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- Published: January 9, 2023 17:52
New Delhi: Past few years have seen a tumultuous ride for the entertainment industry, with Bollywood in particular. The overtly political tones of the critics has hit the Hindi film industry hard even as ‘calculated push’ by certain outfits remains underway to drive it out of business.
The current high tide is against the King of Bollywood, Shahrukh Khan, who is all set to make a comeback after four years with his action thriller ‘Pathaan.’ Predictions have it that Pathaan would be as successful as it is controversial.
As Shahrukh Khan is all set to reclaim his throne and revive Bollywood with Pathaan, we look back at that dark period when King Khan’s grip on Bollywood started to grow feeble and how Khan survived those big storms without compromising his star value.
Dilwale
After setting the standards high with mega hits like Chennai Express and Happy New Year, SRK and his fans expected that his reunion with Kajol would break Bollywood. But something didn’t go well with Dilwale. It would be wrong to call the movie a flop but it shrunk into the category of a Semi hit. This is from where in 2015 it appeared as if trademark success and Shahrukh Khan’s movies’ parted ways.
Fan
Even though some may argue that Fan isn’t a flop as it earned 180 cr if we count the international collection, the movie was really a low blow against the stardom of Shahrukh Khan.
But it was evident that fans didn’t like ‘Fan’. King Khan is well admired in roles where he plays a loverboy, action hero, or philanthropist who fights against all odds but audiences couldn’t digest SRK playing an ill-behaved midget.
Jab Harry met Sejal
There are movies that don’t earn well on Box office, then there are disasters. And disasters and SRK don’t look good in one sentence but “Jab Harry met Sejal” made it happen. A movie so bad that King Khan himself apologized to his fans for this utter disappointment.
But to share the misery, SRK was accompanied by other two Khans with Race 3 and Thugs of Hindustan. This was the time when Khan’s magic began to fade from Bollywood.
Zero
This movie sent SRK into a 4 year long hiatus. Shahrukh Khan got quite upset and said he didn’t watch the movie again.
He paired again with Anushka Sharma for this and the movie met the same fate as Jab Harry Met Sejal. Even Katrina couldn’t save this flop. Indian audience couldn’t understand why SRK didn’t learn from Fan’s failure and came back in a similar avatar.
How Khan survived back-to-back flops
Akshay Kumar gave 6 back to back flops this year and reduced his fee. This is what any other actor who fails to deliver success will do. But SRK is not just an actor in Bollywood he is a key player.
His foundation can’t be shaken by commercial failures or political strikes against him. Though we aren’t going to talk about the former in this article, against all the odds Shahrukh Khan has never left the list of the Top 10 richest actors worldwide.
Despite flops, his brand stayed intact. Pepsi, Hotstar, Byju, Big Basket, Hyundai, Nokia, Lux, and whatnot.
Shahrukh Khan will be relevant in Bollywood till the end of time. His haters also aid him a great deal without realizing that outrage is still publicity.
From the 90’s lover boy to a six abs studded action hero, SRK has now evolved into cinema tropes that set his level much higher than an ordinary actor.
Unlike his last character in zero where he played a vertically challenged man, SRK is coming back with tried and tested look. All eyes are set on King Khan and Deepika Padukone, who have been already ruling the music charts for the past month.
Tumne mohabbat karni hai….humne mohabbat ki hai….Iss dil ke ‘alava kisi se bhi, na humne ijaazat li hai!!! Let’s jhoomo!! #JhoomeJoPathaan song out now- https://t.co/Dh94HTwWi2 pic.twitter.com/rrI3DFp2Cs
— Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) December 22, 2022
The final question is whether this pair would be able to revive Bollywood and more so, SRK as a trademark of success at the Box Office.