Post by agantuk on Dec 29, 2013 22:52:34 GMT -8
Rediff.com's special Year-End series continues... the second part of the biggest Change-Makers in Bollywood in 2013.
Shah Rukh Khan
Because: He is the Bollywood Badshah. Like a true emperor, Shah Rukh Khan responds to naysayers with blockbusters.
In 2013, that was Chennai Express, one of the biggest hits of the year.
-- By Karan Johar
Something about Shah Rukh Khan I've always realised and observed is that a lot of his on-screen stardom has to do with his off-screen persona. Very few stars can evoke the feeling of love beyond their contribution to the screen.
He has that persona where he can connect immediately to, say, a family where Shah Rukh is like an ideal husband, an ideal brother, a son, a son-in-law.
And then there is the way he carries himself outside of the films, on Indian and International platforms. Sometimes I feel the way he speaks when he is on stage supersedes even the work he does.
In terms of fan following, Shah Rukh has the women. Salman has a huge mass following, they emulate his style as the brat, and the country has gotten used to perceiving him as the bad boy with the golden heart. Aamir is like the ISI stamp of excellence, of quality. You feel respectful towards him, and take it seriously if Aamir endorses a product or a film. He is the voice of morality, reason and virtue.
Shah Rukh, on the other hand, stands for a lot of love.
People look on him as the son who will be a great son, that father who will sit with his children and see them through. Also, the Diaspora loves him. All over the world, audiences far from the Indian parameters love him, they think he is one of them. And the Rajs and Rahuls have become implanted in their DNA; they believe he is that man.
Everything changed with Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge, because the whole value system, the ideology and ethos of that film was that he was a lover who refused to run away with his girl, he wanted to win the parents's blessing. It was the first such film, and in doing it so successfully he touched a million parents's hearts.
And then the eternal lover in Dil Toh Pagal Hai, the young father in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai... It all made him the ideal man to be and he resonated in larger and larger ways with his audience.
There are superheroes with super powers and superheroes with human powers, and he has such human powers. And he really has the love, pure love, from women of a certain age. And by virtue of that the husbands and kids come along.
Over the years I've seen people confuse him with his on-screen persona. There are people who bring people to Shah Rukh and say, 'Tell my son to be good to me,' or 'Tell my husband to be good to me.' It is amazing.
Also, he has a certain sadness in his eyes, which brings about a certain protective instinct in women. Plus, when he talks, on stage or in interviews, he just speaks with his heart on his sleeve; it makes people fall in love with him even more.
When he entered Hindi cinema, he was meant to be that theatre-actor who would change the style of the movies. He just fell into the right -- or the wrong -- hands, however you choose to look at it. Cinema ended up changing his stride a little bit. It was surreal.
Aamir walked out of Darr and Shah Rukh walked into it, and their paths changed. Aamir became the super-commercial actor, going on to act with Inder Kumar, etc and Shah Rukh was more experimental, working with Ketan Mehta and Aziz Mirza. If Darr hadn't happened, maybe Aamir would have been in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Shah Rukh would have done Lagaan.
I see a silence in his performances now, a quiet in his work.
He is clever enough to go with the world around him; his intellige makes him adapt. Shah Rukh was always evolved enough to know that if Yash Chopra wanted him to unabashedly stretch his arms out on a hilltop, he'd do it with as much abandon as he'd try to be natural in an Aziz Mirza film or with as much abandon as he'd tackle a Rakesh Roshan reincarnation drama.
I am glad he is doing Maneesh Sharma's next film (Fan) because he seeks out challenges not only as a superstar but also an actor. He doesn't make a big deal about the work he puts into every film, but he does a lot without talking about his method or his process.
Once he told me he has a different walk for every character he plays. "In my head I rehearse that," he said. "If I walk right I'll do the scene right."
Even in a mainstream film like Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, who cared about all that, but he'd made his own character. Like he never smiled in that film. "I'll only smile in the second half when I am with my wife." He'll never tell you, but he has it all worked out.
I wish Shah Rukh could do some movies -- at least one movie a year -- where there is no pressure of it being 'A Shah Rukh Khan Major Motion Picture.'
I wish stars were allowed to experiment on a smaller scale without so many prerequisites. We are still a country too obsessed with stardom, and I wish he was allowed the luxury to do something that motivates him as an actor without other expectations.
Karan Johar has directed Shah Rukh Khan in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna and My Name Is Khan.
