Shah Rukh Khan’s deep connection with Diwali

When did Shah Rukh Khan decide to own Diwali as the best occasion to position his films?SRK’s romance with the festive season started with Baazigar in 1993. Shah Rukh pushed Shilpa Shetty off a highrise and never looked back. This Abbas-Mustan-directed thriller was “inspired”(read: ripped off) from A Kiss Before Dying. Of course, Shilpa didn’t get a kiss before being bumped off.

Shah Rukh doesn’t kiss his heroines even for Diwali, unless she happens to be Katrina Kaif in Jab Tak Hai Jaan . Baazigar was the first of Shah Rukh’s anti-hero trio of films. It was also his first of many hits with Kajol. It also began his love affair with the Diwali season.

Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge in 1995 sealed it. It recently completed a record-breaking 23-year run at Mumbai’s Maratha Mandir theatre. Such are the stuff celluloid dreams are made of. One of India’s most successful films ever, DDLJ, released on Diwali continues to be the most favourite film of all romantics. It established Aditya Chopra as a force to reckon with. I remember the proud dad telling me, ‘Maine zindagi mein itne paise nahin dekhe. I have not seen so much money in my life.’ And I’ve not seen such an overrated film.

My second favourite SRK Diwali release is Dil Toh Pagal Hai (1997). Though the film was directed by Yash Chopra his son Aditya’s imprint was all over this ‘young’ film about jodis that are made in heaven. Set in the world of dance and theatre, the music and songs by Uttam Singh and of course Shah Rukh’s jodi with Madhuri Dixit played a big hand in the film’s success.

My most favourite Diwali release is Kuch Kuch Hota Hai . Shah Rukh Khan’s 1998 Diwali release launched his best-friend Karan Johar as a director with a desi take on the Archie-Betty-Veronica triangle. Set in a Utopian college campus where girls wore micro-minis and boys wore smirks and sighs all the way to the prom night Kuch Kuch Hota Hai remains Shah Rukh’s biggest Diwali hit after DDLJ.

Mohabbatein in 2000 is best remembered for being the Big B’s comeback as a buzurg-superstar. Shah Rukh was guru cool in this arcadian gurukul set in the middle of nowhere. This was one 3-hour-26-minute marathon torture that put a brake on the audiences’ Diwali celebrations. A hit, nonetheless. When has Shah Rukh and Diwali combination ever failed?

Yash Chopra’s Veer-Zaara (2004) was to originally star Amitabh Bachchan and Sridevi. An Indo-Pak love story about a Pakistani girl (Preity Zinta) and an Indian soldier(King Khan). One of Yash Chopra’s weakest films was propped up by Madan Mohan’s newly-discovered melodious songs. The only time Shah Rukh turned old on screen

In 2006, the Don franchise took off big-time from where Big B left it off 28 years earlier. Helmed by Farhan Akhtar Don brought much cheer to the Diwali season, though Kareena’s item song Yeh mera dil just whittled down into a whimper. Why these two good-looking people have never made the screen crackle with their chemistry is a mystery which might flummox even Don himself.

A terrible ripoff of Bimal Roy’s Madhumati’s reincarnation theme, in Om Shanti Om (2007) Shah Rukh played debutant Deepika Padukone ’s fan (giggle). The weird corny film was set in the film world. Part of it was ripped off from Bimal Roy’s Madhumati. And that was just fine for Shah Rukh’s fans who think he resembles Dilip Kumar.

Ra.One (2011) got mixed reviews. But it nonetheless minted enough money to make is yet another festive success for Shah Rukh. 3D was never more intrusive, though. Shah Rukh Khan, God bless his ever-enterprising spirit, whips up a storm toofan in the comic book garb of the super-hero. There is a free-spirited comic book element underlining the plot. To miss that element is to bypass the essence of the film. Indeed if Manmohan Desai, God double-bless his never-say-die spirit, were to see Ra.One, he would smile at the marriage of mirth mayhem merriment and a sense of ongoing madness that comes naturally only to those visionary filmmakers who know that cinema is all about a scintillating suspension of disbelief. Shah Rukh is not Shah Rukh if he isn’t cocky? The mega-star now donning the cape of the super-hero simply pulls out all stops to furnish the proceedings with a high-octane breathlessness.

And who would have guessed it would turn out to be Yash Chopra’s swan song? The last 35 minutes when Shah Rukh Khan loses his memory is best forgotten. Miraculously the entire end-piece of this fractured symphony co-written by Aditya Chopra and Devita Bhagat, doesn’t take away from the beauty of the work. Shah Rukh imbues the part of the solider Samar with a great deal of heart. Never since Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas has he expressed the pain of lost love so eloquently. The far-fetched plot may have left the cynics unconvinced. But Shah Rukh’s fans lapped up the film’s over-the-top sentimentality.

Farah Khan’s Happy New Year (2014) was undoubtedly the worst SRK –Diwali release. What is it about Shah Rukh Khan that brings out the comic accent in Deepika Padukone? She did a very funny broad South Indian accent in Mr Khan’s inspired company in the maddeningly mundane Chennai Express. She repeats the farcical feat in HNY, this time doing the Maharashtrian accent. HNY is the kind of film that doesn’t allow us to dwell on the crimes of excesses, of which, there is plenty in this stretched-out plot. The carnival-like flavour of the presentation is not quite the aesthetic experience that one expects from a film with such a classy line-up of actors and technicians. It’s King Khan’s show all the way, make no mistake of that. The director misses no chance to make Shah Rukh’s ’loser’ character Charlie emerge as a winner. Shah Rukh even has a long rooftop fight sequence with a Korean dancer which has no bearing on anything but the hero’s 8-pack midriff. Maybe the director’s shout ‘Action’ was misconstrued by her over-zealous crew.

Karan Johar’s Ae Dil Hai Mushkil was the last SRK Diwali release, and that was five years ago. He had only a cameo to play. But his fleeting sher-o-shayari had the audience in a swoon

Come back soon. Diwali is just not the same without you.

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.

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