Of all the Hall of Fame unauthorized biographies I wrote a few years ago, the one on Shah Rukh Khan did the best. Although it feels good to have written books on stars which did not rely on their personal inputs – if one follows that route, honesty can get diluted from time to time – what I would genuinely like to do is write the SRK book all over again. That is not because I want to get many more good, bad and mixed reviews, or hit the bookstores with another one which will fly off the racks for sure. On the contrary, after watching SRK evolve as an actor in the last few years, I have started believing that some of his best characters have hit the big screen in the recent past.
This is not to say that SRK did not come up with some noteworthy performances in the first half of his career. He did, with his 'K-k-k-k-kiran' act in Darr that triggered off his ascent towards invincible superstardom; his endearing performance in Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa; and, of course, when he turned into Raj in DDLJ that made him the lover boy millions fell in love with.
Even those who hated the star – that number being less than a few – could not help confessing that his spontaneity imparted a special appeal to his characters. All his popular performances need not have been great, but they surely struck a chord with the masses who wanted to see more and more of the guy. He may not have looked as good as Aamir or Salman, the two Khans he competed with. But, he was ahead in terms of his popularity for the most part of his career.
He was the leader. No doubt about it. And, he continues to retain the number one throne despite Aamir's diversity and quest for perfectionism, Salman's glittering charisma and Akshay Kumar's emphatic emergence. There have been times when there have been talks about his slipping away – think Hrithik Roshan of a few years ago, and you have the answer – but he has kept the spot with himself on the whole. To say that is difficult would be the understatement of the century. That, to start with, is why I miss some more pages in the book.
But the main reason, as stated earlier, is the performance factor. Although Swades did not rock the box-office and received highly unfair reviews on occasions, few would question that SRK as Mohan Bhargava is as believable as he could have been. When he is at NASA as a scientist, we like him. But, we enjoy even more when he returns to India and starts working for the welfare of the downtrodden.
The character has a sense of purpose, and his philanthropic mindset makes us think twice about the lives we were leading. So good is SRK's performance that we actually forget the man himself when we see Bhargava. Considering his stature as a star, pulling off an act like that couldn't have been easy. After the performance, SRK made many rethink about his prowess as actor, which had often been obscured by the sheer weight of his superstardom. As Mohan Bhargava, he is Mohan Bhargava. That is all.
However, the two characters with which SRK seems to have conquered newer pastures are those of Kabir Khan in Chak De! India and Surinder Sahni in Rab Ne…. As the hockey coach of the Indian women's team whose reputation had been sullied in the past, SRK's Kabir is awesome. The character's frustration shows, and so does his willpower to make something happen when he gets the coach's assignment. Kabir's desire to prove a point and his methods as a coach makes him a very interesting and intriguing personality. When I think of it today, nobody apart from SRK would have been able to pull off the act with so much conviction.
At the risk of getting a lot of flak, and mainly because Rab Ne… does not have a great script like Chak De!..., I would rate SRK's Surinder Sahni in the former as highly as any other character he has essayed so far. Why I think so is since Surinder is one more regular guy whose personality becomes credible only if SRK's superstardom is forgotten completely. A diffident man with a good soul, Surinder in his bespectacled avatar is light years away from the six-packed guy that SRK actually is. It is a beautifully written character – unlike the entire film which has its loopholes – and the superstar simply makes sure that people walk out of the hall, thinking about Surinder instead of the guy who played the role.
As a writer of a book on SRK, I miss an exclusive chapter on these characters today. They have influenced the way in which I think of SRK as an actor, but there isn't anything I can do since the book was published a few years ago. But then, there could come a time when I will write another one on the star. Or may be, I will get a chance to edit the book and make it new.
No comments:
Post a Comment