Mala Chakravorty has a Ph.D. in
American Women's
fiction from I.I.T. Delhi, and Master's degrees in English and American
Studies from Delhi University and Smith College, Massachusetts. She has
worked in the School of Women's Studies, Jadavpur University, Kolkata,
and Women's Studies Program at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa,
Honolulu. She switched from academics to Information Technology in
1999, and is currently working as Marketing Manager with NIIT
Technologies, Inc. Atlanta, Georgia. Apart from her academic articles,
Mala's short stories have been published in Sulekha.com and BAGA annual
magazines.
Lonely at the Top:
The Inner/Outer World of Shah Rukh Khan
BOLLYWOOD
GUPSHUP
Director: Nasreen Munni Kabir Cinematographer: Peter Chappell Producer: The Inner World, BBC’s Channel 4; The Outer World, Red Chillies International
Shah Rukh Khan is not a megalomaniac, but he adores his popularity and the mass hysteria he can generate...A little time spent with him and the source of his star power becomes evident – an abundance of charm, and an indefinable charisma that stem from a combination of intelligence, a positive approach to life and a sense of being grounded in reality despite his wealth and popularity...
The Sisters at the Abbey in
The Sound of Music said of Maria, “How do you catch a cloud and bring it down?” Pinning down Bollywood’s Badshah Shah Rukh Khan is an equally daunting task. India’s superstar, who has become a global icon for Bollywood lovers, is presented to us by the acclaimed London-based documentary filmmaker Nasreen Munni Kabir in two insightful documentaries --
Inner/Outer World of Shah Rukh Khan. The films do not analyze Shah Rukh’s film career.
This is the world of Shah Rukh Khan seen through Nasreen Munni Kabir’s lenses. We see the star amidst the adulation, glamour and wealth that surround him and the overwhelming power that he wields in India and in the diasporic community abroad. We also see the hard work, the discipline, the family ties, the health problems, and the core of loneliness that makes this man who he is. What struck me as surprising in this representation was a vulnerability, a sense of sadness and isolation in Shah Rukh that we normally don’t get to see.
It is also clear that some of this sadness stems from the untimely death of his parents, who he idolizes. His father died at the age of 52, when Shah Rukh was 15. Thereafter his mother struggled to bring him and his sister up. She too died ten years later, before Shah Rukh became successful. He constantly talks about his parents and recounts little anecdotes from his past. I felt that he wants to hold on to his memories and what he learnt from his parents to fortify him in his journey through life. Within him lies a deep pain at their not being around to share his success. It is as if everything he does is to be worthy of their dreams, to live up to their expectations of him, not only in material terms, but also in terms of the values they instilled in him. More than once, Shah Rukh reiterates that for him acting is an escape from reality, from pain, from sadness.
He briefly mentions his unmarried older sister who suffers from depression primarily because she was unable to deal with their parents’ deaths. Family means a lot to Shah
Rukh, it keeps him grounded in the madding crowd he moves in. His palatial home is the sanctuary he has created for himself, his wife, children and sister. He wants his children to think of him as a normal father, one who needs doubles to do stunts for him, not an invincible superstar. His wife
Gouri, who he met when she was 14 and he was 18, is the anchor in his life. Their romance is legendary, a story all his fans are aware of, but what makes this relationship so valuable to him is the fact that she knew him long before he was a star and understands him in a way no one does. He jokes that she keeps him in place by asking, “who will want to read a book about you?” or “who would want to see a movie about you?”
The Inner World of Shah Rukh Khan takes us through seven typical days of Shah Rukh’s life, and ends up demystifying the glamorous superstar. What we see in the film is an ordinary middle-class man who has attained an unimaginable star power and become one the richest Indians ever. We see him at home celebrating
Diwali-cum-Id with his family, teasing his daughter, dropping his son to school. We see him in his production office with his staff. We see him on the sets, shaving, getting a haircut, having his make-up done, shooting action scenes with doubles and padding, trying out dance steps. We see him at a physiotherapy clinic dealing with his severe back and neck problems. We see him in formal functions rubbing shoulders with celebrities like Prince Charles. We also accompany him on a nostalgic tour of his old school St. Colamba’s in Delhi and share a quiet moment at his parents’ graves. He talks of the time he first came to Mumbai to make it in films, when he vented his frustrations by announcing to his friends pompously that ‘One day I will own this city”, a statement King Khan can now brush off as the megalomaniacal dreams of a foolish young boy.
All through the film we hear Shah Rukh talking about himself, and around him we see adoring people yearning for a glimpse of him, a chance to get a picture, an autograph, a hug, a smile. His star power is beyond belief, and it is impossible to analyze where it is rooted in. If we try to analyze his career from the time he came to movies in the early 90s, we can’t really decipher what he brings to the table that is so special! Why does he appeal to such a large cross-section of people, cutting across boundaries of gender, age, class, religion and ethnicity? He is average in every way. He can by no means be described as handsome – handicapped by a large nose and ugly hair -- he is not very tall, he doesn’t have a sculpted body. He is an average actor, a mediocre dancer. How on earth did he make it in films, that too without a film lineage or a benefactor? All he has is willingness to work hard and an ability to approach every project, big or small, with equal sincerity and professionalism. He is also loyal to the friends who were supportive of him before he became famous: a rare quality that has earned him a lot of good will within and without the industry. He appears respectful of his colleagues, regardless of hierarchy or rank. And he is extremely loyal to his fans. The documentaries show him patiently taking photos or giving autographs to hundreds of fan who hound him wherever he goes, or have lined up after his shows to get a picture taken with him. He talks about never letting his personal exhaustion or stress affect his behavior to his fans, as he knows that they have made him who he is. He recounts an incident when he had been brushed off when he had tried to approach Imran Khan for an autograph, something he tries hard to avoid succumbing to.
