In India, a Star is identified by his/her name and by his/her fame. All over the history of Indian Cinema, a celebrity star ruled over each generation of general mass. Shahrukh Khan is the famous name of the present generation also popularly known as ‘King Khan’.
He is presently the face identity of Bollywood and also called SRK. With the name of Bollywood, the one name that comes to the mind immediately is Shahrukh Khan.
SRK’s Family and His Early Life
On 2nd November 1965, Shahrukh Khan was born in New Delhi. For the initial five years, Shahrukh Khan stayed with his maternal grandfather Ifthikar Ahmed in Mangalore. His father Meer Taj Mohammed Khan was an Indian Independence activist during from Peshawar. His mother, Lateef Fatima, was from Hyderabad.
Parents of Shahrukh Khan get married in 1959. Shahrukh Khan spends his childhood in Rajendra Nagar. He completed his studies from St. Columbia with top honors. Initially, Shah Rukh Khan wanted to pursue a career in athletes but due to a shoulder injury, he has to leave that path. He enrolled in Hansraj College in 1985 and graduated in 1988 with a bachelor’s degree in Economics. Shahrukh Khan completed his master’s degree in Mass Communications from Jamia Millia Islamia.
He got married to a Punjabi Hindu girl Gouri Chibber in 1991, they were in courtship for 6 years. They have three children. Aryan is the eldest son, Suhana, their daughter and AbRam is the youngest son of SRK.
The acting career of Shah Rukh Khan
From the day of the college, Shah Rukh Khan was very interested in the drama and theatre. During his graduation course, he spent a lot of time in the Delhi’s Theatre Action Group where he studied acting under the instruction of director Barry John. After his master’s degree, he started to pursue a career in acting.
The first acting role he bagged was the television series Dil Dariya but due to the production issues, it was delayed. Therefore another television series Fauji in 1989 became his first television debut. In this series, he played the role of army cadet named Abhimanyu Rai. The excellent performance leads him to bag other opportunities series like Circus (1989-90) and Idiot (1991).
In 1991, after the death of his mother, he decided to move to Mumbai for pursuing a full-time career in Bollywood films. His debut Bollywood film was Deewana (1992) was released. It became a box office hit. This film also earns him his first award Filmfare Best Male Debut Award. Followed by Deewana many other films like Chamatkar, Dil Aashna Hai and comedy film Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman became successful in the box office. According to the critics of that time period, Shah Rukh Khan brought a new kind of acting to the big screen.
In films like Darr and Baazigar, both released in 1993 he played a role of villain. The film Darr gave him the Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Negative Role and Baazigar gave him Filmfare Award for Best Actor. In 1995, his film ‘Karan Arjun’ with Salman Khan becomes the second highest grossing film. One of the most famous films of his career was ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’ with Kajol. This film was declared as the “all-time blockbuster” by Box Office India.
This film gave him his 2nd Best Actor Award. In 1996, all his four films critically failed. His film ‘Yes Boss’ was commercially successful in the following year. In later 1997, his film ‘Pardes’ became the first Indian film to succeed on the screens of the United States. The final release of 1997, ‘Dil To Pagal Hai’ gave him his 3rd Best Actor Award. Starting from the release of 1999 film ‘Baadshah’ which became a commercial failure in the Box Office, he went in a slump. His following films like Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani (2000), Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai (2000) and Ashoka (2001) were commercial failures.
In December 2001, he was diagnosed with a Prolapsed Disk. It took at least full 2 years to recover. During this period, only two of his films were commercially successful that was Mohabbatein (2000) and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001). In both films, he started by the side of Amitabh Bachchan. His film Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003) became the 2nd most grossing film domestically. In 2004, he changed the name of his film production company to Red Chillies Entertainment. Following the years Shah Rukh Khan gave lots of hit films like Main Hoon Na (2004), Veer-Zaara (2004), Swades (2004), Paheli (2005), Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006), Don (2006), and many other films.
Majority of his films were commercially successful in the domestic and international scenarios. From 2006 onwards, he experimented with most of his roles and had a successful range of movies. His latest venture Zero was released in 2018.
Other media presence of Shah Rukh Khan
After the establishment of Red Chillies Entertainment, Shah Rukh Khan started to produce films along with his wife Gauri Khan (Mar. 1991). In 2015, his company produced at least 9 films.
Along with that he also hosted various award shows including Zee Cine, Screen Awards, and Filmfare. He also hosted a season of ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati?’ and in the following year he hosted ‘Kya App Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hai?’. He also hosted ‘TED Talks India Nayi Soch’. In 2008 along with Juhi Chawla and her husband, Shah Rukh Khan bought the rights of IPL Cricket Team and named it Kolkata Knight Riders.
Campaigns and Marketing
In India, Shah Rukh Khan has a huge media presence. He can be seen almost daily in some form of media. It can be commercial ads, print ads and presently in web videos. His fan following exceed one billion. In 2007, he became the third Indian to have a wax statue in Madame Tussauds museum. Newsweek named him as one of the most powerful people globally in 2008. He is also brand-ambassador to many governmental programs like Pulse Polio and AIDS programs.
Shah Rukh Khan is a big brand himself than the brands he endorses, the advertiser benefitted by his association. SRK promotes more over 20 national and international brands, these brands are endorsed by SRK Dish TV, Hyundai, Emami, Pepsodent, Videocon, Bigbusket.
One of the most successful and famous actor in Bollywood, Shahrukh has won 14 Filmfare Awards for his fantastic roles over the years. He has been honoured with the Padma Shri by the Government of India for his contributions to the film industry. The Government of France honoured and awarded him with both the Légion d’honneur and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He has a large and significant fan following in India and also in Asia.
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