Baazigar to Jawan: Shah Rukh Khan’s evolution defined in 10 films

“Haar kar jeetne waale ko Baazigar kehte hain”. Shah Rukh Khan must be living up the line right now. Written off by many through a difficult self-imposed exile of half a decade, he is back with record smashers in 2023. Only last year around this time, few would have given him half a chance, but Pathaan and Jawan have changed all that. SRK’s comeback saga has the sort of rush that scripts reel thrillers. Come to think of it, his entire career has been as dramatic as a film script. When the boy next door from Delhi set out to craft a Bollywood career in the early nineties after a brief stint as a Doordarshan actor, the idea wasn’t the norm back then. He bucked the trend-grabbing eyeballs with his debut role in Deewana (1992), though SRK ’s flight would really start when he turned evil on screen, as antihero in the 1993 thrillers Baazigar and Darr. Before you could say “typecast”, he had fostered a winsome chemistry with Kajol in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. King Khan was born in 1995, primarily riding the romantic image of DDLJ. The image would also buoy later hits as Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001) and Devdas (2002). And just when the naysayers whispered he could only score with mushy roles, Shah Rukh Khan gave them Swades (2004) and Chak De! India (2007). Om Shanti Om (2007), Chennai Express (2013) and Happy New Year (2014) followed, and then came a phase fans would like to obliterate. Khan went off on a five-year break. Today, SRK is more than a screen superstar. He is a pop culture phenomenon and a textbook case on how to woo success. Understanding his success is really about understanding his progression through the films he chose. Here’s looking at 10 films we feel shaped Shah Rukh Khan’s image as a superstar and career as an actor. Arranged strictly in chronological order. Baazigar (1993)

The film that started it all. Although Shah Rukh Khan made an impact with his TV roles in Fauji, Dil Dariya, Circus, Doosra Keval and Idiot, and was impressive in his Bollywood debut Deewana (1992), Abbas-Mustan’s _Baazigar_ was the film that made him a household name. The film was SRK’s seventh Bollywood release within a span of just over a year when, barring Deewana, his other early releases — Chamatkar, Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, Dil Aashna Hai, Maya Memsaab and King Uncle — had seen tepid to cold response. Baazigar was SRK’s all-out wager at the box office, a move away from safe, feel-good roles into hardcore antihero territory riding a plot of revenge. The film was based on the Hollywood thriller, A Kiss Before Dying. A rank outsider in the industry only weeks before Baazigar released, Shah Rukh Khan would go on to become one of the Next Big Things along with Bollywood’s other Khans — Aamir and Salman. The trio would go on to rule the industry. Darr (1993)

Yash Chopra’s _Darr_ was a smart follow-up to boost SRK’s antihero image of Baazigar. The image was unusual in Bollywood of the nineties, and Darr utilised it to cast Shah Rukh Khan as the obsessive lover who was willing to kill for the woman of his dreams. SRK’s dialogue “I love you K-K-Kiran” would go on to become a rage, and his role of Rahul Mehra would spawn many clones on the Bollywood screen. Importantly, the blockbuster would start a lucrative association for the actor with Yash Raj Films (YRF), one that would go on to yield many career-defining hits. The film opened up SRK’s overseas market, which continues to be a strategic money-spinning turf for the superstar. Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995)

Aditya Chopra’s debut directorial feature forever changed how Bollywood would create love stories and family entertainers, and also gave Shah Rukh Khan a boost in his quest for the King Khan’s crown. The romantic musical blockbuster, popularly known as DDLJ over the years, would cement the hit pairing of SRK and Kajol, cast as two London-based NRIs whose love story culminates in their ‘pind’ in Punjab. DDLJ grossed over Rs 200 crore worldwide back in the day and, considered the longest-running Indian film is history, is really the film that catapulted Shah Rukh Khan’s box office stature to superstardom. The actor’s role of Raj Malhotra would find resonance in later romantic characters he played, in blockbusters such as Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001). Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998)

By the time Kuch Kuch Hota Hai released in 1998, SRK was a bonafide Bollywood superstar. His image as a romantic hero had ready takers, and the fact that producer Yash Johar’s son Karan Johar was being launched as director in the film made news, too. The film, starring Shah Rukh Khan with Kajol and Rani Mukerji, had two sets of love triangles spread across its two halves, with Salman Khan pitching in with an important cameo. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (KKHH) was the biggest hit of 1998, and the film would mark the beginning of a fruitful collaboration between Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar. The timing of success of the romantic musical drama mattered, coming as it was after Duplicate and Dil Se the same year. Both films had performed below expectations at the box office. Mohabbatein (2000)

