Several pages of newsprint were devoted to the unsavoury Shah Rukh Khan-Shirish Kunder scuffle both in the mainstream media, on the net, and social media. There are no clear answers about why Khan roughed up the long-haired husband of his former close friend Farah Khan, and the contradictory versions and subsequent clarifications by all and sundry made for great tabloid fare. In the end, it was said that the two sides had made up and all was well. Kunder went out of his way to clarify that he, his wife and Khan were buddies once again, though there’s really no concrete evidence of the newly-restored bonhomie just yet.
But in all of this, has SRK lost something precious?
This was a new SRK: rich, brash, cool but, in a way, cut-off from reality. Reuters
Let us first understand what makes Shah Rukh Khan the megastar he has turned out to be. Talk to any SRK fan, and she — and I emphasise the gender — will tell you that apart from his looks, what makes him more of a hero in her eyes is that he is still seen as a person who she can relate to, not someone who is ensconced in an ivory tower and beyond reach. SRK, thanks to his non-film background, comes across as someone who gives people the feeling that they too can strike it rich in the big, bad world.
SRK’s has been a success story rooted in the fact that he is a decent, friendly, affable human being, and I know several of his die-hard fans who gush every time he goes out and gives people his trademark hug. Indeed, SRK made the jaadoo ki jhappi popular well before Sanjay Dutt’s Munnabhai did. And SRK did it for real.
Add to that the fact that he came from a Delhi theatre background and worked with iconic talents like Kundan Shah and Aziz Mirza, and the middle-class cinema fan related almost completely to the man. Whether it was Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, Yes Boss, Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa or Chalte Chalte, SRK was the quintessential boy next door, the chap who the girl’s parents wouldn’t mind eventually giving away their daughter to.
Somewhere along the way, Shah Rukh Khan gave up that persona, opting instead for the Karan Johar-Yash Chopra orchestrated Rahuls and Rajs with the candifloss and pancake which, though highly successful in box office terms, began gradually losing that connect with middle class India. This new SRK was more Armani suit than ordinary white shirt, more BMW than local train. This was a new SRK: rich, brash, cool but, in a way, cut-off from reality. This was more superstar than actor.
I am no great SRK fan. But I have enjoyed watching him woo Juhi Chawla with Loveria Hua in Raju…, play the jealous yet endearing chap in Kabhi Haan… and the very much in love but bumbling husband in Chalte Chalte. Perhaps SRK himself realises how much he has changed. At a recent interaction with fans, when asked why he no longer plays characters like he did in the Kundan Shah-Aziz Mirza films, Khan promptly responded: “Perhaps I look too rich to play such parts now.” The innocent Delhi boy with the unruly mop of hair who made good in Mumbai and fired the imagination of millions is, perhaps, lost forever.
That’s why it was sad to see Khan being led away by Sanjay Dutt, all disheveled, clearly angry and upset, after the infamous brawl with Kunder. There was no trace of that innocence which won so many hearts, not a hint of the charm which was his trademark. This was a wealthy superstar who had just bashed up someone at a nightclub.
It is true: Shah Rukh Khan has changed. The brawl was just proof how much.
