Shahrukh Khan is a mystery to me. Not the macho guy, with a tanned body and well-toned body, but still is “King Khan”. Synonymous to Bollywood overseas and Bollywood himself in India.
He has tasted his bit of success, but WHAT exactly got him there, is a million dollar question. As he says it may be mere luck, and just that he was at the right place at the right time. But having achieved the pinnacle of success, is he craving for more (read brand SRK)? He always makes statements to save his skin; sometime ago he was heard saying that he is greedy for success and that if he wakes up one day when nobody anymore considers him to be the “KING KHAN” he would choke of grief! I at times feel like screaming from atop a building “Grow up Shahrukh”, yet he is a man who epitomizes success in Bollywood ishtyle.
Reckoning his old days of Fauji, I still wonder in awe at the heights Abhimanyu Rai has scaled today. A boy from Delhi, well grounded in theatre and loads of courage has today made it so big that if there is something he lacks today, that is competition.
I spend hours together marveling about Raj/Rahul who are SRK’s alter egos. Why has he never been able to go beyond them? Does he lack versatility? Or is that he is highly “consistent”? Only once I saw SRK portray a character on screen that was not him, Mohan Bhargav (Swades). Otherwise, every time I watch a SRK flick I find that his character is tailor made to be himself! Of course he does say that if he has to play raj 85 times he ll do each one differently. But frankly, I have hitherto not found any obvious differnce between Raj (DDLJ), Rahul (KKHH), Aman (KHNH), Raj Chalte Chalte) and the like…
To me he comes across an enigmatic man, a man who knows what he is doing and is doing it the right way. His takes on some serious issues give some of the diplomats a run for their money. His sense of humor is par excellence; his life is almost close to perfect. He either chooses his scripts very well or, tailor made scripts come knocking at his doorstep. But his commonality is somewhere close to that of common cold and I don’t want to catch it! I would rather a man of few words and whose appearances are far and between.
Sometimes he is even alleged to be opinionated (read Dharma Prod and Ysah Raj films) while choosing movies that he will act in, but he brushes the allegations aside while I strongly feel that when he goes beyond the afore mentioned production houses, he may do better and more fleshy roles.
One more thing he needs to work on is the kind of movies he chooses to act in. I would like to see him in more meaningful roles compared to the Rajs/Rahuls, which portray life through a rose tinted glass and have less substance (considering that SRK is a person who thinks).
The bottom line: SRK rocks