Image source: PUNEET KUMAR
(This article was first published on BBC News Hindi on Shahrukh Khan's birthday on 2 November 2023.)
In 1992, when the new TV hero Shahrukh Khan's film 'Deewana' came out, it seemed that a promising star had knocked on the hearts. With his carefree and rebellious attitude, Raja (Shah Rukh) not only entered 'Deewana' but also directly entered the hearts of the people.
But that hero truly created a stir at the box office in 1993 when Shahrukh's 'Baazigar' and 'Darr' were released one after the other.
Although today Shahrukh is called the King of Romance, but Shahrukh climbed the first steps of success not through romance, but by becoming an anti-hero.
This caravan of 'Baazigar', which started in 1993 as an anti-hero, has reached 'Jawaan' released in 2023.
That means Shahrukh has traveled the journey of two types of anti-heroes at a gap of thirty years.
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global romantic hero
Senior film journalist Namrata Joshi says, "Shah Rukh's anti-hero emotion in 'Baazigar' and 'Darr' was inspired by his love for a girl. But later he left this negative image and adopted the face of a cool, global, urban romantic hero.
"In the last few years, when he tried to re-invent himself, his films stopped working. In 2023, we can say that through 'Pathan' and 'Jawan' he has been able to reinvent himself. This is a new thing for Hindi cinema that in the condition in which we are living, Shahrukh openly challenges the power in a film like Jawan.
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"Taking such an anti-establishment stance is noteworthy. Becoming an anti-hero for a girlfriend in 'Baazigar' and then becoming an anti-hero against the entire power and system in 'Jawaan', there is a fundamental difference between the two, and this reflects Shahrukh's journey.
Abbas-Mustan's film 'Baazigar' was released 30 years ago on 13 November 1993. Perhaps no one expected that a new hero who had done only a few serials and one or two films would play the role of a murderer who commits murder after murder without any particular guilt and there is not even a wrinkle on his face.
At the beginning of the film 'Baazigar', there are two romantic songs between Shahrukh and Shilpa Shetty. Then both of them go to court for marriage and suddenly Shahrukh very brutally throws Shilpa Shetty down from a high building which is called cold blooded murder in English.
This scene comes so suddenly in the midst of romance that the audience watching the film was almost stunned. It was quite shocking and out of the box for that time.
In that era, where Salman Khan goes through every test for love in 'Maine Pyar Kiya' and where Aamir dies for love in 'Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak', Ajay Sharma aka Vicky Malhotra (Shahrukh) broke the image of Bollywood hero with the role of Baazigar.
try to break the stereotype
Film historian Amrit Gangar says, "Though Shahrukh made his unconventional debut with Mani Kaul's film 'Ahmak' and also did films like 'Maya Mem Saheb'. Did a serial like 'Circus'. 'Baazigar' became a huge commercial hit and established him in the anti-hero role.
"I see it as a testament to Shahrukh Khan's acting ability, it shows his range. Additionally, it also shows Shahrukh's ability to break the stereotypes seen in Bollywood casting. Even in 'Darr', Yash Chopra gave him a negative role which was considered taboo for a hero at that time.
The character of 'Baazigar' was so dark that many big heroes refused to play this role. Despite being new in the industry, Shahrukh was the hero who showed the courage to take this gamble.
About a month after 'Baazigar', Yash Chopra's 'Darr' released on December 24, 1993, in which Shahrukh Khan played the role of a boy who is mentally unstable, his one-sided love takes him to such an extent of obsession where he becomes a danger to himself and the one he loves. In today's words, Rahul of 'Dar' was a stalker.
The role played by Shahrukh in 'Darr' was earlier given to Rishi Kapoor by Yash Chopra. Rishi Kapoor writes in his autobiography 'Khullam Khulla', "When Yash Chopra gave me the role, I told him that I cannot do justice to the role of the villain."
I have just done Chandni with you (which was a romantic film). I did a negative role in the film 'Khoj' and it flopped. You can take Shahrukh, I have worked with him and he is a capable and smart guy. Then that film went to Aamir Khan and Ajay Devgan. Neither of them did, finally Shahrukh did that role.
Be it Vicky of 'Baazigar' or Rahul of 'Darr', the work that Shahrukh does in both the characters should normally create a feeling of disgust in you, but the contradictory thing about both the films was that the audience is not on the side of the hero (Sunny Deol) or other characters of the film, but is seen on the side of Shahrukh.
