If you haven’t heard of the Bollywood superstar, it’s about time you did

If you haven’t heard of Shah Rukh Khan yet, first of all, where was he? Secondly, why not?! — Time is running out to get to know the megastars of Bollywood.

When the 57-year-old Indian icon isn’t hogging headlines in South Asia or trending on news aggregation apps, he’s making big-budget Hindi films. With his physical energy and magnetic charm, he has been making his mark in Asia for years, including his two blockbusters this year, the action-packed Pathaan and the revenge thriller Jawan. We have strengthened our dollar-sized movie business. These films marked his return to the film industry after a four-year hiatus and broke several box office records of his own making.

“SRK is certainly one of the most iconic and popular Indian film stars of all time,” said Rajkumar Akela, managing director of Comscore Movies India, based in Hyderabad, India. . “His appeal and cultural impact on India and the Indian diaspora, as well as audiences around the world, far exceeds what box office data can justify.”

To date, the actor has appeared in at least 109 films, according to IMDb, in a career spanning several decades. A representative for SRK did not respond to the LA Times’ request for comment by press time.

Here are some important facts to know about the influential movie icon.

He goes by the name SRK

Although his name is sometimes spelled as Shahrukh Khan, he is affectionately known as SRK to his fans and active followers on social media. His many other nicknames include the regal “King Khan,” “Bollywood’s Badshah,” “King of Romance,” and sometimes Bollywood’s “Most Important Cultural Export.” His star power has been compared to Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks combined. .

The New Delhi-born entertainer grew up in Mangalore, an industrial port city on the west coast. He described himself on social media in 2010 as “half Hyderabadi (mother), half Pathan (father) and part Kashmiri (grandmother)”.

Speaking of fractions, SRK makes up one-third of the affectionately acclaimed ‘Bollywood Khan triumvirate’, which also includes unrelated Aamir Khan and Salman Khan.

SRK replaced Amitabh Bachchan, an influential Indian film star who ruled Indian theaters from 1973 until the early part of this century and was known as the “angry youth” of Indian cinema, Akela said. But what’s unique about SRK’s rise to stardom is that he doesn’t come from an influential film family. Instead, the Badshahs of Bollywood treaded the humbler boards of television soundstages.

“I was recently driving down a small lane in India and I remembered 20 years ago I was driving in that same lane and I had maybe $10 or $20 in my pocket,” he said. he told the LA Times in 2011. “I can’t believe everything that happened to me. I feel lucky and even guilty to have had so much.”

He may be the biggest movie star you’ve never heard of

The LA Times said in 2011 that SRK was “the biggest movie star you’ve never heard of.” But a lot has changed here in his decade, and if his films aren’t embedded in the DNA of American cinema, they’re definitely in South Asia.

Considering India’s 1.4 billion population and recent status as the world’s most populous country, the movie star arguably has more fans than any other active actor around the world. But Khan told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria in 2016 that half of his fans come from elsewhere, and likely many of them are from the Indian diaspora. There are few, if any, actors who enjoy equal popularity, both domestically and internationally.

Before that, a word about Indian movies…

India remains the only market where Hollywood films are struggling to compete. And Khan remains its singing, dancing, gun-toting protagonist.

Although the popularity and revenue of Hollywood films in the market has certainly increased over the years, they only contribute about 15% to India’s total box office revenue, according to ComScore. This means that 85% of India’s box office revenue comes from local content, primarily Bollywood (Hindi film industry), Telugu films, and Tamil films.

“Nowhere else in the world does Hollywood have such a low market share,” Akela said, noting that entering the Chinese market has become increasingly difficult in recent years. China has a quota system that allows local productions to earn more money. “But in the free market, India has the highest share of local content,” he said.

Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at ComScore, said Indian films have been a mainstay of the global box office for many years. And Dergarabedian said in an interview this week that before the coronavirus pandemic, Indian films were among the top 10 grossing films worldwide. In recent years, they have ranked in the top five.

“Indian cinema has had a huge impact not just in India but all over the world,” he said. “And Khan is a global superstar, so he’s someone you should keep an eye on if you’re a movie buff or movie buff.”