As told to Raja Sen.
www.rediff.com/movies/slide-show/slide-show-1-shah-rukh-deepika-the-change-makers-of-bollywood-2013/20131230.htm
Shah Rukh Khan
Because: He is the Bollywood Badshah. Like a true emperor, Shah Rukh Khan responds to naysayers with blockbusters.
In 2013, that was Chennai Express, one of the biggest hits of the year.
-- By Karan Johar
Something about Shah Rukh Khan I've always realised and observed is that a lot of his on-screen stardom has to do with his off-screen persona. Very few stars can evoke the feeling of love beyond their contribution to the screen.
He has that persona where he can connect immediately to, say, a family where Shah Rukh is like an ideal husband, an ideal brother, a son, a son-in-law.
And then there is the way he carries himself outside of the films, on Indian and International platforms. Sometimes I feel the way he speaks when he is on stage supersedes even the work he does.
In terms of fan following, Shah Rukh has the women. Salman has a huge mass following, they emulate his style as the brat, and the country has gotten used to perceiving him as the bad boy with the golden heart. Aamir is like the ISI stamp of excellence, of quality. You feel respectful towards him, and take it seriously if Aamir endorses a product or a film. He is the voice of morality, reason and virtue.
Shah Rukh, on the other hand, stands for a lot of love.
People look on him as the son who will be a great son, that father who will sit with his children and see them through. Also, the Diaspora loves him. All over the world, audiences far from the Indian parameters love him, they think he is one of them. And the Rajs and Rahuls have become implanted in their DNA; they believe he is that man.
Everything changed with Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge, because the whole value system, the ideology and ethos of that film was that he was a lover who refused to run away with his girl, he wanted to win the parents's blessing. It was the first such film, and in doing it so successfully he touched a million parents's hearts.
And then the eternal lover in Dil Toh Pagal Hai, the young father in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai... It all made him the ideal man to be and he resonated in larger and larger ways with his audience.
There are superheroes with super powers and superheroes with human powers, and he has such human powers. And he really has the love, pure love, from women of a certain age. And by virtue of that the husbands and kids come along.
Over the years I've seen people confuse him with his on-screen persona. There are people who bring people to Shah Rukh and say, 'Tell my son to be good to me,' or 'Tell my husband to be good to me.' It is amazing.
Also, he has a certain sadness in his eyes, which brings about a certain protective instinct in women. Plus, when he talks, on stage or in interviews, he just speaks with his heart on his sleeve; it makes people fall in love with him even more.
When he entered Hindi cinema, he was meant to be that theatre-actor who would change the style of the movies. He just fell into the right -- or the wrong -- hands, however you choose to look at it. Cinema ended up changing his stride a little bit. It was surreal.
Aamir walked out of Darr and Shah Rukh walked into it, and their paths changed. Aamir became the super-commercial actor, going on to act with Inder Kumar, etc and Shah Rukh was more experimental, working with Ketan Mehta and Aziz Mirza. If Darr hadn't happened, maybe Aamir would have been in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Shah Rukh would have done Lagaan.
I see a silence in his performances now, a quiet in his work.
He is clever enough to go with the world around him; his intellige makes him adapt. Shah Rukh was always evolved enough to know that if Yash Chopra wanted him to unabashedly stretch his arms out on a hilltop, he'd do it with as much abandon as he'd try to be natural in an Aziz Mirza film or with as much abandon as he'd tackle a Rakesh Roshan reincarnation drama.
I am glad he is doing Maneesh Sharma's next film (Fan) because he seeks out challenges not only as a superstar but also an actor. He doesn't make a big deal about the work he puts into every film, but he does a lot without talking about his method or his process.
Once he told me he has a different walk for every character he plays. "In my head I rehearse that," he said. "If I walk right I'll do the scene right."
Even in a mainstream film like Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, who cared about all that, but he'd made his own character. Like he never smiled in that film. "I'll only smile in the second half when I am with my wife." He'll never tell you, but he has it all worked out.
I wish Shah Rukh could do some movies -- at least one movie a year -- where there is no pressure of it being 'A Shah Rukh Khan Major Motion Picture.'
I wish stars were allowed to experiment on a smaller scale without so many prerequisites. We are still a country too obsessed with stardom, and I wish he was allowed the luxury to do something that motivates him as an actor without other expectations.
Karan Johar has directed Shah Rukh Khan in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna and My Name Is Khan.
As told to Raja Sen.
www.rediff.com/movies/slide-show/slide-show-1-shah-rukh-deepika-the-change-makers-of-bollywood-2013/20131230.htm
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