“I know that when you buy a ticket for my movie you might be foregoing a meal…you sit three hours not only for the movie, you sit for the air conditioning, for the dream and promise you make to your family.”
“In our country movies are a part of life…not a part of entertainment”.
Who is this one man who is without a doubt the international face of Bollywood? The one single face of a cultural phenomenon that rules from Marocco to Malaysia. The man who is the heartthrob, idol and icon of billions (no not merely millions) of people worldwide and has been for almost two decades now – his fame and adoration only getting stronger by the day. The Muslim man who is probably the single most adored person in Hindu India. The face of Pepsi, Motorola, luxury fashion and lifestyle brands and Sony for a multi-billion market over various countries. A man of unbelievable modesty with a life story of pain, loss, love, hard work and dedication. A man who fully deserves every little bit of the adoration he receives – the one and only King Khan, billionaire superstar, the most beautiful and extremely modest Shahrukh Khan.
To me Shahrukh Khan personifies in real life everything about India that I love and am proud of. Shahrukh Khan – the son of a Muslim freedom fighter who fought for the birth of Hindu India, the boy who went to Catholic school and later to first a Hindu and then a Muslim College graduating in Economics and Mass Communications, who married his beloved Gauri in a Hindu ceremony and with whom he raises their two children as both Hindu and Muslim. Losing his parents and especially his mother at a very young age Shahrukh turned to becoming a workaholic to cope with the pain and immense loss. The educated, modest, hard working, down to earth, funny, highly intelligent and most charismatic Shahrukh Khan. There is none other like him. Shahrukh Khan personifies the best of the Muslim world, the best of tolerant Hinduism, the best of secularity, the best of India and the best of man. It might be hard to understand this for anyone who did not grow up in India or is not familiar with modern Indian society. I adore Shahrukh Khan and am grateful that he exists the way he does, he has done nothing but enrich everyone’s life in every way he possibly could. Yes, Aamir is extremely talented, highly intelligent and very goodlooking, yes, Saif is extremely charming and probably a lot funnier, yes, Arjun is ridiculously goodlooking and probably even a lot better looking and Hrithik is also down to earth and a much better dancer. But none of them combine everything and characterise my India the way Shahrukh does. I will always watch anything and everything he makes, does, supports and endorses.
“The frenzy about him is incredible. No western superstar, no matter who it is, is worshipped. Shahrukh Khan is worshipped”.
Wikipedia helps us:
Khan was born to Muslim parents of Pathan ethnicity in New Delhi, India. His father, Taj Mohammed Khan was a freedom activist from Peshawar, British India. His mother Lateef Fatima was the adopted daughter of Major General Shah Nawaz Khan of the Janjua Rajput clan, who served as a General in the Indian National Army of Subash Chandra Bose.
Khan’s father came to New Delhi from Qissa Khawani Bazaar in Peshawar before the Partition of India, while his mother’s family came from Rawalpindi, also in present-day Pakistan. Khan has an elder sister named Shehnaz. Khan attended St. Columba’s School where he was accomplished in sports, drama and academics. He won the Sword of Honour, an annual award bequeathed to the student who embodies most the spirit of the school. He later attended the Hansraj College (1985-1988 ) to earn an Honors degree in Economics. After this, he studied for a Masters Degree in Mass Communications at Jamia Millia Islamia.
After the death of his parents, Khan moved from New Delhi to Mumbai in 1991. In that same year, before any of his film releases, he married Gauri Khan in a Hindu wedding ceremony on October 25, 1991. They have two children, son Aryan Khan (b. 1997) and daughter Suhana (b. 2000).
In 2005, Nasreen Munni Kabir produced a two-part documentary on Khan, titled The Inner and Outer World of Shah Rukh Khan. Featuring his 2004 Temptations concert tour, the film contrasted Khan’s inner world of family and daily life with the outer world of his work. The book Still Reading Khan, which details his family life, was released in 2006. Another book by Anupama Chopra, “King of Bollywood: Shahrukh Khan and the seductive world of Indian cinema”, was released in 2007. This book described the world of Bollywood through Khan’s life.
Khan’s life-size wax statue is available in Madame Tussauds wax museum, London, installed in April 2007. Khan has been chosen for the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of the Arts and Literature) award of the French government for his “exceptional career”.
Check out the CNN interview:
Hey Sophia,
I am very torn about your post.
First of all, I am quite offended that you would generalise Europeans’ view on Bollywood like that. Never in my life would I have even come close to dreaming of saying such stupid and heinous things about both Sharukh Khan and Bollywood.
I may not be an expert on Bollywood, but I do know the basics of what it represents in India, what it is for the people, how it is produced and perceived.
But secondly, I agree with you. Sharukh Khan is an incredible person who deserves all that he has. And I like the way you expressed it all.
Cheers,
Anna
Hey Anna, I do stick to how I ‘generalised’ it. Not a single European person I have ever met has said anything other than something along those lines – and considering my origin the topic of Bollywood does come up often enough. That would make you the first person ever to not respond that way – but then I’ve never had the conversation with you so I wasn’t able to include you in the equation
I’m very glad to hear your appreciation of him! It is not often that I hear that!xox
OMG! We think alike
Check this out –
http://regeramblesandrants.wordpress.com/