Desis, more than anybody else, enjoy being represented. Any reference to our subcontinent in pop culture from anywhere in the globe makes us jump with excitement.
We bring this up now since the second episode of Ms Marvel, an American television miniseries currently streaming on Disney+ Hotstar, has woven Shah Rukh’s filmography into the MCU.
The MCU show features Kamala Khan, a Pakistani refugee in the United States who discovers her superpowers. Throughout the show, we come across authentic South Asian references. And SRK makes his way into the Marvel Universe in an interaction between Kamala and her crush Kamran as they discuss Bollywood movies.
She asks him whether he watches any, and he responds, “Obviously but only the greats like Baazigar and stuff.” She replies that it’s SRK’s best work and then they ponder why mainstream opinion says it’s DDLJ. Nonetheless, Kamala goes on to say, “There is no such thing as a bad Shah Rukh Khan movie.”
Honestly, DDLJ is overrated and Baazigar, in which he plays a cold-blooded murderer, has actually showcased his acting chops better than any other romantic film ever has. The SRK fanatic in me is thrilled that it has been made known on a show that will be watched by people globally.
Desi Twitter obviously can’t keep calm and it seems like they are in love with the show already.
The fact that Eid is celebrated in the MCU in the same way that Christmas is, the mention of the Partition, a discussion of SRK’s movies and even a reference to Ritviz, make the narrative worth watching.
Amidst the many things that Ms Marvel got right, talking about SRK movies to strike a conversation with a crush is on point.