In over three decades on screen, Shah Rukh Khan has gone from Bollywood’s anti-hero to its king of romance to its newest action star — and he’s not done.

As the Baadshah of Bollywood turns 60 on November 2, PVR is celebrating with a nationwide film festival featuring re-releases of some of King Khan’s most iconic films — ‘Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa’, ‘Dil Se…’, ‘Devdas’, ‘Main Hoon Na’, ‘Om Shanti Om’, ‘Chennai Express’ and ‘Jawan’.

A risk-taker from the start, Khan became Bollywood’s quintessential anti-hero with films like ‘Baazigar’ and ‘Darr’. Taking on such roles was risky but Khan proved naysayers wrong, going on to become the most beloved romantic actor.

However, one of Khan’s earliest love stories wasn’t your traditional romance. In Kundan Shah’s ‘Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa’ (1993), Khan portrayed an unrequited lover with a vulnerability rarely seen in mainstream Hindi cinema even today. The film could have easily taken simpler routes but Shah chose to showcase the humanity of an unsuccessful love story. Khan has called the character his favourite to portray.

He has not shied away from complex, politically charged stories either. In 1998, he starred in a film that feels like it would be impossible to make in today’s India — Mani Ratnam’s ‘Dil Se…’, a haunting romantic thriller set amid insurgency in the northeast. Khan plays a journalist from Delhi, the heart of mainland India, who falls in love with Meghna, a northeastern woman (secretly part of a separatist outfit). The film dared to humanise separatists, using his love for Meghna as a metaphor for the mainland’s relationship with the northeast — one that sees its beauty but doesn’t understand its story. From there, Khan’s journey of reinvention continued.

He took on the title role in Bhansali’s ‘Devdas’ (2002), based on the 1917 Bengali novel with over 15 screen adaptations at the time. Khan’s challenge was to make the role his own — and he did. Khan’s portrayal of the heartbroken alcoholic has stuck with audiences across generations.

Come 2004, Khan had one of the finest years of his career with the critically acclaimed ‘Swades’ and BO darlings ‘Veer-Zaara’ and ‘Main Hoon Na’. The latter, directed by Farah Khan, was the first film produced under his banner, Red Chillies Entertainment. It saw him play an Army officer attempting to reconcile with his estranged family while on a mission to see the successful implementation of a prisoner exchange programme with Pakistan, as a step towards peace.

Khan again collaborated with Farah in ‘Om Shanti Om’ (2007), the quintessential Hindi film about films. There onwards, Khan kept experimenting with new roles.

Over the next few years, Khan saw some flops like ‘Dilwale’ and ‘Zero’, but came back stronger than ever in 2023 with ‘Pathaan’ and ‘Jawan’, finally fulfilling his dream of being an action star. Atlee’s ‘Jawan’ was a blockbuster in the pan-India cinema era, which won Khan his first National Award this year. In contrast to the toxic brand of masculinity that has taken over Bollywood, Khan played a loving action star fighting for the people with the help of talented women.

He will next be seen in ‘King’— a fitting title for a man who, at 60, is showing no signs of giving up his crown.