SRK is still choosing scrips which rely on his star persona. It doesn't work for him as opposed to AK and SK because the latter 2 had different appeal. Aamir made generally message-focused movies while SK's appeal was to the LCF in audiences.
SRK, OTOH, started out doing varied roles but got stuck in the romantic hero trope. I suppose success and adulation are addicting, and he seems to have become risk-averse in order not to mess with that success.
Problem now for SRK is the same one faced by every 30+ heroine. Except it came for him at 40+ age. Romance is a young person's genre. Yeah, yeah, older people can romance, too, but reality is audience prefers to watch young people falling in love and making out. Once the flush of youth disappears, audience loses interest.
From recent IVs it appears he does want to make a change, but his choices of scripts suggest he is trying to have his cake and eat it, too. He is trying to apply window-dressing to the same romance genre and make it something more. Instead of a Rahul or Raj falling in love, we're showed a Harry or a Bauua falling in love, except they're now given character quirks masquerading as plot twists. Plus, we got what should've been a Rohit Shetty fun flick that eventually turned into a blatant attempt at using nostalgia to bring fans into cinema halls which basically made the audience roll its collective eye. Yeah, there was a Raees, but again, he was presented as a typical Bollywood hero, not as the character say, as an Anurag Kashyap would have. Not to mention a tired plot.
Re: Anushka and Katrina and Kareena. I don't know if they're bad luck per se. Honestly speaking, i don't see any chemistry with Deepika, either. They're all too young for him, and the awkwardness plainly shows. But who are his choices as long as he continues to want to play the romantic hero? Actresses who would've suited have been more realistic about what they could make the audience buy and have switched to roles with some character depth - Sridevi (before her passing), Madhuri, Juhi, Manisha, Tabu. The only exception was Kajol who, after the debacle of Dilwale, also seems to understand that time cooks everything (from Vyasa, not me
). Alia, Parineeti, Shraddha, et al. would look way too young. So KKK, KK, and AS are it. DP only occasionally because she seems to be clever enough to understand she also needs to switch to meatier roles (not sure she has the skill to carry such roles off). When DP does choose to play a romantic role, it seems based on a lot of factors which would potentially further her future even if the film fails. Therefore, the 3 who do work with SRK end up working in films with recycled plots which audience has been rejecting.
Perhaps SRK used the last few months to step back and reevaluate things. He needs to look at scripts and the movie as a whole instead of what would help him perpetuate/regain the romantic hero image. A detective movie, a thriller, a political drama, a comedy... where his role takes a backseat to the plot. I mean, the man knew enough about scripts to support a film like Badla. I don't understand why he can't put his image aside and do the same for a movie he might perform in.
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Phew. 😆 I've been writing essays lately on IF. But then, SRK is the only one I like in BW as a celeb.
Edited by HearMeRoar - 5 years ago
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