We have seen the Baadshah /King Khan (whichever way you call him) rise,
fall and again rise over his career spanning a period of over 15 years
and still counting; being criticised, loved, trashed, admired by people
from all age groups.
Despite being a die hard fan of Shahrukh, I must confess he in
no way is a class actor, has his own limitations and there are a bunch
of actors which act better than him, but where he scores above them is
the way he connects with his audience. Basically he knows their pulse,
and while his star power always rescues him and makes his films reach
the safety mark at the box office. Consider this: 9 of his last 11 films have been hits at the box office, with the exception of Swades and Paheli.
This in my mind is a big achievement considering that most of them were
crap films. Personally I liked only Don and Veer Zaara of them. Rest
ranged from average to ordinary to being total craps.
Though Im not here to defend his stand by mentioning his box office
prowess, thats actually what saves him always, and let his films always
find an audience, something which is a complete disaaster in India
finds its audience abroad (Paheli), and thats what makes his
distributors and makers smile, coz they know they can never lose money
if they have SRK in the main lead.
Many SRK detractors are always on the lookout for an excuse to prove he
is finished. If an HR film does well, instead of comparing the latter
to an Aamir or Amitabh or Abhishek, they will say SRK is finished.
Ditto for upcoming actors like Hritik and Abhishek. these continuous
comparisions of SRK with every actor out there proves SRK is the one
and only, and despite having a so called dull phase compared to others, he is still the hot topic for discussions in every forum.
Talking about SRK’s abilities as an actor, I do feel he has tremendous
potential, but he has limited himself to portraying similar expressions
even while performing diverse roles, (maybe trying to play safe). He
needs the backing up of an ace director like Ashutosh Gowarikar of a
Mani Ratnam to bring out the real actor in him, and thats what they did
with Dil se and Swades (two of his finest performances).
Comparing SRK to other actors, like I said, he isnt perfect in his performances, but in a way connects so magnificiently with his viewers that they instantly fall in love with the character he portrays,
whether its the Sunil of KHKN or the Aman of KHNH. He is something we
all can identify with, coz he plays the common man, an ordinary person,
who has his limitations, isn’t any superhero, commits mistakes in life,
is hyperactive and irritating, doesnt get the girl often, sometimes
dies the end, makes people laugh and cry, and often makes them feel its
their own life story they are watching: something which Hritik or other
actors of late haven’t played. Thats why such actors can be admired for
their perfect performances, but will never have the kind of love people
have had for SRK. You can behave like a superhero all the time,
flex your biceps all you like, and attract wolf whistles from audience,
but all of that will be forgotten when viewers move out of the cinema
hall. Im yet to see Hritik being successful in the role of a common
man, an average person, who commits mistakes in life - and yet be loved
by the people.
As for people saying SRK is repetitive in his roles, I want to ask them in how many movies Amitabh played diverse characters in the first phase of his career.
All I remember is his playing the angry young man umpteen times, till
he wasn’t young any more. Still he was loved by the public. If SRK can
play the romantic hero again and again and still be successful at it,
why should people complain too much about it? In fact I believe SRK is
his career has experiemnted with more roles than what Amitabh did
between 1973-1991.
Long live the King Khan!!