ Sanjeev
When I saw Karan Arjun for the 1st time, I really didnt like it.But over the years I’ve seen it on numerous occasions & the movie has gone on to be a
guilty indulgence for me.It symbolises the perfect Bollywood Masala movie of the 80’s & 90’s to me.Kya nahin hai usme? romance,comedy,action,
gaane,punar janam,melodrama wah!wah! of course its a thing of the past & thats why I said it symbolises bollywood masala 0f the 80’s & 90’s.
But the best bollywood masala entertainer for me so far is SRK’s own Main Hoona Na- it had the right mix of eveything for me.
I liked Karan Arjun when I saw it. Never had a dull moment except for couple of Kulkarni songs.
But now I can’t watch it in entirety.
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I still dig Koyla. Its my guilty pleasure along with Ram Jaane, Duplicate and O Darling Yeh Hain India.
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Chahat, I don’t know, it was crazy movie.
Dunno why Rakesh Roshan, gave Mamta Khol Karni, so much footage in Karan Arjun.
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Kahin Budda ko usse ishq to nahi hua?
I think King Khan the word is just incidental because of one or all of the following reasons:
1. SRK had a movie Baadshah…and he was called Baadshah Khan for that. Angrezi mein kehte ki…King Khan
2. Shah Rukh means Prince like face, so may have influenced the name King Khan.
3. King Khan (not only the word, mind you :-)) makes a nice impact for a story.
4. King Khan is an alliteration just like Big B.
5. Its all media thing just like they called Sachin, Master Blaster. So no reason to fret upon that.
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For me, he still remains the guy next door who just made it big and I am proud of that.
Why cant Kings be Kings? Why should they be Blings?
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It was King Khan, and now its Singh is King.
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Aahh too many Kings out here. I need to have my Kingfisher now. Cheers to Vijay Mallya.
Well if someone has an issue with King Khan- then please come to South India.Sample the titles given below-
1. Superstar- Rajnikant,Mohanlal
2. Ulaganayagan- Kamal Haasan ( Universal/world star)
3. Megastar-Chiranjeevi,Mammooty
4. Ajit- Ultimate Star
5. Vijay- Ilaya thalapathy
well this is a very very small sample list.If I include the entire list – then its gonna take quite some time.
So whats the fuss behind a title anyways.Its all in the game.Chill maaro & like Ratnakar, KF piyo
Ok. Whatever I write, I get passionate, well meaning but naive responses not really trying to understand the point. People just jump to dismisss what they think is odd. This has been my experience on all the comments that were a little different from the popular sentiment. I was planning to write an article on how media is manipulated for image building. Being a PR person myself and studying film related media coverage for some years, I know how things are done. I know how Shahrukh’s public image has been built over the years and how he has been constatntly supported by certain important publications in this exercise. I can almost guess what will be coming next in print after a particular development eg – a film not doing well or somebody stealing limelight from Shahrukh for some achievements of his etc. Just as there are ‘aartis’ of Shahrukh day in and day out there are hate campaigns against his competitors. One bollywood channel is leader of the pack in this department. It’s a big game. Call it a conspiracy if you please. But looking at the popular sentiment, I won’t dare to write such an article. There is no point. If you get to know about it some day by yourself, good for you. Otherwise, as they say, Ignorance is bliss! Live in your respective blissful worlds of hero worshipping. All the best!
Manjusha, for starters ur welcomg to go ahead and write your article. Some will agree with it, some wont, but thats the rule of the game. If you say u dont feel like writing an article, coz ur worried about popular sentiment, i just say ur being chicken. PFC has been a forum, where people have gone against what is called the “public sentiment”.
Now let me state this
1) This article has been my observation about SRK from the 90’s to now, when i first initially felt about him as a fan, and then later felt let down. BTW SRK never had much media backing in the early stages of his career. His unconventional looks were made fun off, comments were made about his acting.
2) I dont have an insider view of the movie industry, but am certainly not so naive as to not know, what goes on there, kiska image building, ho raha hai, nahi ho raha hai. And even otherwise, knowing it or not knowing it, makes the least difference to me. For me this is just a passion, something i write upon in my free time. I dont get my daily bread out of this.
3) And finally it feels totally stupid that i have to explain all this. I was assuming people who access the forum, have some kind of basic intelligence to understand what is what.
@ Manjushaa
And whatever gave you the impression that we poor souls have no idea how this all works?Dont we also know how certain other stars also manipulate the media for their benefit?Do I have to now take names for proving my point?and believe me you are not the only one with ” inside ” info.There are a lot of us here on PFC who are either working within the industry or have lots of friends in the industry.Just as you pity us, I pity you for not realising what we were trying to say.This is not a SRk fans club forum out here & even the biggest of SRK’s fans here would vouch for it.Dont know why you dont understand it.
I guess we are all veering towards SRK at a more personal level than this post decreed. ratnakar wrote about his passionate take on SRK over the years, and as followers of hindi cinema, we all have a right to either agree to his choice of likeable SRK films, or comment on them with our own take on them.
@ manjushaa: Most people would like to believe that being so passionately involved with cinema, the insider-machinations are not alien to them. If you know a bit more than others, congrats to you. but just because you have some fancy-sounding degree/course to brag about, doesnt mean the others have the inherent naivity to not being able to comprehend the reality and truth. I am a finance professional, and how would it sound if I said that the comments certain people make is inversely proportionate to the majority view-point being held by the blogging-junta? Makes sense? But then, i dont have to brag about my professional background…
Ms Manjushaa,
In some other thread, you were aghast at the age and qualification of the author and now you are let down by our naivety.
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Please please understand, we are not that important in the grand scheme of things. So please do share your thoughts.
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Let us not prevent you from doing what you know best.
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I am sure you have your reasons to feel that SRK is just a media-made hero. Though, if that happens, then I really urge media to such make-over for the entire country so that we all live happily ever after.
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If media can fool around 100 million people (a conservative number without being naive) for say 15 years, why can’t they bring change in other sectors of life.
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Somehow I feel let down by media, i have been duped by them, how come I never saw it coming. Now, to forget my “gham” let me watch RNBDJ again.
Sorry ji! But Taani-ji bula rahi hain.
Ok Ok.I am not surprised! Your reactions were expected. I have no problems with that. Pl Continue.. I don’t have any personal bias against any star and I don’t think I have been appointed to enlighten ‘poor souls’ of the world. I never meant that. I accept whatever all of you are saying and shut my mouth!
@ratnakar..
great article man. Yes we indeed miss shahrukh of 90’s but he is not so lost yet.lets hope if he cud turn things around and give us again SHAHRUKH not SRK or King Khan… we need shahrukh who is smwhr lost between SRK and KING KHAN…lets juss ask him not work for SRK…juss be himself wat he was originally.
somehow I have always drawn a parallel between AB and SRK…both have been BIG superstars in their era…SRK got stuck with the romantic image and AB got stuck with the angry young man image…we dont really talk about AB getting stuck in that image and the usual lost and found formulas, and the manmohan desai and prakash mehra “camps” bcos they are some of our best childhood memories…but since now we are all grown up (I hope so
) we are able to see some of the same faults in SRK…
Infact I would say SRK has been able to do more varied stuff than AB in his prime…Swades, CDI, Asoka, Paheli…So I am really waiting to see how SRK goes on from here, now that he will have to move away from the romantic image as he ages…I am sure we are in for a greta treat same as with AB in his second innings…