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 Shahrukh
Khan is so famous that he is known even to a person who saw the only Indian
movie in his life that is «Sholay». And this is not an exaggeration. Shahrukh
Khan is the world famous star. You can find his mannequin in Madam Tussaud's
Museum in England; dozens of books and hundreds of Internet fan-clubs are
devoted to him. His concerts are attended by millions of fans and he bears the
nickname of The Unofficial Badshah of Bollywood; and he earns up to one and a
half million dollars for shooting in movies.
Is there
anyone who can predict the same when in the early 90s Shahrukh arrived to
Bombay from his native Delhi with the only dream to become a movie actor? He had
neither rich folks, no useful connections, yet he had nothing necessary for the
Hindi star, that is angel's face and the dancing skills. Shahrukh appeared in
the high society when Bollywood was occupied by divine being Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi
Kapoor, Mithun Chakraborti. And just imagine that this not so tall fellow with
irregular features risked competing with them.
Shahrukh
wished he would become an actor in his quite mature age. As a student at school
and in the college he tried his best to show brilliant skills in sports, namely
in football, running and cricket. Unfortunately he got trauma of the spine and had
to give up sports. He suffered from that trauma for many years but he managed to
perform hiding his pain. But that time Shahrukh believed that his life ended
with his trauma. He was in deep depression for two years, and afterwards he
started to seek for something different to find himself. Shahrukh took an active
part in theatricality in the college and when he realized that this attracted
him. And on the base of the above he made his mind to try himself in TV soaps.
He had diligence in abundance and he starred in three TV serials at once: «Circus»,
«Dil Dariya» and «Fauji». Military history about recruits won him instant
recognition. He was recognized in Delhi streets and he was a real TV star.
Nevertheless the actor realized that he would not achieve much in his native
town and he got lucky eventually. Vikas, a famous TV producer from Bombay paid attention
to him and invited Shahrukh to perform in two episodes in his TV serial Ummeed.
Shahrukh feeling flattered agreed at once.
He did not
feel well in Bombay at the very beginning since he had to get accustomed to
other shooting facilities, new equipment, though Shahrukh managed not only to
shoot in soaps but also to contact with movie directors. Vikas gave high praise to his new actor and
eventually Shahrukh's dream started to come true: he was offered a role in the
real Hindi movie. To be precise he was offered several roles at once as a rule.
Shakhrush recollecting the time of shooting on the movie «Raju Ban Gaya
Gentleman» as the happiest part in his life, since he married to his beloved
Gauri. His relation background with his wife-to-be was not so simple. When they
met each other he was 19, and she was 14 only. Gauri's parents did not allow
them to date, mainly due to their religious background. Gauri was a Hindu and Shahrukh
was Muslim. Besides her parents antagonized towards him because of the fact
that Shahrukh was preparing to enter movies for the whole of his life and this
was not a guarantee for the solid earnings. Shahrukh and Gauri dated secretly for a few
years. The actor recollects with the smile in his face how they differed in
personality; he was passionate and romantic, and she was pragmatic and quite
reserved. He wished he would do anything for her, even dance in the street. «I
did it. After one of our seldom quarrels Gauri said that she did not want to
see me within a year. The following I asked her to go with me but she did not
even smile. In a great despair I got out onto the road crossing and started
dancing. I told her that I would not stop until she agreed. All the cars, scooters,
trucks, everyone stopped. That was like a scene from the movie. And eventually
I became a winner since Gauri could not afford such a scene in the street»,
said Shahrukh. In 1991 Shahrukh and Gauri married at last. Now they have two
children in the marriage, a son Aryan and a daughter Suhana. And it seems that
their love did not go away during their marital life. In spite of all the
attempts of mass media to catch Shahrukh in close relations with any of his
partners, he is still a faithful husband and he always hurries up home after
the filming.
Movies with
participation of Shahrukh became to come out and something very unprecedented,
he won awards one by another. The year 1992 - the best debut for the movie Deewana,
1993 - the Best Actor for the film Baazigar
and the Best Actor for the movie Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa by the opinion of critics,
1994 - the Best Negative Role in the
movie Anjaam, 1995 - the Best Actor for
the movie Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. That had never happened before - no one
from nowhere pressed the mega stars. We can try to find the answer to why it happened
but the main reason of this phenomenon is the only thing, namely his incredible
diligence of Shahrukh. For a long period of time Shahrukh starred in five films
simultaneously and it happened not so often that only one movie succeeded and
the other failed. And nowadays he can
work in two movies a year, at least. Moreover he had never depended on any cliché
that critics and audience awarded him. A range of actors play the character of
a lover from the movie to movie, conflicting person or a heavy lead. Shahrukh is
not afraid to change images. He played a hero, a looser, an ordinary person, an
emperor, a positive and negative person, and many others.
At present Shahrukh
is starring in three projects. The first one is the movie of his best friend Aditya
Chopra Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi («God created couple»), a romantic love story between
a forty year old man and a sixteen year old girl (starred by Annushka Sharma, a
young débutante); and the second movie is a comedy of Priyadarshan Billo
Barber, where Shahrukh is a megastar who finds himself in the real conditions
of a real Hindi village; the third one, the most intriguing, is the film of the
most successful TV directors in India Karan Johar «My name is Khan», concerning
terrorism issue. Shahrukh will star together with his favorite partner Kajol
with whom he did not star since 2000. But this is not the end. Shahrukh plays a
role of a person sick with Autism. And as always, he does not change his
principles choosing roles different in concepts.
Anna
Stepanova
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