Happy 50th birthday, SRK! Here’s why Shah Rukh Khan is more than just a romantic hero

From Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge to Jab Tak Hai Jaan, Shahrukh Khan has played the quintessential lover boy several times on screen. His portrayal of Raj/Rahul (naam toh suna hoga) certainly helped his career’s meteoric rise. But time and again he has proved that there is more to him as an actor than just opening his arms to a lady love as she runs to him. [caption id=“attachment_2491276” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Shah Rukh Khan. AFP[/caption] As King Khan celebrates his 50th birthday on 2 November, he will soon be seen in two unusual movies that are quite different from his usual repertoire. There is Fan, where he is not only playing a superstar (a la Billu) called Aryan Khanna but also the title character of a guy who is his biggest fan! It is set to release on 15 April, 2016. And then we have Raees, where he is co-starring with Pakistani actress Mahira Khan. Buzz is, it’s a cops-and-robbers movie, in which Khan plays a bootlegger being chased by a cop, played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui. Definitely something to look forward to. On Shah Rukh Khan’s 50th birthday, we pay tribute to all those times in his career that he has dared to break the mould and look at the films where he has played more than just the chocolate lover boy. My Name Is Khan (2010)

Sure, the film, at the beginning, is a love story but Rizvan Khan is not the typical lover boy. He suffers from Asperger’s syndrome and views the world in a far more simplistic way. Khan portrayed Rizvan with sensitivity and compelled us to empathise with his troubles and cheer his determination. Swades (2004)

With this film, the Baadshah of Bollywood silenced all his critics who claimed that he was not an actor, but just someone who hammed his way through his movies. In the beginning, he is the stereotypical urbane man who can’t understand village ways, but slowly he transforms before our eyes into someone who gladly embraces his roots. Chak De! India (2007)

Even the few who had doubts about his histrionic capabilities after Swades, had to concede defeat with Chak De! India. The film had no known names and ran purely on Khan’s star power. While his character Kabir Khan led a team of unknown hockey players to victory, it was the his powerful performance as a maligned hero that pushed the film to the top of the box office charts. Don (2006) and Don 2 (2011)

When it was first announced that he will be stepping into the shoes of Vijay, a character immortalized by Amitabh Bachchan in the 1978 film Don, skepticism about his abilities ran high. But supported by a great script, the Badshaah proved he is at par with the Shahenshah. Khan’s performance as the evil Don is chillingly haunting. Asoka (2001)

Ok, so you’d have to be a die-hard fan to have sat through the film (if you are reading this, you probably are). It may not be the most epic film of his career, but it was a huge risk for him to take both as an actor and as a producer, and kudos to him for that. Plus, you can’t deny his portrayal of the legendary king who is changed by the Kalinga war was definitely different from all that he had done till then. Baazigar (1993)

Way before he attained the romantic image, Khan actually began his career by doing offbeat roles. In Baazigar, he plays a guy who is so hellbent on revenge that he romances an innocent girl, kills her brutally, and then romances her sister, just so he can take revenge on their father, who caused his father’s death. Whew. How twisted is that! And yet, he walked away with all the audience sympathy. That was the power of his performance.