The attractive romantic protagonists that Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan is best known for portraying have come to be associated with his boyish charm, twinkling eyes, and dimpled smile throughout the course of his three-decade film career. He’s made a transformation this year and is now an action star.
In a scene from his most recent movie Jawan, a threatening, balding Khan is seen holding a metro train hostage while frightened commuters scramble to escape. He quickly breaks into song and dance, much to the bewilderment of his prisoners.
The movie’s trailer had forewarned viewers: “When I become a villain, no hero stands a chance.”
Khan, a household name in India, is one of the nation’s most well-liked celebrities, with millions of followers both at home and abroad.
The biggest success story in Bollywood this year is his comeback to acting after a break. Anupama Chopra, a film reviewer, described him as “a lean, mean, fighting machine” in place of the sweet romance hero.
Khan has previously dabbled in action with movies like Don (2006) and Raees (2017), but these hardly ever highlighted the larger-than-life presence his most recent hits Pathaan and Jawan have.
A “new phase in his career” is being signaled, according to Ms. Chopra.
The spy movie Pathaan, which Khan premiered in 2023, saw him working against the clock to defend the nation from terrorist attacks. The movie shattered domestic box office records and made $120 million (£98 million) in four weeks. The actor played many characters in his most recent movie, Jawan, which broke the record last month in just 18 days.
“The persona we’re seeing on screen now is very different from what we’ve seen in earlier films,” says Ms. Chopra.
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As a stalker in Darr (1993), an obsessed lover in Baazigar (1993), and a furious antagonist in Anjaam (1994), Khan found his first breakthrough in anti-hero roles. However, the 1995 hit film Dilwali Dulhania Le Jayenge cemented his reputation as a romantic hero.
He has since appeared in other comedies and dramas, but he is still regarded as the king of romance. Many of his personas have been distinguished by his trademark attitude, which involves spreading his arms wide and singing a ballad.
Jawan and Pathaan maintain the charm and wit of this persona while portraying Khan as a muscular celebrity pulling off incredible stunts.
The two movies, according to critic Rahul Desai, have resurrected his career and stardom.
Every director who works with Khan must master a difficult balancing act, according to Ms. Chopra: “fan service, bolstering the myth [of the star] while giving the audience something new.”
Khan’s four-year hiatus from the movie industry followed a string of failures in both his personal and business lives. His movies received average reviews and underwhelming box office receipts upon release in 2016 and 2017. His appearances have been limited to cameos and voiceovers since 2018. His son Aryan Khan’s arrest for narcotics possession made national headlines in 2021. Eventually, the false accusations were abandoned.
According to Mr. Desai, Pathaan and Jawan are the “most obvious and visual way possible” for Khan to express his frustrations from both his personal and professional lives.
The significance of Shah Rukh Khan’s return movie
Although the two movies have different aesthetics, they share a similar narrative about a patriotic hero surrounded by allies from many regional and religious origins who band together to defend a nation in peril.
The subject contrasts sharply with a subset of recent Bollywood movies, such Kerala Story (2022) and Kashmir Files (2021), that have won accolades from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and members of the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These movies assert a link to Hindu nationalism or to Hinduism as a religion. They have become successes despite some critics’ disapproval.
Khan portrays the son of an army officer in Jawan who is battling to clear his father’s name of unfounded accusations. He assumes many roles as he battles a corrupt governmental system to provide justice that is withheld from the average person.
According to Mr. Desai, Khan’s movies frequently blend fiction and reality. In his assessment of Jawan, he claimed that “our enjoyment is derived from the illusion that we’re watching him as much as the men he plays.”
According to Mr. Desai to the BBC, in the past, his movies have always been about him enjoying his success as a major celebrity and self-praise. “But now, in films like Pathaan and Jawan, they’re taking a more creative approach by making up stories about his personal identity and views as a person (famous figure, parent, romantic partner, patriot) and his connection with the country/system in today’s situation.”
His movies do not entirely convey a fresh political message; according to critics, several of his earlier films did as well.
“Take a film like Swades, where he plays a NASA engineer returning to live in India; it was addressing a specific kind of patriotism,” Ms. Chopra explains. “But what’s been going on in India and in his life in recent years has led to a much deeper interpretation of political nuances.”
Activists claim that since Mr. Modi’s nationalist administration took office, the number of hate crimes committed against Muslims and other minorities has gone up. The BJP disputes the allegations, yet senior leaders infrequently denounce such events.
“This year’s blockbusters have understood and designed Khan’s comeback not just as an actor but as a Muslim superstar in a country governed by a Hindu-majoritarian party,” said Desai.
“A lot of the viewers don’t realise that they’re actually rooting for the tolerance and old-school secularism he represents when they watch these movies,” he said.
Khan’s monologue about the value of voting and political accountability is a sequence from Jawan that is frequently cited by both critics and viewers.
Several political groups, including the opposition Congress and the ruling BJP, insisted it was referring to one of them.
It’s a good indicator, according to Ms. Chopra, “when you do something that has impact on all fronts.”
According to Mr. Desai, Khan’s success in these movies “has propelled him back into a space where he’s not just a nostalgic idea anymore.”
Khan, according to Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh author Shrayana Bhattacharya, has never needed a “revival” since he has always been too beloved.
For her book, Ms. Bhattacharya spoke with the superstar’s followers over the course of 15 years. “No-one ever reduced him to the banal binaries of identity politics,” she claims.
After a break, eager fans have organized to see their favorite actor, according to Ms. Bhattacharya. “They wished to show their support for one another and have fun. In its own unique ways, fun is subversive.
According to Mr. Desai, Khan still has a lot to offer as an actor. “I look forward to him ageing, getting more secure with his stardom, going beyond making statements and choosing more diverse roles.”