His films have grossed tens of millions, and one of them holds the record for the longest-running film in his country. He has more fans than Tom Cruise, owns his own cricket team, and is affectionately called “King Khan” by his fans. We’re talking about one of the biggest movie stars of our time: Shahrukh Khan.
India produces about twice as many films as Hollywood. In this massive entertainment industry known as Bollywood , one man stands at the very top. Shahrukh Khan (SRK) began his film career as a true underdog. Unlike many other stars, he did not come from a long line of actors.
His roots
Meer Taj Mohammed, Shahrukh’s father, died at a young age. But he had inherited a great deal of strength of character from his father. Meer was the youngest of five children in a Pashtun family. His stated career goal was to become a lawyer. To achieve this, he walked a full 942 kilometers to Delhi at just 16 years old. Once there, he spent the first few years of his law studies at a women’s university. There simply weren’t any spots left at the regular university.
Shahrukh describes his father as“a gentle giant, a well-read man who spoke six languages. His innate honesty made it difficult for him to do business. After finishing his studies, he returned to Delhi and held a political office there for a short time. He quickly realized that this wasn’t his calling, so he went into the freight forwarding business. Shortly thereafter, at the age of 29, he met Fatima, then 16, who was SRK’s mother.
About five years after the birth of his first child, Sheenaz Lala Rukh, Shahrukh was born on November 2, 1965. When his father’s business went bankrupt in the early 1970s, his father opened a tea stall, where his young son often helped out. But Meer’s business acumen left much to be desired. He went from one bankruptcy to the next. After the freight forwarding business, the tea stall, and a furniture store, he ran a cafeteria at the “National School of Drama” for a time.
Lateef Fatima had gone to college and worked as a social worker. She, too, changes jobs and becomes a juvenile court judge. She also owns a restaurant where other family members work. Shahrukh has a very close relationship with his mother. They were more like best friends than mother and son. It was through Fatima that the boy first came into contact with the movies. She promised him a trip to the movies if his grades improved.
Responsibility, Integrity, and Independence
SRK learned from his father as a child to stand by his commitments. The actor recalls that one evening, a drunk man stood at the family’s door with a knife. Enraged, he simply shouted, “Your son hurt my son. I’m going to kill him!” Meer asked the little boy if he had indeed hurt another boy. When he said yes, he sent him outside to the man who was foaming at the mouth with rage. The then four-year-old apologized to the drunk man with the knife. The man was impressed by the sincerity of the little boy’s apology, muttered just a few words, and left.“My father taught me to stand up for myself. When I got into trouble, I had to find a way out on my own,” he explains.
SRK attends St. Columba’s Boys High School, where strict rules apply. A note from parents had to be submitted for any days missed. If you couldn’t provide one, you were beaten. At school, Shahrukh is mainly passionate about sports and plays soccer, cricket, and hockey successfully. So well, in fact, that he becomes team captain in all three sports. His passion for theater had already been awakened by then. He participates in theater productions at high school (e.g., The Wizard of Oz).
When Shahrukh was a teenager, his father was diagnosed with cancer. The disease progressed rapidly. Within a few months, Meer can no longer speak and has to write down everything he wants to say. When the hospital calls one day in 1981 to deliver the news of his death, Shahrukh’s mother simply says to him, “Come, your father wants to see you.” She just can’t bring herself to tell her son the truth.
SRK doesn't mourn the loss. But he feels cheated by life because his father was taken from him so early.
The end of one career is the beginning of the next.
At the time, sports played the most important role in Shahrukh's life. However, that changed abruptly when he suffered a spinal injury while playing soccer. That put an end to his hopes of a career as a professional player.
He actually wanted to study directing at Hans Raj College, but there was only one spot available in the acting program. So he simply enrolled in that course. Starting in 1984, SRK became a member of the school’s theater group (TAG: Theater Action Group).
The band plays a lot of shows, including one at a girls’ college. In the audience sits a very special spectator: Gauri Chibber, his future wife. At the time, though, she thought the guy on stage was pretty ugly. Even when they met again at a party, there was no spark. The two ran into each other a few times before romance finally started to blossom.
At the time, Shahrukh was still living at home with his mother. She had heard about a suitable apartment and arranged a viewing with a real estate agent. The agent not only showed the young Indian man the apartment, but also introduced him to his father-in-law, who was looking for an actor for a new production. That’s how the future star landed his first television role. The hit series“Fauji”depicts everyday life in the Indian Army.
On top of that, he received a few offers for commercials and other small roles. But despite this success in the industry, he continued his studies and earned a degree in economics. He even started a degree program in mass communication, but eventually dropped out. Before long, his first film offer was sitting on his kitchen table.
Relationship problems
Because of his success on camera, he has less and less time for Gauri. She’s also not thrilled about his career choice. So SRK works in secret for a while, hoping that none of their mutual acquaintances will recognize him in a play.
