THE WEEK ARCHIVES | Shah Rukh Khan: The 1994 cover story that defined a superstar

THE WEEK did a cover story on Shah Rukh Khan, then 28, in the issue dated January 16, 1994, after the mega-successes of his two releases—Abbas-Mastan’s Baazigar and Yash Chopra’s Darr. He reflected on his career, family, and unique philosophy, proving why he was already being hailed as a future superstar. Here's the original article.

He is bursting with nervous energy. Part of it is burnt up by the ever-glowing cigarette in his hand. The bulk of it goes into his work; raw, hard effort to give off his best. The rest is expended on his video game machines back home and yes, the remote-controlled toy cars he freaks out on.

 

Shah Rukh Khan bubbles with enthusiasm. His wife Gauri and close friends, he says, often call him a child. But the 28-year-old rage of Hindi filmdom carries a wise head on his young shoulders. He is his own guru and could well be the best ‘agony uncle’ for all those souls troubled by life’s vicissitudes. “You have but one life, so make the best of it", is his motto.

 

No star airs for him. No wonder he is the darling of Bollywood’s moguls who have collectively invested over Rs 20 crore on him. Success, fame, wealth are impermanent, he says. So he keeps a level head despite the mega-successes of his two latest releases—Abbas-Mastan’s Baazigar and Yash Chopra’s Darr.

 

Within two years of his hitting the tinsel trail, the entire industry is singing hosannas to the latest big screen sensation. Producers are falling over one another to sign up the most impressive actor to storm the Hindi film industry in recent years. But Shah Rukh is absolutely sure of one thing: he will be selective in picking roles. And he won’t be lured by big money. In fact, he has not jacked up his price after his recent hits, something very unusual in Bombay’s filmdom where a hit is considered a licence to play hard to get.

 

The Delhiwallah who tinkered with the idea of becoming an engineer before deciding that he and acting were made for each other, is very modest about his achievements. Or he is being pretty shrewd in managing his affairs: all the film world loves a winner, especially one who isn’t always talking money.

 

By being down-to-earth he may well be making friends in an industry where it is difficult to impress or influence the massive egos who strut around as hotshot filmmakers. Shah Rukh’s approach has worked like magic. Superlatives are being lavished on him on a scale that should cause envy among superstars of yesteryears. Said director Subhash Ghai: “He (Shah Rukh) is an excellent actor. He does various roles and is a very disciplined worker. He is doing a light role in my Trimurthi. It is just a coincidence that he acted in two negative roles.”

 

That is quite in line with the thinking of the actor. He is certainly choosy about his roles and considers himself an employee of the filmmaker till he completes a film. He believes he is being paid for being an actor not for becoming a star. How much, no one is telling. Not even trade pundits, who are in the know of every movie deal, are willing to hazard a guess. Obviously, as some trade people say in private, wearing ones modesty on ones sleeves has its rewards. Shah Rukh, they gush, is so unlike the star-sons and other sundry brats who jack up their prices and behave like superstars the moment a film is declared a modest hit. By refusing to indulge in some image-

building stunts, Shah Rukh is unwittingly or otherwise carving a niche for himself in the film industry.

 

The film press was scandalised that he wouldn’t play ball. They all but crucified him, dubbing him an ‘arrogant upstart’. No posing for photo-sessions, no gossip titbits from him and no tolerating intrusions into his personal life. And he did something unprecedented for a comparative newcomer: threatened to kill the editor of a glossy which had published some salacious stuff about him.

 

Whether because of such behaviour or in spite of it, there was no dearth of publicity. The media could not ignore him either. He was making waves, both as an actor and as a saleable star. All his seven films so far have been moderate to big hits. Shah Rukh says he succeeded on his own merit. He never sought the media’s help to boost his image; nor does he intend to do so now.

 

He is a natural at acting, and the six years as a "semi-professional" at Delhi’s National School of Drama obviously has done him a world of good. Says director Ramesh Sippy: "I saw some rushes of Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman (produced by his father G.P. Sippy). I was very impressed with his work.... His natural talent came through very strongly. There is an intensity and passion which comes through very effectively. He is easily one of our best actors ever.” High praise from a man known for his reticence.

 

Incidentally, Shah Rukh believes that his passion for his life and work has been misconstrued as arrogance. He says he is passionate about whatever he does, particularly when it comes to acting. And it shows in his performances—whether as a scheming, ambitious yuppie-in-the making in Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman; or a rebellious son in Deewana; a self-centred no-gooder in Idiot; a passionate part-time stud in Maya Memsaab; a lovable clown in Chamatkar; a resolute killer disguised as a lover-boy in Baazigar; or a murderous psychopath in Darr.

 

There is no doubting it—he lives the role, forcing the audiences to sit up and take notice. Little surprise then that Shah Rukh has built up a fan following cutting across class and age barriers. Shooting for Ramesh Sippy’s latest film at Cafe Seaside at Bandra’s Bandstand recently, he posed for a family portrait with a grandmother, her son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. The granny was as excited about it as the kids, scampering around to collect her wards for the shoot. But his most ardent fans are the children. The moment they hear a Baazigar number anywhere in the neighbourhood, they abandon their games and rush to the TV set.

