SRK wanted to become a sportsman

NEW DELHI: Heart-throb of many a damsel, Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan as a child was weak in Hindi, dreamt of representing the country in international sports events and as a young man had to court his love Gauri for six years before he could win her, says a new book.

Shah Rukh was bright, naughty, fond of sports but was weak in Hindi either scoring very low marks or failing in the subject says the book 'SRK: King Khan' by journalist, critic Deepa Gahlot.

Instead of scolding him, his mother once told him that she would take him to a Hindi movie in a cinema hall if he did well in the subject. The bait was attractive enough for young Shah Rukh and his first visit to cinema must have triggered off the acting impulse in him, says the book. The newly generated interest in Hindi made him understand Hindi films better and gave him a command over the language, a skill that stands him in good stead in his career even today, it says.

In the school he was more interested in sports such as cricket, hockey, football and athletics than in studies and hoped to become a sportsman capable of representing his country in international events.

In Delhi while performing for both television and theatre, Shah Rukh was also wooing the pretty Gauri Chibba, a Hindu girl. Because of the difference in the religion, Gauri's family disapproved of their relationship. The courtship carried on clandestinely for over six years. Gauri was not too pleased about his choice of career or his decision to move to Mumbai but their love overcame all problems, pretty much like it happens in the movies, the book says.

The book, the author says, attempts a mid-career assessment of King Khan as the star reaches a career milestone of 60 films in 16 years and gets to a stage where he clearly needs to chart an unexplored territory. If it is true that every age gets the hero it deserves, then Shah Rukh Khan is the hero of the globalised information age with an image that cuts across international boundaries to reach the
Indian diaspora and fans all over the world, she says.

The term 'super star' was coined by Bollywood for Rajesh Khanna, the romantic film hero of the late 1960s and the 1970s who triggered a fan frenzy unimaginable even in the cinema crazy country like India. Amitabh Bachchan inherited the title, earning labels such as Big B, angry young man and Supremo. Shah Rukh Khan took over the crown, entering the Bollywood hall of fame with sobriquets of his own such as
King Khan, Badshah (emperor) Khan and King of Bollywood, the author says.

Beginning his acting career away from films, he is the only theatre and television star who went on to become a movie superstar. He entered the film industry when sons of earlier stars were ruling Bollywood making it next to impossible for an outsider to get a toe into the Bollywood door.

Today, Shah Rukh Khan is the favourite of the industry's top banners, the book says.

The star's life, however, has not been a smooth sailing. In 2002, an immense property tax payment was levied on 'Mannat', the beautiful sea-facing heritage bungalow that Shah Rukh had purchased for a large sum. He had to take a whole lot of work to pay the taxes off whether it was dancing at weddings- for which he was severely criticised in the media and by some industry people- to doing a plethora of commercials, the book says.

Shah Rukh's entry in Bollywood was very well-timed because the Hindi films were at their worst in the late 1980s and early 1990s, revolving around stale plots produced in an outdated style. Superstar Amitabh was clearly on the decline, with 'Khuda Gawah' as his only release that year after a series of duds in 1991. Amitabh then went on his five-year sabbatical and the industry was on the lookout for a
new super star. The older leading men like Dharmendra, Jeetendra, Mithun Chakraborty and Rishi Kapoor were still fighting to stay on and the star sons and industry boys- Anil Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Sunny Deol, Govinda- after their debuts in the 1980s, were settling into comfortable though not consistently successful slots, the author says.

Shah Rukh , who has played various roles including negative ones (he won the Filmfare Best Villain award for 'Anjaam', is still inclined towards doing negative roles but his popularity as a romantic hero soared after the release of his films especially the phenomenally successful 'Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge', the author says. "This kept him from doing negative roles although he has played some grey
characters", the book says.

Many of Shah Rukh Khan's films have been superhits, his career is a case study of success, and the way he has reached out beyond the boundaries of Bollywood is remarkable.

However, the author says that Shah Rukh Khan still has to attain true greatness as an actor. "Twenty-five years from now, if all Shah Rukh Khan has to show for his talent and fame is 'Dilwale Dulhania LeJayenge' or 'Devdas', it would be tragic", the book says.

(About the book: SRK, King Khan by Deepa Gahlot, Roli Books, Pages 124, Price Rs. 495)