| Shah Rukh Khan is lying on his bed as his physiotherapist pummels his Rs 1-crore-a-movie muscles. He smiles shyly for the camera and wishes that his mother was there to see him today. "She always said I looked like Dilip Kumar". This from a man whose face sells everything from cars to chocolates, whose name spells superhit from Mumbai to Moradabad, who as Nasreen Munni Kabir's documentary declares, is a bigger star than Brad Pitt and Jim Carey put together. And Nasreen Munni Kabir should know — after all she is a documentary filmmaker who has made several series for Channel 4 on Hindi cinema, interviewed celebrities as far ranging as Amitabh Bachchan and Bismillah Khan, interviewed Lata Mangeshkar and Javed Akhtar and directed a documentary on the making of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Bombay Dreams. So Bollywood celebs and Bollywood dreams are all in a day's work for this film maker. However, when you first view this two part documentary, you could well be mistaken for believing it to be a gush-gush sycophantic monologue of Bollywood's current flavour of the month. There's Shah Rukh Khan on the sets of Main Hoon Na, Shah Rukh wowing middle aged London aunties on his "Temptations" tour, Shah Rukh Khan in a stretch limousine, Shah Rukh Khan surrounded by autograph seekers. But Kabir's unobtrusive camera also reveals a Shah Rukh that fans don't see — someone who is well, normal. Someone who is working hard to see that he gets the security of "roti kapda aur makaan" (food, clothes and a house) that a billion Indians dream of. Someone who has not quite got over the death of his parents, someone who wants to be famous — "Why should I wear sunglasses when I have worked so hard to be recognised?" – and yet someone who is a little lost boy."I like Delhi, because there are people who knew me before I was a film star". This is Shah Rukh encapsulated in a two hour time machine for score of fans and cynics alike.Ok, let's face it, this is not Oscar winning stuff, but it does showcase the contemporary Bollywood star (oh, by the way, Shah Rukh hates that word — Bollywood!) — someone who works hard for a living, who ploughs money back into the films like any other business, someone who keeps his family and professional life separate like any other middle class Indian would. This is not a controversial documentary, not even a very in-depth one—after all how well would you know a man following him from green room to stage for 15 days—but it does arouse empathy, emotion, smiles and tears like a true blue Bollywood film would. The inner world of Shah Rukh Khan is what everyone would really be interested in — the man behind the star, and the documentary doesn't disappoint.Shah Rukh comes across as a man plagued by injuries both physical and psychological, curiously insecure, someone who needs family and friends to feel grounded. The film maker follows Shah Rukh as he prays at his parents graves and then signs autographs for the lucky kids gawping outside, film star smile firmly in place. You get to see the inside of his house, drive the kids to school, light firecrackers at diwali, yet the camera stays determinedly detached. At times you wish Kabir were more of a voyeur, the documentary would have been better off for it.The outer world of Shah Rukh Khan is, however, not so interesting. You have endless shots of Shah Rukh running from green room to stage, from stage to green room, from one city to another until everything becomes a blur, almost like the star's concert tour. The whole feel is more of a vaudeville show and not like a "rock concert" as Shah Rukh keeps telling any foreigner within earshot. However, the camera does capture some interesting moments — Shah Rukh sleeping curled up in the dressing room, marveling over a poster of the bicentennial man, helping Rani Mukherjee work some thingamajig in the limo. However, this part could have done well with a bit of editing and the endless repetitions of Karan Johar songs really grate. The outer world of Shah Rukh is that of a significantly smaller star, someone who is not, dare I repeat myself, as famous as Brad Pitt. But on the whole, the documentary is worth a watch just for the fact that this is the first time someone has documented the life of a movie star who is not yet a legend, and not yet a has-been.This is Shah Rukh Khan in his prime and that's what makes it so special. |
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