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Let me start off by saying that Shah Rukh Khan is my favourite actor, and he has been my favourite for the last 10 years or so.
Okay, so everyone has spoken already on the mega Christmas clash between DILWALE and BAJIRAO MASTANI at the box office. BAJIRAO MASTANI defeated DILWALE. Not only in terms of box office collections, but in terms of public appreciation. Not just in India, but in some overseas territories as well (North America, for example). Ranveer Singh defeated Shah Rukh Khan.
Today, Friday, Jan 8, 2016, marks three weeks since the release of these two films. I never got a chance to speak about this yet, but I have been wanting to for a while.
Let me start off saying this: the intent to make DILWALE was clear. SRK wanted to beat the lifetime collections of PK in India (which is currently the highest grosser in India), or I assume at the very least, to enter the 300 crore club which his contemporaries Aamir Khan and Salman Khan have joined already with PK and BAJRANGI BHAIJAAN respectively. It's 100% obvious that this was the reason. Why else did Shah Rukh Khan decide to work with the director with whom he had one of the biggest blockbusters of his career with CHENNAI EXPRESS? With CHENNAI EXPRESS, Shahrukh and Rohit became the highest grosser in India by breaking the record of 3 IDIOTS, and it's no coincidence that with DILWALE Shahrukh and Rohit were targeting the lifetime record held by Aamir Khan-Raju Hirani film again, this time of PK.
Why else did Shah Rukh Khan rope in Kajol, with whom he gave several of his career's biggest hits with, including All Time Blockbusters DILWALE DULHANIA LE JAAYENGE and KUCH KUCH HOTA HAI?
Why else was Varun Dhawan roped in, the current youth heartthrob who's every film so far has turned out to be a box office success, including his film before DILWALE, ABCD 2, which crossed the 100 crore mark.
Why else was Arijit Singh roped in, who is one of the most popular singers today?
Alright, fine. So BAJIRAO MASTANI decided not to move from the Christmas release date. Clash is on. Even with the clash, DILWALE should have beaten the lifetime collections of SRK-Rohit's film CHENNAI EXPRESS, which did approx. 227 crores. 200 crores lifetime would've been okay, although disappointing.
HOWEVER, the fact that the film is looking at lifetime collections of 150 crores, or even less than that, IS PATHETIC. I say this as a huge fan of SRK, who has been my favourite actor for 10 years or so. His whole intent of making DILWALE, of having that 300 crore net Blockbuster in India, has fallen flat on his face.
This brings me to my main part:
As I said, Shah Rukh Khan is my favourite actor. We all know about his on-screen magic. I have always felt that he is able to hold the screen with dominance and magic. He is able to bring out an emotion in you, the viewer.
Watching DILWALE in theatres on Christmas day (Dec 25), it was the first real time that I could recall where for some of the parts when SRK was on-screen, I found myself looking at things other than the screen. His ability to hold the screen wasn't there. For the majority of Rohit Shetty's film, I saw a tired, washed up SRK (a mechanic in the film) who was surrounded by a bunch of jokers making crap jokes.
If that wasn't disturbing enough, there were the scenes of the young SRK trying to woo Kajol in the first half of the film (those date scenes and all), scenes in which SRK seemed out of his element.
And of course, the scene where SRK confronts Kajol in the second half of the film (before the Daayre song), in which SRK's anger appeared unnatural, in terms of acting.
The scene in the climax, in which SRK angerly walks to one of the crap villains in the film (I think it was Boman Irani in that scene), SRK's eyes had a similar zombie-type look as Sanjay Dutt, who always appears drugged and as if he has never slept for even a minute in his entire life.
Thinking about Dilwale brings me pain, because it was painful to see my favourite actor seem so pathetic on screen. As I mentioned, he appeared tired, washed up, and out of his element.
I was reading that article a couple days ago, in which the writer wrote DILWALE as being Shah Rukh Khan's MRITYUDAATA. The writer made some valid points of how SRK's career is going downhill similar to how Amitabh Bachchan's was during the 90s because of constantly playing the same younger characters despite visibly aging.