You can give credit for this to the screenplay writer or director, but people remembered only the Shahrukh seen on screen.
decade of change
Amrit Gangar says, "The 1990s were a decade of change and people were able to relate to Shahrukh's personality. These negative roles of Shahrukh were mixed with emotions of love and erotica.
“There was a kind of madness in these roles, something that the youth were looking for. For example, in 'Dar' an emotion was shown which was not seen in Hindi films. That boyish charm of Shahrukh on screen had become a kind of mystery.
Remember that scene of 'Darr' when the silent Rahul (Shah Rukh) talks on the phone to his mother who has passed away, gets Kiran written on his chest with a knife, or the scene when Juhi Chawla's fiance Sunny Deol sees Shahrukh in the impersonation and runs after Shahrukh. When that chase of almost three minutes goes on, despite knowing that Shahrukh's character is wrong, many viewers are on his side.
Although many people criticized the film by calling this character toxic, in both Darr Ho and Baazigar, Shahrukh created a script for himself by playing the role of an anti-hero, especially when all the heroes had refused these roles one after the other.
Shahrukh Khan becomes King Khan
'Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge', 'Dil To Pagal Hai', 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai', all these films came later and made Shahrukh King Khan. But on the way to becoming King Khan, Shahrukh's roles of anti-hero prepared the ground for success for Shahrukh Khan. And also introduced people to an actor who had the courage to take risks. Be it 'Anjaam', 'Maya Memsaab' or 'Oh Darling Yeh Hai India'.
It was not that there were only flowers in this path of superstardom, in the beginning some films also flopped, many people criticized him for not moving away from the image of a superstar in films, and in the meantime he broke all the records at the box office, then he became a zero from a hero when people said that Shahrukh's days were over.
Shahrukh was not seen on the cinema screen for many years, but was definitely seen advertising Vimal Iyalchi on TV. Meanwhile, there was a political uproar over his statements and his son was also jailed. But Shahrukh remained completely silent.
In 2023, Shahrukh responded in his own style with 'Pathan' and then 'Jawaan'. He broke the silence with his dialogue by saying, 'Talk to the father before touching your son'. Everyone derived their own political and social meaning from this dialogue of the soldier.
Like 'Baazigar' and 'Darr', Azad Rathore of 'Jawaan' is also a kind of anti-hero but he is different from the anti-heroes of the 90's. Azad Rathore challenges the corruption prevalent in the society through a vigilante group, he takes the law into his own hands, the rules and regulations of governance do not matter to him. But this anti-hero does not kill people like Vicky of 'Baazigar' or Rahul of Darr, but saves people's lives.
However, Namrata Joshi also has her own complaints, "Jawaan has been successful but I don't think it works for me as a film. This is a male-dominated film where Shahrukh definitely tries to ensure that women also get a place. Instead, I would prefer Shahrukh in a film like 'Chak De India' where he leads the women's team to victory. An attempt has been made to show gender equality in Jawan but I do not think it was effective.
Making of 'Baazigar'
Image source: GETTY IMAGES
The discussion started with Baazigar, so let's end there. The shooting of the film started in December 1992 but after that Bombay got burnt in the fire of riots and its shooting could be started again after several months. Talks were held with many actresses from Sridevi to Madhuri for the film. But Sridevi wanted to play the role of two sisters i.e. Kajol and Shilpa, but the directors felt that the audience might not like the murder of a big heroine like Sridevi at the hands of Shahrukh.
In the film, Dalip Tahil played the role of Madan Chopra against whom Shahrukh Khan becomes Vicky i.e. Baazigar to take revenge from Ajay. Recently, in a podcast named 'The Untriggered', Dalip Tahil had said, "I was at Heathrow Airport in London. A girl came to me and asked why did you beat Shahrukh Khan so much in 'Baazigar'. After all why? That girl had become like Shahrukh.
Shahrukh's achievement was to humanize the murderer and anti-hero characters of 'Baazigar' and 'Darr' to some extent. Meanwhile, Shahrukh also came as Raj, Kabir Khan also became the coach of the Indian team, Mohan who returned in 'Swadesh', Kishanlal of the village in 'Paheli', Rahul who had the desire to break the moon and stars in 'Yes Boss', Amjad Ali Khan of 'Hey Ram' and Baua Singh of Zero too.
In these characters between real life and screen life, some have found their hero in Shahrukh, some a villain and some an anti-hero.
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