It is impossible to chronicle Shah Rukh Khan’s journey from a Delhi boy from a humble, middle class background to one of the biggest stars India has ever seen, within the ambit of one article. It’s a massive job to summarise his talents, skills, achievements and the endless love his fans have been showering him with since his debut days. His life story is as fascinating as most of his movies, and is riddled with incidents that could make for interesting screenplays. As Shah Rukh Khan turns 56 today, here’s an attempt at looking back at his travails to the zenith of film stardom.
Shah Rukh was Khan was born on November 2, 1965 into a Muslim family in New Delhi. He spent the first five years of his life in Mangalore, with his maternal grandfather, Iftikhar Ahmed. His father, Meer Taj Mohammed Khan, moved to New Delhi in 1948 after the partition of India.[15] Khan’s mother, Lateef Fatima, was the daughter of a senior government engineer. SRK described himself on Twitter as “half Hyderabadi (mother), half Pathan (father), and some Kashmiri (grandmother)”.
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He grew up in the Rajendra Nagar neighbourhood of New Delhi. His father had several business ventures including a restaurant, and the family lived a middle-class life in rented apartments. SRK attended St. Columba’s School in central Delhi. In his youth, he acted in stage plays and received praise for his imitations of Bollywood actors, of which his favourites were Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, and Mumtaz.
SRK enrolled at Hansraj College (1985–88) to earn his bachelor’s degree in economics, but spent much of his time at Delhi’s Theatre Action Group (TAG), where he studied acting under the mentorship of theatre director Barry John. After Hansraj, he began studying for a master’s degree in mass communication at Jamia Millia Islamia, but left to pursue his acting career.
Shah Rukh began his professional acting career with television, transitioning to films later. His first starring role was in Lekh Tandon’s television series Dil Dariya, which began shooting in 1988, but production delays led to the Raj Kumar Kapoor directed 1989 series Fauji becoming his television debut instead. He also appeared in Aziz Mirza’s television series Circus (1989–90) and Mani Kaul’s miniseries Idiot (1991).
In 1991, he moved from Delhi to Mumbai to pursue a full-time career in Bollywood, and signed four films. His first offer was for Hema Malini’s directorial debut Dil Aashna Hai. His film debut was in Deewana, which was released in June 1992 and was a box office hit, formally kickstarting SRK’s journey to stardom. He broke the norms of playing a romantic hero as a young actor, and garnered appreciation for portraying villainous roles in two box office hits in 1993: a murderer in Baazigar, and an obsessive lover in Darr.
After films like Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa and Karan Arjun came Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), which established him as a “romantic hero”. That was the beginning of several other romantic hit films in his career, including Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), Mohabbatein (2000), Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham… (2001), Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003) and Veer-Zaara (2004). The series of romantic comedies and family dramas earned SRK widespread adulation from audiences. His frequent professional associations with Yash Chopra, Aditya Chopra, and Karan Johar moulded his image and made him into a superstar.
He faced several career setbacks. In 1999, his only release Baadshah underperformed at the box office. He became a producer in 1999 in a collaboration with the actress Juhi Chawla and the director Aziz Mirza for a production company called Dreamz Unlimited. The company’s first production, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani (2000), starring Khan and Chawla, was a commercial failure. They attempted a comeback with Santosh Sivan’s historical epic Aśoka, which also performed poorly. He later transformed Dreamz Unlimited into Red Chillies Entertainment, adding his wife Gauri as a producer.
He went back to television briefly. In 2007, he replaced Amitabh Bachchan for one season as the host of Kaun Banega Crorepati, and a year later, Khan began hosting Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain?
SRK earned critical acclaim for his portrayal of an alcoholic in Devdas (2002), a NASA scientist in Swades (2004), a hockey coach in Chak De! India (2007) and a man with Asperger syndrome in My Name Is Khan (2010). His highest-grossing films include the comedies Chennai Express (2013), Happy New Year (2014), Dilwale (2015), and the crime film Raees (2017). Om Shanti Om, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and Jab Tak Hai Jaan are some other popular films that he starred in.
He has acted in only a handful of films in the past few years. Jab Harry Met Sejal, Dear Zindagi, Raees and Dilwale are among them. His last release was 2018’s Zero, which tanked badly at the box office. Despite no release in about three years, Shah Rukh remains one of the most revered and sought after stars in India. He is set to make his comeback with Yash Raj Films’ Pathan and a film with south director Atlee. Anticipation surrounding the two films are quite high. The recent incident of his son Aryan Khan being embroiled in the drugs case showed once again that SRK’s fans are with him, and waiting for him, no matter what.
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