Truth be told, SRK's signature pose, spreading his arms wide open, comes across as a huge BORE to me now. It's yawn-inducing. He claims that he didn't do it in DILWALE, but he does it during the Janam Janam song. His over-obsession with his Don character, during interviews and award shows, is also a bit off-putting. It's time for a change of act SRK!
Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan have always been compared. Both are legends. Both are known to be great actors. In the same way that Amitabh Bachchan transitioned to the next part of his career in 2000, as he started to play older roles and starting focusing more on his performances/characters rather than the box office, it's time for Shah Rukh Khan to make the same chance in 2016. It seems as if he's already got it figured out though, with FAN, RAEES, and Gauri Shinde's next being content-oriented films, rather than all about box office!
The three Khans (SRK, Salman, Aamir) have been ruling the box office for decades. But, it seems that SRK will be the first one from the three Khans to step down, in terms of box office, making way for a newer star. That star is Ranveer Singh.
It's quite ironic, really. At the Star Screen Awards 2010, Ranveer Singh won the award for Most Promising Newcomer Male, an award he got while sharing the stage with Shah Rukh Khan, Karan Johar, and Shahid Kapoor. Ranveer Singh broke down crying while getting the award, to which SRK told him, "tu kyun ro raha hai? Rona toh humhe chahye, ab humara kya hoga jo tu ab aa gaya hai industry mein?"
(1:26 mark)
[YOUTUBE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjpL-945nEw[/YOUTUBE]
Ranveer Singh defeating Shah Rukh Khan at the box office will go down in Bollywood as a historical moment, and a passing-of-the-torch moment of sorts from one box office superstar (SRK) to another (Ranveer Singh). It's also ironic that Aditya Chopra, who directed SRK's biggest Blockbuster DDLJ, and directed two more major successes with SRK after that, is taking Ranveer Singh for his next film. Truly, Ranveer Singh is headed to be the next superstar, and his performance in BAJIRAO MASTANI (considered award-worthy by many) has cemented that!
SRK rarely lost a major box office clash before this, although the cracks were showing when Ajay Devgan's SON OF SARDAR put up a strong fight with JAB TAK HAI JAAN, with SOS even recording better collections than JTHJ later on the weekdays, but JTHJ finished with higher collections and emerged the winner. BAJIRAO MASTANI defeating DILWALE makes this the first major clash that SRK lost at the box office since his film ASOKA lost to Sunny Deol's INDIAN in 2001.
These are my thoughts on Shah Rukh Khan that I wanted to pour out, 100% straight from my heart. Shah Rukh Khan's box office power (in India, and other places eventually) is waning, and it's time for him to make the same transition that Amitabh Bachchan did in 2000 so that he can now focus on content, performance oriented roles rather than box office.
It would be wise for team Raees to talk with team Sultan about avoiding the clash that is happening on Eid this year. With the clash, post-release headlines will scream "Salman Khan defeats Shah Rukh Khan at the box office," "Shah Rukh Khan is finished," etc. HOWEVER, WITHOUT a clash, headlines may scream "Shah Rukh Khan all set to win the Best Actor award with his performance in RAEES."
The last time SRK won the Filmfare Best Actor award was for MY NAME IS KHAN, which released in 2010. Before that, CHAK DE INDIA in 2007. Before that, SWADES in 2004. All three performances are widely considered to be amongst his career-best. 2016, SRK will likely win it again after 6 long years, whether it is for FAN or for RAEES!
The end of the year 2016 headlines should speak about SRK's award-winning performances, rather than speaking about him losing a box office battle to Salman Khan. SRK has accomplished A LOT at the box office. Along with his huge Blockbusters such as DILWALE DULHANIA LE JAAYENGE, KUCH KUCH HOTA HAI, CHENNAI EXPRESS, etc, the fact that his last flop was PAHELI back in 2005 (11 years ago), speaks volumes about the box office power that SRK has had. With the massive underperformance of DILWALE at the box office, which can be called a Flop for his standards, the box office part of his career is over. Now's its acting part of his career only. Because now it's going to no longer be about Shah Rukh Khan the box office superstar...it's now going to be about Shah Rukh Khan the actor, and both FAN and RAEES should cement that!
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