Shah Rukh Khan, Through The Eyes of A Journo Friend

Jitesh Pillaai chronicles the superstar who stood by as a friend through the years… Shah Rukh Khan

- Jitesh Pillaai

Agibbous moon shone brightly at Kamal Amrohi Studio. A plaintive song purred out of the speakers… Woh toh hai albela... And there he was. Shooting a song sequence for the now much vaunted, Kundan Shah’s Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa in the early ’90s. Stalwart Naseeruddin Shah and others were present but he strode and owned it. Wrapping up shot after shot as the night wore on. I had heard he was unfriendly, arrogant and cocky. He tried to live up to the reputation. All of it was untrue. And a bond was forged.

And then I saw him boogey to Kaali kaali aankhen. And then alternate it with anger in the pre-interval scene in Baazigar where he loses his one lens. There was the lava of anger simmering within. He threw his heroine off the terrace. The audience loved him. The anti-hero act was repeated in Darr, Anjaam, Ram Jaane. The existing notions of what works and doesn’t were upturned. Showbiz sat up and noticed. He loved the press. He hated them. He loved his directors, he fought with them. He loved his co-stars, he called them names. A man of utter contradictions. Like all who tried to ingest his charm and make sense of the apocryphal stories, so did I. I’ve watched him make love to his heroines, beat up the bad men and turn his most obdurate directors into fan boys. The heroines who couldn’t have him, spread stories about him. Directors who couldn’t work with him, accused him of playing games and cultivating cliques. But his rise continued unabated.