’’In my shop, one can drink coffee, buy music and also rest in the h ole.’’ Now, please do not think that my dirty mind is at work again. The h ole which I am talking about is not what your perverted mind must have imagined, and if I call you an a*s, I am labelling you as a donkey, and not a hole.
Now, if you are wondering as to how can one rest in a h ole, then you must not have seen the film Baghban. You haven’t? Where on earth have you been? Go and watch it today, and then RRC my review on it. Hey, wait! Atleast finish reading this review before you go!
Anyway, as I was saying, in Baghban, Paresh Rawal, who plays a typical Gujarati pronounces ’hall’ as ’hole’. (Thank God he doesn’t admire a drawing room in front of a woman!) ’Hole’ for ’hall’ is a way you can identify the typical Gujarati. There is another way - the surname. And when the most common Gujarat surname (Shah) decides to stop acting (Ruk) and has dishvelled hair, a flat nose, short stature and sticking-out ears (Khan), you have Shah Rukh Khan! It’s a different matter that Shah Rukh Khan is not a Gujarati since the Gujarati surname turns out to be his name. But then, that’s Shah Rukh for you, not normal ... (does that mean abnormal ... yikes!)
This Delhi guy came into the public eye first, while playing the maverick Abhimanyu Rai in Fauji. He has detractors galore, but whether you are a Shah Rukh fan or not, you have to admit it that being at the top in this industry for 12 long years is no joke. Hats off to you, SRK! All right, I know that you are not wearing a hat ...
His detractors have searched for his flaws like a mouse searches for h oles (and this time, I mean h oles and not halls!). Some of the comments have been justified, some nasty ...
“Arre, isko to acting hi nahin aati.” “He has a speech defect.” “His nose is flat.” “He is too short, he doesn’t have any personality.” “He is too monotonous”
And after so many flaws, he is still at the top.An ordinary looking, short-statured chap with hair that are untidier than Harry Potter’s and faulty d-d-d-d-d-dialogue delivery has over the past decade, become such a phenomenon, that even youngsters have begun to imitate him by wearing their shirts with one side tucked in and one side tucked out.
Whether he has a speech disorder (Darr), throws off girls from terraces as if they are frisbees (Baazigar), lies his way into stealing someone else’s bride (DDLJ) or tricks his boss into selling mangoes (Yes Boss), Shah Rukh Khan has managed to garner the audience’s hysteria with whatever he has done. Love him or hate him, but you surely cannot ignore him. So, as King Khan turns 38, let me rewind the clock a little and list out five of my favourite SRK flicks.
Asoka - Agreed, it was a box office disaster, but this film was memorable in more ways than one. Shah Rukh, playing Emperor Asoka, was accused of not getting into the skin of the character, and purely playing himself. May I disagree. Asoka was by no means, his best performance, but he played the character quite convincingly. The usual SRK mannerisms were present, yet, his body language was that of a stubborn emperor. Some of his sequences with his mother and brother were outstanding. Kareena Kapoor lent good support to him, heating up the screen with her sensual dances and acting well, and who can forget the cute kid, Suraj Balajee (who played Kareena’s brother, Arya)!
Baazigar – His first solo hit. Baazigar’s theme was ‘badla’, which has been done to death in innumerable Dharmendra films. Shah Rukh added a touch of style to his character. Abbas-Mastan have always made entertaining films, and this one surely hit the mark. Moreover, Baazigar was special since it featured the Srk-Kajol pair for the first time.
Darr – This is why Srk is special. He didn’t play safe in the beginning of his career by acting in mushy love stories. A maverick to the core, Shah Rukh, after Baazigar, took on Darr, a role which was rejected by Mr. Perfect, Aamir Khan. Srk plays an obsessive lover, lending plenty of style to the character. He did tend to go over the top in certain sequences, but in terms of entertainment value, he is simply B-b-b-b-b-brilliant!
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge – One of the biggest hits in Hindi cinema, how can I leave this one out of my list? The amazing thing is that while today, films that run for eight weeks claim to be ‘superhits’, this classic is still running at Maratha Mandir eight long years after its release! This one was the pioneer of all the candy-floss, popcorn mushy love sagas. And surely the best of them! Srk was brilliant, playing Raj, a brat who is good at heart (all heroes are, aren’t they?). The chemistry between him and Kajol is still crackling and the support cast were in fine form, too.
(Read my review on DDLJ)
- And now for the winner. No, it is not one of those blockbusters from the Johar-Chopra clan. It is a film which wasn’t as big an SRK hit, yet, it had him playing the underdog, the guy who doesn’t win, and he shrugged it off with a smile. We Indians love to cry, don’t we? We just love to lament, ’’Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa.’’ Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa was a simple and non-extravagant tale about Sunil (played by Shah Rukh Khan), who has three passions in life – Anna (Suchitra Krishnamurthy), music and flunking his exams! Shah Rukh played the loser and emerged a victor. The title is beautiful too. Although there are too many K’s, making it sound like a Johar flick or a daily soap, it is the best definition of life – kabhi haan, kabhi naa …
(read my review on KHKN)
Here’s wishing Shah Rukh Khan a very happy birthday!
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All right, I know that almost everyone on MS hates SRK! But, then too, do leave a comment ...
And ya, I haven’t seen Dil Se, so haven’t considered it. And I loath his Johar flicks!