As a ‘discerning fan’ (however much of an oxymoron that is) of Shah Rukh since
Fauji (1988), I have been disappointed with him in recent years. I believe his best work to be his early roles, before he became a star. The buoyant Abhimanyu Rai
(Fauji); the small-town restless youth Raju (Raju Ban Gaya
Gentleman, 1992) the compulsive liar Sunil (Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, 1993), the obsessive stalker Rahul Mehra (Darr, 1993) were characters he played with a spontaneity and effervescence that obviously stemmed from his own personality. Then came Raj Malhotra in
Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995) a role that encapsulated all his frenetic energy and lovable dynamism in a character that became the quintessential Shah Rukh persona and made him an overnight superstar. Most of his subsequent films were super-hits and ‘Shah Rukh Khan, the star’ was frozen forever as a paean to the capricious nature of Bollywood stardom.
Shah Rukh made the most of his success. He started playing to the gallery, repeating himself in film after film, hamming it to the gills. His standard excuse is, ‘that’s what my fans want to see of me and if I can sustain my success for so many years doing this, there must be something I’m doing right’. He is correct in this assumption. The more he hams, the more his fans love him, the more money his movies rake in, and the more his producers capitalize on his star power. Like most celebrities in India, where ‘stardom’ is venerated, Shah Rukh too easily succumbed to the lure of more wealth and has become the brand ambassador of multiple products. He performs at private parties for a price. He organizes mega-concerts and travels all over the world with his team. Some fans have built a temple for him. He can face rumors of closet homosexuality with a laugh. He can proudly acknowledge his image as India’s “Star Metrosexual’ who loves getting prettied up and stepping into a rose-petal strewn bathtub as the first male Lux model. Surprisingly, the scruffy boy-next-door has also become a style icon, with designer clothes, gelled hair and stylized mannerisms. He gets acting awards for every movie that is a hit, even if his performance was abysmal, á la
Devdas (2002) and Veer-Zaara (2004). It is as if he can do no wrong, and Bollywood lovers all over the world, men and women, young and old, rich and poor, class and mass, every one loves him. A businessman at heart, he has been smart enough to corporatize his earnings through his own production houses Dreamz Unlimited and RedChillies Entertainment.
It is not that he doesn’t ever experiment. He tried making different kind of film in home productions like
Asoka (2001), a disaster from all points of view, and again in
Paheli (2005), which received critical acclaim if not popular appeal. But in both he played it safe and didn’t move outside the realms of the commercial cinema. The only film that Shah Rukh did in recent times where I believe he moved out of his ‘star’ persona was
Swades (2004), which unfortunately didn’t get the recognition that the film and its protagonist deserved. It is not that he is unaware of selling out to popularity and wealth. In the documentary, he mentions that Ram Gopal Verma once told him that he is scared to cast him in any of his films, he is too much of a star to get under the skin of a character. Shah Rukh agrees that this is true and seems to regret that he has lost the kind of hunger for meaningful roles he had when he started out. But he is also honest enough to admit that he loves his popularity and plans to make the most of it as long as it is his for the taking.
Honesty and sincerity are the two qualities that these documentaries reveal to us about Shah
Rukh. Prior to watching these, I thought of Shah Rukh as brash, flippant and arrogant, a self-absorbed man in love with his own undeserved star-power. However, I saw a side of him that is not often visible to us. A little time spent with him and the source of his star power becomes evident – an abundance of charm, and an indefinable charisma that stem from a combination of intelligence, a positive approach to life and a sense of being grounded in reality despite his wealth and popularity. He has an enormously likable quality, a warmth that reaches out to people, who relate to him as one of their own. He is also extremely humble beneath the assumed arrogance he often displays in public performances. I got the feeling that his braggadocio act is a cover for an innate shyness. He does not take his fame for granted and let it get to his head. He admits that he is unsure if he would be able to survive without the adulation of thousands that has now become part of his life, but he also recognizes the inevitability of this happening, so he continues to live for the moment.
The second documentary, The Outer World spans Shah Rukh’s live concert tours of 14 cities in the UK, US and Canada along with Saif Ali Khan, Rani
Mukherjee, Preity Zinta, Arjun Ramphal and Priyanka Chopra. Most of the film is set in airports, cars, hotel lobbies, dressing-rooms of convention centers, with the actors madly rushing from one act to another, hurriedly changing costumes, perspiring, breathless and exhausted. Shah Rukh is involved in every single aspect of the show and drives it from start to end, making sure that there are no glitches. We see him at his best, enthusiastic, dynamic, energizing his team and the audience. We also see him exhausted, drained, lonely and depressed. What keeps him going is the hysterical screaming of thousands of fans each time he appears on stage. He tells us this is an indescribable high that instantly revitalizes him.
Through these documentaries, we realize that Shah Rukh Khan is not a megalomaniac, but he adores his popularity and the mass hysteria he can generate with a slight action of his wrist, with one whisper, with one flick of his hair. His is the true carpe diem – an ability to enjoy every second of his life knowing that it is ephemeral. He is aware of the dichotomy in his life between himself as he is and the way he is perceived, between the real man and the star, he feels that he, and possibly all actors, are to some extent schizophrenic. His challenge lies in being able to balance the dichotomies and keeping in touch with who he really is at any point of time and giving his two hundred percent to whatever he does. Nasreen Munni Kabir has poignantly captured his constant striving to achieve this balance. Her documentaries will be collectors’ items for all Shah Rukh Khan fans. Let us grant them this in-depth insight into their idol and forgive him for making a little more money on this venture as well!
