Shah Rukh Khan has turned 60 today, and like all the birthdays that come attached with a zero, six oh comes with its own weight, and reckoning.
Even as the mighty machinery of his fandom is on full display outside his Mumbai mansion, Mannat, it is as good a day as any to mark those significant digits of a star who has managed to stay within our sights for the past 30 years and counting.
The celebratory aspect, as with all things that occupy a sizeable chunk of our time and imagination, is bittersweet. Once upon a time, that shining star was young, and now both he and those of us who basked in that light are getting on.
That SRK came from television, gaining popularity with the Doordarshan serial Fauji, is well known. That he did theatre in his early Delhi years of school and college, and honed his skills with mentor and coach Barry John, is equally well documented. As are his strong middle-class roots and feelings for his parents who passed away before they could witness his success, and family and friends from Delhi whom he is still in touch with; how he fell in love with a girl and won her over is also part of the SRK lore.
When he entered Hindi cinema, it was a much tighter clique than today, filled with studios run like mom-and-pop stores. But being in the right place and right time got him a break in Raj Kanwar’s 1992 Deewana, playing third wheel to Rishi Kapoor and Divya Bharti: A fully filmi entry, riding a motorcycle on Marine Drive, singing “koi na koi chahiye, pyaar karne wala”. It was song as manifestation. He asked for love, and that’s what he got. In spades.
Yes, Aamir Khan and Salman Khan were already in place but this dimpled Khan hit different. His brash modernity and can-do confidence all worked to set him apart: Those who had enjoyed his antics in Fauji rolled over into his burgeoning filmi fanbase.
Cinema, in the early ’90s, was the most powerful and popular medium of entertainment, which entire families would flock to, and if you managed to connect with different age groups, like SRK did, then you were set. No one cared if the film was good, bad or middling; all that mattered was that your favourite star was in it.
Which is exactly what happened. After a few early forays into movies which painted him in shades of blackest villainy — flinging his lady-love from the terrace in Baazigar (1993) — and turning remorseless stalker in Darr (1993) and Anjaam (1994), he found his forever home with Aditya Chopra’s romantic musical Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), which has just turned 30.
It wasn’t just leading lady Kajol whose heart he stole, it was also ours. Subsequently, his hold has loosened and tightened on and off, but it has never let us go. And now, after 30 years — more if you count his early stint in TV shows and near-forgotten films — of ruling small and big screens, he continues to be the star whom we have remained in thrall to, through his good, bad and indifferent work.
Like other movie stars whose stardom often hides the contours of the characters they play, SRK’s sharply edged roles have continued to leave his fans conflicted. One of my favourite films of his, Fan (2016), caused much consternation amongst the faithful: The double role has SRK playing a star-struck fan who can’t deal with the fact that his idol — also played by SRK — has feet of clay. The film is a beaut, one of the few in which he gives an actual performance, more flint than fluff, rather than yet another costumed version of himself.
To cast aside the layers of starry latex is the hardest thing to do, because that requires being vulnerable in front of an all-seeing camera. But having walked past bigoted backlash, troll armies, personal setbacks, and professional wins, even as son Aryan has entered the entertainment space with a bang, with Ba***ds of Bollywood, this could well be the best time for SRK to re-explore his actorly roots — this thought comes from a critic who has seen him do his thing all these years.
At 60, as one of the biggest stars in India, with a massive global footprint, all SRK has left to do is to embrace the actor within himself. Now that would be the biggest present the birthday boy can give to himself, and to those who believe that he can do more than just send himself up. Ghante ka baadshah, haha, sure. But also dil se re. That too.
