Just days to go before the release of #FAN and a double dose of @iamsrk ...
At 50 Shah Rukh is in a competition with just one person. A person that has scaled the highest of heights, the stardom equivalent of Mt. Everest. Not Salman, nor Aamir, Ranbir, Ranveer, Hrithik or even Amitabh - Shah Rukh is competing with himself.
And like the plot of #FAN where its SRK vs SRK -this is his toughest competition yet.
Right now he is being measured against what he himself has achieved in a glittering 24 year career, the very career that now casts a giant shadow over him, a shadow of brilliance that he has to emerge from to enable him to add even more glory to it.
And it could be as tough a challenge as he has ever faced.
If Shah Rukh's acting trajectory starts going backwards, the doomsayers will be having a field day.
Granted the SRK phenomena is about much more than just acting, no one can dispute his popularity, or even his status.
In December Forbes Asia India described him as The Biggest Star in the World... http://www.forbes.com/sites/ranisingh/2015/12/26/shah-rukh-khan-the-biggest-movie-star-in-the-world/#1b8a8a7a1b8f
At the same time Wealth X placed him second on the list of the world’s richest actors behind Jerry Seinfeld but above Tom Cruise... http://www.imdb.com/list/ls059147425/
He is an industry. He is mega successful. He has been at the forefront of Bollywood's rise around the globe. He tops the all time Filmfare Awards winners list. He is a successful businessman, owner of an IPL championship winning franchise, the force behind a world class graphics hub, a global ambassador, but acting is what got him there in the first place and for an actor - acting is the be all and end all - the rest like bank accounts in offshore Panama are just the perks of the job.
And an acting crisis has afflicted the best of actors.
From Dilip Kumar to Rajesh Khanna to Amitabh Bachchan.
The Big B went through the bleakest period in his career during the late 1980’s when his films flopped left right and centre. Jaadugar and Toofan were the subject of ridicule, and although there was the odd hit every once in a while, it wasn’t until he began to play roles that matched his age and not the star image that had been established around him that he realized a second lease of life.
And only when the audience was prepared to accept him in those roles did the admiration return.
If it could happen to the Big B, no one, not even SRK is immune.
Truth is his last two films were diabolical.
Happy New Year with its cringe worthy humour has its place on the scrapheap of Indian cinema, and Dilwale did his and Kajol's glittering filmography a disservice.
Both were produced by Red Chillies which he owns and both were designed for just one thing: to print money.
Yes fans flocked to see both of them but in its aftermath the number of people who enjoyed it and those who ridiculed it were closer to each other than ever before and the danger if that balance tilts increasingly towards ridicule is that SRK's career could hit a downward spiral that would take years to rectify.
And I think he knows it.
Fans can be intolerant of failure, ask me I'm a @ManUtd supporter I know...
The fact that Bajirao Mastani took on Dilwale without even half the hype and then proceeded to smash it for critical acclaim must have troubled him no end. And not even the consolation of Dilwale overshadowing Bajirao in the global box office race would have appeased his inherently competitive streak.
Winners don't like losing be it at the box office or playing board games.
And winning is in SRK's blood.
His upcoming film choices certainly seem to suggest that acclaim is uppermost on his mind. That he wants to prove why he deserves more than the record 15 Filmfare Awards that have gone his way.
Awards have always mattered to Shah Rukh as this unforgettable dialogue when he receives his Filmfare award in Om Shanti Om reminds us
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1fyfaZOxi1M
"Itni shiddat se maine tumhe paane ki koshish ki hai ... ki har zarre ne mujhe tumse milane ki saazish ki hai" ("I have desired you so truly, so absolutely ... that the entire universe has conspired to bring us together").
Pause for a minute and digest this, its been five years now, since his last Filmfare Best Actor award.
Five years since My Name is Khan.
Five years.
So how is he attempting to fix it?
