From a starry-eyed Dilliwaala without a godfather in B-town to the Baadshah of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan sure has come a long way. From his first job where he earned Rs 50 to being the owner of a multi-crore empire, this man has worked his way to success.
As people across the world celebrate his 23 years in the industry, we bring you a quick recap of King Khan’s life:
1989: TV debut
Starting small with stage shows under the mentorship of theatre director Barry John, he soon bagged his first TV show Dil Dariya in 1988. Simultaneously, he started work in another show, Fauji, which happened to release first. He played the role of a charming cadet, Abhimanyu Rai, which helped him get noticed. He soon became the talk of the town.
Roles in serials followed, including Aziz Mirza’s Circus, Mani Kaul’s Umeed, Wagle Ki Duniya and English TV film In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones .
1992: First Bollywood break
He got his first break on the big screen when he moved to Mumbai with Deewana, alongside Rishi Kapoor and Divya Bharti in 1992. The movie was a success and SRK won the Filmfare Best Male Debut award for his performance.
Luck favoured him as well and he was offered not one or two, but four roles. The same year saw three more releases. Chamatkar was his first movie as the lead. He paired with Juhi Chawla in Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman and their on-screen chemistry worked wonders for the movie. He seemed to identify with the story of a small-town guy trying to make it big in Bombay and played it to perfection!
1993-94: Brings the anti-hero to Bollywood
If there is someone to be credited for making the anti-hero look cool in Bollywood, it’s Shah Rukh.
With Baazigar and Darr, SRK not only proved his acting prowess but also underlined the fact that he was here to stay. He went on to win the Filmfare Best Actor award for his intense portrayal of Vicky Malhotra in Baazigar .
Darr marked the beginning of his relationship with Yash Raj Films. His faith in Yash Chopra has been so much that it is said he doesn’t even read the script that YRF offers.
1995: He made us fall in love with romance and DDLJ
1995 proved to be a good year for him as he delivered two super hits: Karan Arjun and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ). DDLJ changed the way Indian cinema and the audience looked at romance in Bollywood forever.
The charming Raj won both our hearts and also the Filmfare award for the second straight year. The movie also saw SRK and Kajol repeat their sparkling chemistry on screen from Baazigar. Besides these movies, he also worked in Zamaana Deewana, Guddu, Ram Jaane and Trimurti.
1996-97 : Pardes & Dil Toh Pagal Hai release
He worked with Mahesh Bhatt in Chaahat in 1996, and did some other movies which did not do well at the Box Office. However, even through the flops, the criticism somehow never seemed to have targeted the actor.
Pardes and Dil Toh Pagal Hai released in 1997 and were both received well. By this time, SRK was already being called the best actor and was earning more than his peers. Koyla and Yes Boss also fared well at the Box Office and SRK was back to bagging the Filmfare award for the best actor again for the sixth time!
1998: Teams up with Karan Johar in his directorial debut, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
The year saw him teaming up with K Jo in his first directorial debut Kuch Kuch Hota Hai . The movie had a stellar cast of SRK and Kajol, who people were dying to watch together after DDLJ, along with Rani Mukerji and Salman Khan. Rahul Khanna wooed us all and after a great opening, the movie became the highest grosser of the year. It was also declared an all-time blockbuster by Box Office India.
SRK was happy to be spearheading the romance movement, but at the same time, did not hesitate in trying out interesting roles with directors he had not worked with before. He teamed up with Mani Ratnam of Roja fame for Dil Se . The movie was set with a terrorism background and came as a breath of fresh air among other rom-coms. From being a carefree young guy to an obsessive lover, the transformation that SRK’s character showed in the movie couldn’t be ignored.
1999-2000: Amitabh Bachhan and SRK come together for the first time in Mohabbatein
Baadshaah, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, Hey Ram, Josh – SRK continued to roll out so many movies every year. However, Mohabbatein, which released in 2000, was much awaited as it would see the Shehanshah and the Baadshah of Bollywood together for the first time ever.
Here he was, doing what he does best – romance. The musical romantic drama did well at the Box Office and became the highest grossing film overseas that year.
2001-2002 : Asoka, Devdas, K3G; SRK gets experimentive
An epic historical drama Asoka, a romantic drama Devdas and a multi-starrer family drama Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (K3G), SRK got experimentive in 2001 and 2002. He alone had 3 nominations for the Filmfare Best Actor award and won it for his role in Devdas.
2003-2004 : Wins 10th Filmfare Best Actor award for Swades
A great achievement by Khan is that he made sure that he was always in the limelight with the number of films that he did. From the average 3 movies that released every year, at least one of them would be a hit!
2003-04 was a great period for SRK as he had not one, not two, but four hits – Kal Ho Naa Ho, Main Hoon Na, Swades and Veer-Zara. Yet again, he had 4 nominations for Fimfare Best Actor and bagged the position for his role as a NASA scientist in Swades for the 10th time.
2005-06 : India submits Paheli for best foreign film for the Academy Awards
Paheli released in 2005 and was India’s submission for the best foreign film for the Oscars leaving behind other critically acclaimed movies like Black, Iqbal, Page 3 and Swades. However, it failed to get an Oscar nomination.
Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna also released that year but it didn’t fare too well at the Box Office. However, that was compensated with the release of Don- The Chase Begins on Diwali which raked in big moolah for the actor as well as the producers.
2007-08 : Scores a perfect goal with Chak De! India
We all admired the dashing women’s hockey coach Kabir Khan in Chak De! India. SRK scored the perfect goal with this one and won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor yet again. Om Shanti Om released the following year in 2008 and Deepika Padukone was launched. At the time of its release, it became the highest-grossing Hindi film of all time. Rab Ne Banadi Jodi was another hit rolled out by SRK alongside another newbie Anushka Sharma.
SRK also suffered a severe shoulder injury in 2008, but that did not deter him from working in tight schedules. He continued to work throughout the pain. Salute, sir!
2009-11 : Wins our hearts as Rizwan Khan in My Name Is Khan
SRK’s next big release was My Name Is Khan which stands as the sixth highest grossing Bollywood film with a worldwide gross of 200 crores. His role of a man suffering from Asperger’s Syndrome proved why he is called King Khan of the industry. The audience also looked forward to seeing him alongside Kajol.
Ra.One and Don 2 also released in 2011. While Ra.One did not do well at the Box Office, it was a hit with kids. He was once again nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor for Don 2, but it went to Amitabh Bachchan for playing a child suffering from progeria in Paa.
2012-2015 : 23 years and on, still going strong!
It has been 23 years in the industry and SRK continues to entertain us with his movies. Whether it is the not-so-recent Jab Tak Hai Jaan, Chennai Express or Happy New year, he goes on to make entertaining movies for his millions of fans worldwide.
We look forward to seeing him and Kajol cast the magical spell again in Dilwale, which is slated for a release later this year.