I haven't watched Zero yet, but I know Shah Rukh Khan can even go beyond Mars
I’m waiting for Shah Rukh Khan to write about Shah Rukh Khan
I watched him with a great deal of interest. Floppy-haired, ordinary looking, theatrical dialogue delivery, body language that was good, but didn’t seem quite self-assured, and a body that was too skinny to be noteworthy. But there was something about him. His expressive eyes that said much more than the OTT lines he mouthed, that sense of him giving it his all to every little thing he was doing. And he had that elusive X factor. That one thing that an actor either has or doesn’t have; it can’t be faked or created.
“This actor will go places, mark my words,” was my one comment on that nondescript-looking young man who had that indescribable something special the first moment he appeared on the screen in 1992 in that hit movie Deewana. And since then the deewana whom the world knows as Shah Rukh Khan has gone places and beyond. Mars too, I hear?! He will go even further, there is no doubt in my mind about that.
I love Shah Rukh Khan. Period. And if a column could be minimised into a long text, I’d have finished it with two emojis: the heart and the folded hands ones. To say I love you, Shah Rukh Khan, and thank you, Shah Rukh Khan, for just being.
And...
What is it that I can say about Khan that has not been said countless times by millions of his fans and those who have written or spoken about him? That Khan is a mega superstar who still seems like the boy next door? That Khan’s romantic movies have reset the way we look at the love that affects our life in its myriad connotations? That Khan despite being not the best looking man on the block has the dimpled-smile power to make heartbeats go aflutter, turn staid articulation into giggly shyness, and sullen faces break into schoolgirl smiles?
That Khan’s eyes write poetry on the face of the actress he murmurs things to, things that have been said by many actors, many times? That Khan’s smile is the reason for kuch kuch hota hai in your heart? That Khan’s passion for his art translates into his acting, making it appear original even when he is doing what he has done a gazillion times before? That Khan, despite being almost the same in all his movies, in every new role awakens a new passion in his viewer? That Khan’s familiar roles are the clichés we cherish like the priceless memories of our almost-forgotten first love? That Khan despite being not the greatest actor is loved more than most actors in the world?
I could go on, but the redundancy of repeating the obvious is what stops me from gushing any more over an actor who has redefined the way regular Indian films are looked at. Why after being a fan for 26 years I’ve never written on Khan and am doing it today, I don’t really know. The reason is not my hour-long viewing of a stream of promotional stuff of Zero, a film that I’ve not yet seen; yes, I like to listen to people talk when I’m not reading or writing or watching movies or binge-watching The Haunting of Hill House or Breaking Bad. There’re a couple of things that made me write today on that one actor I’ve have never been able to bracket. Shah Khan Khan just is. And there is no one like him. Yes.
It was a three-year-old who made me think of the Khan effect three days ago. During a long, noisy music night that was a part of my cousin’s daughter’s multi-day wedding, I noticed that the adorable little daughter of another cousin of mine didn’t talk to anyone but her immediate family. And when she seemed too cranky to even be interested to do that, her aunt did what she knew would entertain her like nothing else, something she loves: Shah Rukh Khan songs on YouTube on the aunt’s phone. The three-year-old, rapt, watched songs of the 53-year-old Khan as if he was her favourite Disney hero. It is one of her favourite things to do, watching Khan’s films. That to me is the power of the super-superstardom of that one actor that defies time, arrival of new superstars, box-office status of his films, presence or absence of critical acclaim, growing old, gravity, etcetera, etcetera.
It reminded me of the love my now 18-year-old son, Musa, had for Khan. Being a PlayStation, Cartoon Network (when he was small), Disney, Pixar and superhero films (when he was a preschooler and even now when he is in university), and a Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, Fight Club and Shawshank Redemption fan, Musa still loves the first Shah Rukh Khan movie that he watched many times: Main Hoon Na. It was a very interesting continuation of his fascination with Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham when he was one and a half! Everyone who visited us would bring a K3G VCD (the pre-DVD era, folks) for him, and he’d watch it without of course comprehension. At that point, I think it was Hrithik’s songs in the film that held his attention. Main Hoon Na when it was released was his first real introduction to Khan, and to date, he recommends Main Hoon Na to children who wish to see a fun Indian film!
Another of Musa’s favourite was Kal Ho Na Ho. Then came Om Shanti Om, and watching it together a couple of times every year remains a favourite mother-son tradition! That to me is another illustration of that indescribable connection people of all ages and sensibilities have with that one Shah Rukh Khan.
The other thing that made me want to write on Khan is the way he speaks: his absolutely incomparable eloquence in his one-on-one interviews and even short talks accompanied by co-stars for a film promotion. Irrepressibly witty, artlessly funny, supremely aware of his strengths and limitations as an actor, secure of his unique star status, his effect on his audience, and the changing realities of cinema, age and roles, Khan has that unusual way of wording the mundane in an utterly delightful expression that seems to be from the heart, but is also possessively private.
The way Khan looks at the world, his career, his shortcomings as an artist, his larger-than-life superstardom, his beautiful bond with his wife and children, his respect and fondness for his directors and co-stars, his out-of-the-box attempts to remain relevant, his self-assurance to call himself an “entertainer”, his absolute comfort with his appearance and the need to change it accepting the inevitability of ageing, and his ability to make everyone around him feel special is what makes listening to Khan a pleasure any time, any day, anywhere.
Being someone who writes and who loves the written word, reading Khan’s tweets and listening to him speak, I often have this thought: there is a beautiful writer within Khan. That in the articulateness of his words is the profundity, the angst, the sensitivity and the limitlessness that would best be encapsulated in a book that is about nothing and everything. Khan’s acting, in a way, is also that: nothing and everything and all that is in between. Shah Rukh Khan, the actor, the mega superstar, who has worked for almost three decades, and who is written and spoken about so much, is best decoded in the words of just one man: Shah Rukh Khan.
I’m waiting for Shah Rukh Khan to write about Shah Rukh Khan.
Until then...
I love you, Shah Rukh, kabhi alvida na kehna... Heart and hugs emojis! 