Red Chillies' next is a co-production with Excel titled Raees about a booze bootlegger in the dry state of Gujarat, and following it is a take on bridging the romantic generation gap where SRK is opposite Alia Bhatt, Gauri Shinde who directed the utterly charming English Vinglish is handling it, both are hardly a conventional choice as they have no sign of the word 'masala' applied as an adjective for entertainment.
These movies may not necessarily rewrite Box Office records, although I hope they do, but they look likely to highlight and test the actor in him because even all the money in the world wont satisfy the free creative spirit that is Shah Rukh Khan.
His other prospective projects look as interesting, an Imtiaz Ali film and one with Tanu Weds Manu director Aanand L Rai.
Two filmmakers who love trying out fresh subjects.
All the above plus the imminent release of Maneesh Sharma's #FAN - a thriller with a difference.
From what you have read so far you're probably thinking what's with the anti-SRK agenda?
That couldn't be further from the truth.
The release of #FAN cant come soon enough. For two reasons and both have to do with Shah Rukh's roles; when he is good, never mind how bad the movie is, he is very good but when he is bad - he is brilliant and in this movie, the bad guy is back looking as young as ever and as wicked as when he was that young.
My introduction to Shah Rukh the actor will always be that guy who tormented his co-stars in films like Baazigar and Darr, I developed an admiration for the actor long before he became the romantic sensation that we all fell in love with.
This movie brings every one of those guises together along with a superstar, a man with an obsession and a lover.
As a fan it's right to feel nervous and excited about #FAN's release as it could either be an affirmation of his standout star status or see him being shoved into a direction where he would need to begin a process of reinventing himself.
The stakes really are that high.
And the higher the stakes the greater the anticipation.
in the aftermath of Dilwale articles like these emerged, http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/31483/shah-rukh-khans-career-is-now-officially-over
Most were written by those hoping to sound the death knell to the SRK phenomenon. I for one hope he is able to remind them of that fabulous Mark Twain quote "reports of my death are greatly exaggerated" and shut them right up.
Aur agar happy ending na hua to picture abhi baki hain mere dost.
At 50 Shah Rukh is in a competition with just one person. A person that has scaled the highest of heights, the stardom equivalent of Mt. Everest. Not Salman, nor Aamir, Ranbir, Ranveer, Hrithik or even Amitabh - Shah Rukh is competing with himself.
And like the plot of #FAN where its SRK vs SRK -this is his toughest competition yet.
Right now he is being measured against what he himself has achieved in a glittering 24 year career, the very career that now casts a giant shadow over him, a shadow of brilliance that he has to emerge from to enable him to add even more glory to it.
And it could be as tough a challenge as he has ever faced.
If Shah Rukh's acting trajectory starts going backwards, the doomsayers will be having a field day.
Granted the SRK phenomena is about much more than just acting, no one can dispute his popularity, or even his status.
In December Forbes Asia India described him as The Biggest Star in the World... http://www.forbes.com/sites/ranisingh/2015/12/26/shah-rukh-khan-the-biggest-movie-star-in-the-world/#1b8a8a7a1b8f
At the same time Wealth X placed him second on the list of the world’s richest actors behind Jerry Seinfeld but above Tom Cruise... http://www.imdb.com/list/ls059147425/
He is an industry. He is mega successful. He has been at the forefront of Bollywood's rise around the globe. He tops the all time Filmfare Awards winners list. He is a successful businessman, owner of an IPL championship winning franchise, the force behind a world class graphics hub, a global ambassador, but acting is what got him there in the first place and for an actor - acting is the be all and end all - the rest like bank accounts in offshore Panama are just the perks of the job.
And an acting crisis has afflicted the best of actors.
From Dilip Kumar to Rajesh Khanna to Amitabh Bachchan.
The Big B went through the bleakest period in his career during the late 1980’s when his films flopped left right and centre. Jaadugar and Toofan were the subject of ridicule, and although there was the odd hit every once in a while, it wasn’t until he began to play roles that matched his age and not the star image that had been established around him that he realized a second lease of life.
