{"id":13725,"date":"2012-11-02T13:47:47","date_gmt":"2012-11-02T17:47:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tanqeed.com\/forum\/?p=13725"},"modified":"2013-11-30T21:24:37","modified_gmt":"2013-12-01T02:24:37","slug":"among-the-khan-superstars-shah-rukh-khan-stands-the-tallest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tanqeed.com\/among-the-khan-superstars-shah-rukh-khan-stands-the-tallest\/","title":{"rendered":"Among The Khan Superstars, Shah Rukh Khan Stands The Tallest"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nHis name is Khan. But who cares? Shah Rukh Khan by any other name would\u2019ve shone just as brightly.<\/strong>
\nHe\u2019s a natural-born man of the masses. His level of connectivity with his friends and fans is so exceptional because it\u2019s so natural. Shah Rukh doesn\u2019t have to try to be nice to those who reach out to him. His empathy flows naturally.
\nVery few actors have a natural bonding with their surroundings. Some try too hard. Others don\u2019t even try. Shah Rukh gets it just right.
\nIt takes guts and glory to say no to injustice and wrong being done around you. Shah Rukh Khan has always stood up to what he thought to be right. I\u2019ve never seen any actor who invites so much adulation and such staunch loyalty from family fans and friend\u2014not necessarily in that order.
\nAs Karan Johar one of his closest buddies says, Shah Rukh is a healthy nourishing addiction that you simply can\u2019t kick off. Why should you?
\nNo one abandons SRK.
\nNeither is he the kind who would shrug off friends at his convenience even in a dog-eat-dog world of show business. Though lately Shah Rukh and I have been interacting less specially after a non-entertainment website quoted him as saying he \u201chates\u201d me (a comment that he stoutly denies, and I\u2019ve no reason to doubt him, not after last week when he stood by his words without fear of hugely-damaging repercussions) I recall our earlier interactions with much fondness.
\nThe first time that I ever spoke to SRK was when his grossly-underrated film on the excesses of the electronic media \u2018Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani\u2019 had just been released.
\nSRK addressed me respectfully as \u2018Sir\u2019. Later when we met at his residence he looked at me smirked and turned to his wife to say, \u201cDo you know I called him \u2018Sir\u2019 when I spoke to him on the phone?\u201d
\nBy the way his wife Gauri is far from the cold and aloof person she\u2019s seen to be.
\nNothing and no one around SRK can ever be cold. He exudes an inherent warmth that melts the most obdurate entity. Most of the time even when under attack he\u2019s supremely composed and articulate. I\u2019ve seldom spoken to a person whose voice can keep such lucid pace with his restless thought processes. But then I\u2019ve seldom seen a star with such a compelling carousal of thoughts to put forward.
\nShah Rukh is a man in a hurry. He wants to be the most popular person on this planet. And he\u2019s getting there. He has never felt threatened by any actor male or female. Nor has he allowed himself to get intimidated by goons of any kind political or apolitical. I remember once in our early interactions he told me, \u201cI need to change my number. Because the wrong kind of people (from the underworld) keep calling. I don\u2019t care about such threats. But my wife and sister get scared.\u201d
\nEven when Shah Rukh\u2019s home Mannat was under siege his concern was for his near and dear ones\u2026 how would his children get to school? Would his wife be able to do her shopping? Would friend Karan be able to release his film without mishap? Would Farah Khan be able to call her film \u2018Tees Maar Khan\u2019, or would she have to change to Tees Maar Kumar?
\nShah Rukh has always been more concerned about those around him than about himself.
\nIt is no coincidence that my hard-to-please daughter\u2019s favourite actor became her absolute favourite after she met him. In the one hour that SRK spent with her he counseled her on future career prospects, guided her on ethics and mores and found time to make sure we had lunch.
\nYup, SRK packs in the maximum punch in the minimum space.
\nHe isn\u2019t as great an actor as he\u2019s an entertainer. I\u2019ve been privy to some of his unguarded revelations. Strangely now when my admiration for this man\u2019s conviction has gone up manifold I recall his deliciously tongue-in-cheek comments.
\nOnce when I was speaking to SRK on the phone he was changing on the sets while talking near his leading lady. When I reminded him that the lady might take offence he quipped, \u201cWhy? She has never seen a naked man before?\u201d
\nOnce I (stupidly) advised him to give up smoking. To this he replied, \u201cWhy? Your other friend (he named a fellow-actor) likes to f\u2026k. I like to smoke. That\u2019s my vice.\u201d
\nThere\u2019s an absolutely unpretentious side to Shah Rukh that remains immune to the hard knocks of life.
\nA couple of days before he went through intricate back surgery in London he was on the phone giving me gyan about a leading lady whom I was close to. \u201cShe\u2019ll be good with you as long as you\u2019re useful. I keep telling my friends not to be so self-centred to come out of their small world.\u201d
\nThat\u2019s what SRK did. He stood up to say what he believed in and was ready to face the consequences. I don\u2019t think SRK belongs to Maharashtra, Delhi or even to just the whole of India. He is a global possession, as capable of being our representative in foreign countries as being a liaison officer in our own land where, if some politicians had their way, we would needs visas to enter.
\nAmong the Khan superstars Shah Rukh Khan stands the tallest, in more ways than one. While one of them is overrated and excessively lucky in his career choices, the other Khan does nothing in front of the camera or in person except be his cocky self. The other two Khan stars don\u2019t even count because one is too uncertain about his convictions and the other too raw.
\nOnly Shah Rukh Khan knows which way to take his stardom without appearing to take it for granted. Have you heard SRK declare he\u2019s the best lately?
\nFinally he has proved it.
\nLINK<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

His name is Khan. But who cares? Shah Rukh Khan by any other name would\u2019ve shone just as brightly. He\u2019s a natural-born man of the masses. His level of connectivity with his friends and fans is so exceptional because it\u2019s so natural. Shah Rukh doesn\u2019t have to try to be nice to those who reach out to him. His empathy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":321,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tanqeed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13725"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tanqeed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tanqeed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tanqeed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/321"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tanqeed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tanqeed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13725\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tanqeed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tanqeed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tanqeed.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}