The 2000 Diwali release Mohabbatein was crucial for Shah Rukh Khan because the film released at a time when he suddenly found his box office supremacy being challenged. Khan’s ambitious production bid, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, had flopped and Hrithik Roshan had emerged as a new heartthrob earlier the same year with his debut film, Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai. SRK’s other release the same year, Josh, had fared below expectations, too. To complicate things for SRK, Roshan’s Mission Kashmir was lined up for release on the same day as Mohabbatein. Mohabbatein co-starring Amitabh Bachchan and directed by Aditya Chopra, was a romantic music drama with a plot loosely based on the Hollywood film Dead Poets Society. The film would go on to be the biggest hit of the year, thereby reiterating Shah Rukh Khan’s clout as King of Bollywood at a time detractors had started writing him off. Devdas (2002)

The saga of Devdas had already been told in Bollywood more than once when Sanjay Leela Bhansali announced a production with Shah Rukh Khan — notably PC Barua’s 1936 film with KL Saigal in the title role and Bimal Roy’s 1955 release starring Dilip Kumar. Bhansali typically planned a lavish spread, and his celluloid interpretation of the Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s novel would end up as the costliest film India had made till then, at a reported budget of Rs 50 crore. Devdas, with SRK in the title role also had Madhuri Dixit as Chandramukhi and Aishwarya Rai as Paro, and would emerge as the highest-grossing Bollywood film of the year. The film let SRK explore his romantic image beyond the feel-good vibes of DDLJ or KKHH. Bhansali maintained the darker edges implicit in the character, letting Shah Rukh Khan play out the classic tragic hero. SRK would reiterate his image as a tragic romantic hero in subsequent films such as Kal Ho Naa Ho and Veer-Zaara. Swades (2004)

One of Shah Rukh Khan’s most underrated performances, mainly because the film failed to score big at the box office. Ashutosh Gowariker’s Swades, coming after the director’s Oscar-nominated blockbuster Lagaan, was expected to work wonders, but the film’s deep-lying message, served over an elaborate runtime of around 195 minutes, tested audience patience. For SRK fans, however, the film has emerged as a cult piece of work over the years. The storyline, about how an NRI scientist at NASA discovers his roots upon a chance visit to India, gave Shah Rukh Khan the scope to prove he could score equally with reflective roles beyond the set romantic image. Chak De! India (2007)

_Chak De! India_ , like Swades, is a film where Shah Rukh Khan moved beyond his comfort zone as a romantic superstar to score as an actor in a specific role. The film let SRK prove a point about his versatility at a time when his romantic image was getting jaded, which why this performance continues to rank among his best. Shah Rukh Khan’s character Kabir Khan is said to be based on the hockey player Mir Ranjan Negi. In the Shimit Amin directorial, Kabir Khan, after being ostracised for a loss against Pakistan, takes up job as the coach of a neglected Indian women’s hockey team and turns them into world champions. Pathaan (2023)

In retrospect, _Pathaan_ will prove to be far more important a film in Shah Rukh Khan’s career than it presently seems to be. The film marked SRK’s successful return to the big screen after a gap of five years, his last release Zero having flopped in 2018. Importantly, Shah Rukh Khan was attempting a drastic image makeover with the film. For a first time, the superstar chose to play an out-and-out action hero catering to mass appeal, a turf normally considered comfort zone for rivals Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar. Siddharth Anand’s Pathaan, screenplayed by Shridhar Raghavan, was a sleek stunt fest that had SRK sharing crackling chemistry with Deepika Padukone. The film grossed Rs 543.22 crore in the domestic market alone, announcing Shah Rukh Khan’s grand comeback. For SRK fans, the bonanza lies in the fact that Pathaan is part of YRF’s spy universe that also comprises Salman Khan’s Tiger films and Hrithik Roshan’s War franchise. SRK as Pathaan will be back in Salman Khan’s Tiger 3 on Diwali. Jawan (2023)

The mega opening of Jawan, coming as it is after Pathaan, proves Shah Rukh Khan has seamlessly slipped into the boots of a mass action hero. The film directed by new-age Tamil hit machine Atlee, gives fans a dual delight, with the superstar cast in double role as father and son. _Jawan_ is significant for the way the film underlines the fact that the importance of the classic masala thriller is not wholly lost. Rather, the film, an action extravaganza centred on its crusading heroes’ fight against corruption, shows how the vintage mainstream entertainer can be reinvented to suit new-age tastes. Apart from highlighting the power of the common man, Jawan leaves the message of women’s empowerment, too. Shah Rukh Khan’s new film has proved to be the fastest money-spinner at the box office, raking in over Rs 319 crore at the domestic box office in eight days. It is, of course, a tough deal nutshelling the evolution of Shah Rukh Khan in a list of just 10 films. Other films that merit mention are Deewana (1992), Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman (1992), Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa (1994), Karan Arjun (1995), Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), Dil Se (1998), Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003), Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001), Main Hoon Na (2004), Veer-Zaara (2004), Om Shanti Om (2007), My Name Is Khan (2010), Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012), Chennai Express (2013) and Happy New Year (2014). Vinayak Chakravorty is a critic, columnist and journalist who loves to write on popular culture. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.