And only when the audience was prepared to accept him in those roles did the admiration return.
If it could happen to the Big B, no one, not even SRK is immune.
Truth is his last two films were diabolical.
Happy New Year with its cringe worthy humour has its place on the scrapheap of Indian cinema, and Dilwale did his and Kajol's glittering filmography a disservice. Both were produced by Red Chillies which he owns and both were designed for just one thing: to print money.
Yes fans flocked to see both of them but in its aftermath the number of people who enjoyed it and those who ridiculed it were closer to each other than ever before and the danger if that balance tilts increasingly towards ridicule is that SRK's career could hit a downward spiral that would take years to rectify.
And I think he knows it. Fans can be intolerant of failure, ask me I'm a @ManUtd supporter I know...
The fact that Bajirao Mastani took on Dilwale without even half the hype and then proceeded to smash it for critical acclaim must have troubled him no end. And not even the consolation of Dilwale overshadowing Bajirao in the global box office race would have appeased his inherently competitive streak.
Winners don't like losing be it at the box office or playing board games.
And winning is in SRK's blood.
His upcoming film choices certainly seem to suggest that acclaim is uppermost on his mind. That he wants to prove why he deserves more than the record 15 Filmfare Awards that have gone his way.
Awards have always mattered to Shah Rukh as this unforgettable dialogue when he receives his Filmfare award in Om Shanti Om reminds us
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1fyfaZOxi1M
"Itni shiddat se maine tumhe paane ki koshish ki hai ... ki har zarre ne mujhe tumse milane ki saazish ki hai" ("I have desired you so truly, so absolutely ... that the entire universe has conspired to bring us together").
Pause for a minute and digest this, its been five years now, since his last Filmfare Best Actor award.
Five years since My Name is Khan.
Five years.
So how is he attempting to fix it?
Red Chillies' next is a co-production with Excel titled Raees about a booze bootlegger in the dry state of Gujarat, and following it is a take on bridging the romantic generation gap where SRK is opposite Alia Bhatt, Gauri Shinde who directed the utterly charming English Vinglish is handling it, both are hardly a conventional choice as they have no sign of the word 'masala' applied as an adjective for entertainment.
These movies may not necessarily rewrite Box Office records, although I hope they do, but they look likely to highlight and test the actor in him because even all the money in the world wont satisfy the free creative spirit that is Shah Rukh Khan. His other prospective projects look as interesting, an Imtiaz Ali film and one with Tanu Weds Manu director Aanand L Rai.
Two filmmakers who love trying out fresh subjects.
All the above plus the imminent release of Maneesh Sharma's #FAN - a thriller with a difference.
From what you have read so far you're probably thinking what's with the anti-SRK agenda?
That couldn't be further from the truth.
The release of #FAN cant come soon enough. For two reasons and both have to do with Shah Rukh's roles; when he is good, never mind how bad the movie is, he is very good but when he is bad - he is brilliant and in this movie, the bad guy is back looking as young as ever and as wicked as when he was that young.
My introduction to Shah Rukh the actor will always be that guy who tormented his co-stars in films like Baazigar and Darr, I developed an admiration for the actor long before he became the romantic sensation that we all fell in love with.
This movie brings every one of those guises together along with a superstar, a man with an obsession and a lover.
As a fan it's right to feel nervous and excited about #FAN's release as it could either be an affirmation of his standout star status or see him being shoved into a direction where he would need to begin a process of reinventing himself.
The stakes really are that high.
And the higher the stakes the greater the anticipation.
in the aftermath of Dilwale articles like these emerged, http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/31483/shah-rukh-khans-career-is-now-officially-over
Most were written by those hoping to sound the death knell to the SRK phenomenon. I for one hope he is able to remind them of that fabulous Mark Twain quote "reports of my death are greatly exaggerated" and shut them right up.
Aur agar happy ending na hua to picture abhi baki hain mere dost.
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