SRK is no longer sure about the status of their relationship and begins to develop an unhealthy obsession with Gauri. He is very jealous and doesn't like it when she talks to other people or even wears her hair down. Eventually, this possessive behavior becomes too much for Gauri.
She goes to Bombay (Mumbai) alone to clear her head. Shahrukh is heartbroken, so Lateef gives him 10,000 rupees to bring her back. So SRK and some friends set out to find Gauri. When he finally sees her on a beach, they fall into each other’s arms. He has realized that his behavior was wrong. And he understood that no one could ever love Gauri as much as he did.
Back home, his career takes off rapidly, and before long he can no longer commute between Delhi and Mumbai. He decides to move to the country’s film capital. In Mumbai, he shouts the iconic words“One day I will rule this city”to the heavens as a promise to himself.
That enthusiasm was completely shattered over the next few days of filming. Everything here was different from how it was in Delhi. “I felt like the worst actor of all time, ”recalls King Khan. But acting is like everything else in life: practice makes perfect.
“I had given up all hope.”
Things went better right from his next project, the series“Circus.”While he was in the middle of filming, he received news that his mother was unwell. A wound on her leg had become infected. The resulting blood poisoning required treatment at the hospital. There, her condition continued to deteriorate. At the time, Shahrukh worked nonstop to cover the hospital bills.
As his mother kept slipping in and out of consciousness, he never left her side and even slept next to her in the hospital. After two months in a coma, she died in 1991. “My mother’s death made me realize that nothing lasts forever. I lost all hope and cried a lot,” he recalls.
That same year, he made his first film, *King Uncle*. Many more followed. By then, the media had taken notice of him and were very taken with his bold demeanor. His style brought a breath of fresh air to Bollywood.
SRK’s marriage proposal to Gauri was just as unusual as the way they met. After a date, he dropped her off at her house and told her he was going to marry her.“I didn’t even wait for her answer —I just drove off,” SRK recalls. Spoiler alert: She said yes.
Since SRK now lives in Mumbai, he tries to keep the relationship going over the phone. He calls Gauri every day from a pay phone in the suburbs. She still can’t come to terms with his career choice. As a result, their conversations are usually pretty one-sided. It’s only when he announces that he’ll bring Gauri to Mumbai after the wedding that the situation eases up a bit.
In October 1992, Shahrukh, a Muslim, married Gauri Chibber, a Hindu. An interfaith marriage is a big deal in India. The ceremony was conducted according to Hindu tradition. But reality set in the very next day. SRK had to go to Mumbai for a film shoot, leaving no time for a honeymoon.
It takes Gauri a long time to bring herself to watch her husband’s films. She struggles with the show business world and keeps to herself at social events. That doesn’t change until she meets director Karan Johar in 1995. After a few initial hiccups, the two get along wonderfully during the filming of “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” (DDLJ) in France.
Starting a family
Two years later, Shahrukh and Gauri became parents for the first time. Aryan’s birth was difficult, and Gauri had to have a C-section. Close friends of the couple recall a completely distraught Shahrukh, who was seen running through the hospital corridors, crying and praying.
As traumatic as the experience was, it was quickly forgotten the moment they saw the little boy. The family welcomed another addition in May 2000. Little Suhana was born. Shortly before that, the family had moved into their dream home. “Villa Vienna,” which the SRK had promised his wife during a walk on the beach a few years earlier, is now their home. The building is also known as“Mannat.”
In 2013, their second son, AbRam, was born via surrogacy. The couple has agreed to raise their children in both the Muslim and Hindu faiths. The two older children seem to have inherited their father’s showbiz genes and are already following in his career footsteps. Aryan has even won an award for his directorial debut on the series “The Ba****ds of Bollywood” (Best Debutant Director of the Year).
King Khan and Gauri have invested in a joint film production company (Red Chilies Entertainment). In 2007, SRK went back to his roots. He returned to television to host a season of the classic quiz show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” in India. Since 2008, Shahrukh has also been a co-owner of a team in the Indian Premier League, theKolkata Knight Riders(KKR).
He also makes political films.
Even though most of his filmography consists of romantic films or belongs to the action genre, he also directs passion projects with deep meaning. “Dil Se” (about politically marginalized groups) and “Swades” (an environmental film) are examples of such films.
“My Name Is Khan” is also one of the more unusual films. It deals with the discrimination against Muslims following the attacks of September 11, 2001. The actor himself was prevented from entering the United States three times because his name was on the airports’ terrorist watchlist.
Among his best-known and most successful films are
- Darr
- Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ),
- Sometimes Kush, Sometimes Gham (K3G),
- Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
- Dil Se
- Devdas
- Don
- Kabhie Alvida Na Kehna (KANK)
- Raes.
His acting achievements have been recognized with, among other honors, eight Filmfare Awards. He received the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award, in 2005, and the National Film Award this year .
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Source:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Shah-Rukh-Khan
Buch: ShahRukhCan von Mushtaq Shiekh
ISBN: 978-3-9811822-3-1
Published by OM BOOK International
Photos: Shahrukh Khan's Instagram account
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