 

Shah Rukh says it is the child in him that makes him such a big hit with the kids. Others fall for his vulnerable looks, even when he plays a killer. Will the negative vibes rub off on the children? He doesn’t agree. There is more violence and vulgarity in real life than in reel life, he says.

 

Interestingly, Shah Rukh is as popular with the offbeat filmmakers as with the formula kings. Says Ketan Mehta who made such irreverent movies as Mirch Masala and Maya Memsaab: “I don’t know about ranking, but he is a fine actor. With a truly international calibre. I am doing Oh Darling, My India, a musical, with him. He is a skilful and intelligent actor.”

 

A view shared by Kundan Shah, who has cast Shah Rukh in Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na, a tragi-comedy that will premiere at the Indian Panorama during the international film festival in Calcutta. Says he: “He has the charisma. From the day he acted in Fauji, he had it. Do you know that people still call him the Fauji boy? I know it is wrong to say this... but the serial became significant only because of him.”

 

People who flock to the theatres to see Baazigar and Darr are convinced that whether they love or hate him for the villainous roles he essays in these films, Shah Rukh Khan compels attention. Says S.S. Patel, a businessman: “He does almost all scenes with natural aplomb. Only in dancing scenes does he seem to be making an effort.” Shah Rukh also is the heart throb of the girls. “He’s terrific!” “We’d love to meet him!” "He’s so sexy.” So go the reactions. Perhaps it is the actor’s youthful exuberance, perhaps it is his ‘Oh-l’m-nothing-so-special’ attitude which makes him so special.

 

He sounds like a philosopher rather than a sought-after actor when he holds forth on his films and career. Death, it seems, has been his greatest teacher. Life, he realised, is too precious to be squandered away after he lost his father Mir Taj Mohammed, a restaurateur and kerosene dealer of Delhi, when Shah Rukh was just 14.

 

It was then that he set a furious pace for himself, playing football, cricket and hockey when not acting. He wanted to extract the maximum out of life. So he opted for acting, instead of taking up his father’s business. But before he could make a mark as an actor, his mother, a social worker who was reportedly close to Indira Gandhi, died in 1991.

 

It is when he, talks of his mother’s death that Shah Rukh appears the most vulnerable, a flicker of pain shoots through his grey eyes. Ironically, the loss of his mother was also the turning point in his life. He landed in Bombay to get away from the pangs of losing someone who was dearest to him. After completing Circus for TV with Aziz Mirza, who is today a father figure to him, Shah Rukh thought of going back to Delhi. But along came an offer from the Sippys. Shah Rukh decided to take a dekko at Bollywood and has never looked back.

 

Despite his success, Shah Rukh is essentially a family man rushing home after a one-shift duty at the sets to be with his wife Gauri whom he married after nine years of courtship. He doesn’t do much socialising or partying; yet he says he has his good friends among contemporaries. He wouldn’t mix family and professional life, though Gauri designs his clothes. Otherwise she keeps out of his film scene.

 

On the sets he is a good sport, joking and fooling around with everybody. He just does his work diligently—that is acting out his role till the director is satisfied. He believes that his is a spontaneous act, but he has not perfected it. Unlike some other established actors, he isn’t too sure whether he has done a scene well. So he checks with the director.

 

On the sets of Sippy’s film—it’s still untitled because, as Sippy puts it, there is a tussle between two names Pyarana and Prem Yudh—Shah Rukh and Raveena Tandon do quite a few retakes for a scene just because the director can't get a lamp cover come off the right way. But the actor is cool, talking to friends, fans and his secretary and man-Friday, Anwar, in between takes.

 

It is this professionalism that endears him to the directors. Mastan, who made Baazigar, has signed him for two more films. “He has all the qualities of a good actor. He is a fine human being and takes good interest in his work."

 

Shah Rukh is particular that he doesn’t become a stereotype. At one time, he says, he realised that a scene in three films he was shooting on different days were almost copies of one another. He decided then that he would pick and choose his roles.

Almost all the big banner producers are tailoring roles to suit the ‘I’m different image’ of Shah Rukh Khan. Apart from Ramesh Sippy, Kundan Shah and Ketan Mehta, Shah Rukh has been signed by Yash Chopra, Rahul Rawail and Subhas Ghai. All vaunted names in the industry.

 

Says Taran Adarsh, editor of Trade Guide, filmdom’s authoritative magazine: “He is the hottest star. The producers, distributors and financiers, all want him to feature in their films. He hasn’t hiked his price. That’s a very positive thing. He’s keeping a balance between art and mainstream cinema which is very rare again.”

 

The fan club is growing within the industry itself. Says Anu Malik who scored the music for Baazigar. “To be honest, I liked only Amitabh Bachchan until I met Shah Rukh. We are both November 2-born Scorpions. We get along like a house on fire. I don’t think there will be a star like him for many years. I first saw the intensity, the power of acting in Dilip Kumar and then in Amitabh Bachchan and now in the young star in-the-making. I am proud to be associated with him in Aawaaz (directed by Mahesh Bhatt) and Kohinoor (produced by Venus, the music group which also produced Baazigar).

 

Such hero-worship from a hit music director and comparisons with the two legends of film world! Comparisons may be odious, but in this case they sure can be counted as a compliment. Shah Rukh Khan, obviously, has the stuff that sets screens ablaze and makes superstars out of the ‘guy next door’.

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