He started his career on television and quickly became the king of romance

SRK arrived in Mumbai (the metropolis once known as Bombay, the birthplace of Bollywood) in 1991. Although she received a meager salary in the Indian TV show ‘Fauji’, she made her film debut within a year in the commercial hit ‘Deewana’, where she played the role of the lead character. A ruthless avenger.

His breakout role came in 1993 with the romantic thriller Baazigar, where he starred as an antihero for the first time. (His obsessive lover character tries to convince his girlfriend to commit suicide to avoid her forced marriage, then kills her!)

He further rose to fame in the 1990s with psychological thrillers ‘Darr’ and ‘Anjaam’ and a series of romantic musicals starting with the 1995 sensation ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’.

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (the title translates as “The Brave Heart Takes the Bride”) teams up with director Aditya Chopra and follows a London-based, Lamborghini-driving man who tries to convince his family to go to India. He played a man chasing love. The film holds the record for the longest run in Indian film history, running uninterrupted for almost 25 years in a single theater.

The film, along with the late 90s romantic musicals ‘Dil To Pagal Hai’, ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ and the 2001 family drama ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Ghum’, directed SRK It gave him the nickname ‘Bollywood’s King of Romance’.

He also starred in Sways, which was a disappointing box office success, and the sports drama Chak De! India” inflated the film’s credits. However, critical acclaim for his role as an alcoholic in the 2002 musical drama Devdas and as an autistic man in the 2010 film My Name Is Khan earned him international recognition. became well known to the audience. (His 2007 romantic musical “Om Shanti Om” went viral this summer for its references to “Barbie.”)

In 2011, his sophisticated science fiction film “Ra.One” was touted as the most expensive Hindi film production of all time, with an estimated budget of $30 million. However, the superhero film remained at No. 11 on his list of top-grossing movies, according to ComScore.

He released the semi-hit film “Raees” in 2017, followed by the drama “Zero” in 2018, in which he played a young man with dwarfism.

He has released two blockbuster films this year and is rapidly breaking box office records.

He went on a four-year hiatus, which ended with the release of his blockbuster ‘Pathaan’ earlier this year. During an #AskSRK session about the film on the platform then known as Twitter in February, the actor said he wanted to “sit at home and watch every movie I can, to become a spectator again instead of a filmmaker. I took a break.” ”

It seems to have worked, as these two action thrillers are among his most successful works. “Pathaan” won the title for the biggest global opening in Hindi film history, but was surpassed by “Jawan,” which earned $9.4 million in India and $15.6 million worldwide in its opening weekend, Variety reported earlier this month. The paper reported.

In Atlee Kumar’s Jawan, SRK plays two roles: a soldier named Azad and his father Vikram, who he believed to be dead. The action-packed political thriller has already grossed about $101 million worldwide as of September 18, and if it crosses the $122 million mark, Khan has starred in two films. He once again made his mark in Indian film history as the only Indian actor (released in the same year), surpassing the high level of 100 billion Indian rupees.

This superstar speaks Hindi, English, Urdu and Kannada and his films have been translated into many more languages. However, he has repeatedly stated that he has no interest in crossing into Western films like Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone.

When asked this question at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival, he said, “My English isn’t very good. If they give me the role of a dumb character who doesn’t speak, then maybe there’s a chance.” I can’t do it,” he said.

“I have no intention of being modest,” he added, according to The Indian Express. “I’m 42 years old. I’m a little brown. I don’t have any[unique selling points]as an actor. I don’t have a specialty. I don’t know kung fu, I don’t dance salsa.” And I’m not tall enough. …I watched recent European films and there is no place for me there, no space for me. I don’t think I have enough talent. Instead, I want to continue my work in India and in taking Indian films to the world. ”

Mr. Khan, who holds five honorary doctorates, passed on his role in the 2008 film “Slumdog Millionaire” and handed over his role as game show host to Anil Kapoor.

“It’s a very good film, but it’s not an Indian film,” Khan said of Danny Boyle’s Best Picture Oscar-winning film. “We need ‘Life is Beautiful.'”