Strangely success of Shahrukh khan’s ‘Pathan’ seems personal to me. Never really having been a fan of the star, this transition was surprising.
Honestly, earlier on I may have been guilty of criticizing Shahrukh for his height, his looks, his personality, his dressing and above all his over acting in his early movies.
He was cute and tickled many but personally I wasn’t really impressed, romance, good songs, predictable plots were entertainment but did not count for great cinema.
But then I watched Chak de, and that was remarkable, good plot, great script, well etched characters, unglamorous and Shahrukh’s performance, it was a film that highlighted an aspect of SRK as a good actor.
Until then, to me it was not as much of Sharukh’s acting prowess as it was the chopra’s and johar’s deft handling of glamorous films that pulled crowds. Viewers swooning over Shahrukh’s charismatic dimpled smile, gorgeous mane and brown eyes that did the trick.
But there has been a gradual change since.
The episode with his son was a catalyst to see this public figure in a new light. His demeanor all through this unbearable trial for any parent, showed class. Class means to is be graceful and exercising restraint under seemingly unjust and stressful situation and SRK exhibited it beautifully.
Insta age showered my screen with bytes from his interviews and though I know nothing about his personal life (and have never been interested), I liked what I saw of the reels that popped up on my screen. Respect for women, his manners, his ‘tehzeeb’ , his demeanor, his humor emitted fragrance of grace and restraint. One did not see him screaming, shouting or being sarcastic about whatever right or wrong that happened to his son and his family. Though I confess to not have enough research to comment on about wether what happened was was right or wrong, but the sense one got was that it was certainly amplified to a ridiculous proportion only because it was connected to SRK.
Then after that incident came SRK’s film and it seemed the audience s went ecstatic. Surprisingly I caught myself guilty of this too.
Pathan as a film is weak to me, but going to watch it has become almost an act of solidarity for standing by SRK as a person. This was one film where there was no care or sentiment for the film making or for the story or for Deepika Padukone. Everything in the film is irrelevant except that it’s SRK is in it. It was almost like one has to go see the film to show SRK we like you, we love you.
He has stumbled but he has repeatedly made more jokes about his own follies and accepted them so gracefully that it is endearing.
Wether it be his ambition to be the king of Bollywood, or being fiercely protective about his family in the stadium episode, his evolution as a person has been beautiful. His coming of age so gently, lightly and so completely with apologies but not being apologetic is the charm of SRK
At 60, SRK is the super star and his coming of age with the sophistication in his behavior has us all inspired!
MEANDERINGS BY MOTLA
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(Sonal Motla, curator Kala Ghoda 2020 with development and art as a theme and is currently working towards the issues on education on art, craft and design with a few educational institutions)
