Indian Entertainment Industry

Two decades in the Indian entertainment industry, has seen him from a television actor to a Bollywood superstar and producer. When he stepped back into television again in 2007, it was as the host to Kaun Banega Crorepati, one of the most popular TV shows of all times. Throw in several awards of recognition and his unquestioned popularity and there you have it – Shah Rukh Khan, the stuff legends are made of and then some.

Beginnings

Shah Rukh Khan was born in Delhi on Nov 2 1965, to Taj Mohammed Khan, a freedom fighter from Peshawar and Lateefa Mohammed, from Rawalpindi, who was the adopted daughter of Major General Shah Nawaz Khan of the Janjua Rajput clan, who served as a General in the Indian National Army of Subash Chandra Bose. His father and mother moved to India before the Partition. Khan has an older sister Shehnaz, fondly known as LalaRukh.

Khan did his schooling at St.Columbus where he excelled in academics, sports and drama. While here he won the Sword of Honor, a recognition given to students who embodied the spirit of the school. He went on to acquire an Honors degree in Economics from the Hansraj College. He also started out to obtain a Masters degree in Mass Communications from Jamia Millia Islamia, before looking the Bollywood way.

He moved to Mumbai in 1991 after the death of his parents. He married Gauri Khan, a Hindu, and they have two children Aryan and Suhana and live in a palatial home called Mannat in Bandra, Mumbai.

Journey

Khan’s debut as an actor was in 1988, in a TV serial called Fauji, about life in the Indian Army, where he played the role of Commander Abhimanyu Rai. He appeared in another serial called Circus, about performers in a circus, in 1989. He also played a small part in a TV film written by Arundhati Roy called In which Annie gives it to those ones. 

His debut into Bollywood was with Deewana, in 1992, which was an instant hit. His performance stood out despite sharing screen space with accomplished actors like Rishi Kapoor and Divya Bharati. He went on to win the Best Debut category of the Filmfare Awards, a beginning of many more to come. 

Deewana was followed by Maya Memsaab which created some amount of controversy over ‘explicit’ scenes. In 1993 he came out with two movies both of which were successful and in both movies he portrayed negative characters, which most top actors at that time considered risqué. In Darr he played the role of an obsessive man who stalks and terrorizes a woman he loves. In Baazigar, where he was cast as a murderer motivated by revenge, won him the Filmfare Best Actor Award. He won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance for his role as young musician in Kabhie Haan Kabhie Naan. 

In 1994, we saw him winning the Filmfare Best Villain Award for Anjaam where he once again played a negative role. In 1995, he played the part of Raj in one of the biggest blockbusters of Hindi cinema, which is still running in Mumbai theaters, Aditya Chopra’s Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. He took home another Filmfare Best Actor Award. He didn’t see a lot of successes in 1996. However, it took a turn for the better in 1997, when Dil To Pagal Hai released, a movie about a love triangle between three dancers, and he walked away, yet again, with the Filmfare Best Actor Award.  The same year he was also nominated for Yes Boss. Karan Johar’s directorial debut Kuch Kuch Hota Hai in 1998 received a huge audience response and won Khan another Filmfare Best Actor Award. His performance in Mani Rathnam’s Dil Se, which revolved around terrorism, was also critically acclaimed. 

At the turn of the century, he saw successful releases in Mohabbatein, where he worked alongside Amitabh Bacchan and Josh with Aishwarya Rai. He won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance for Mohabbatein. He, along with Juhi Chawla, started their production company Dreamz Unlimited and produced and starred in Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, which didn’t fare very well. The epic movie Asoka, where he played the Emperor Asoka and the multi-starrer Kabhie Khushi Kabhie Gham, made their mark in 2001. He was cast as the tragic lover Devdas, in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s remake of  the award winning Devdas, in 2002. It won him the Filmfare Best Actor Award.  In 2003, he received nominations for his performance in Kal Ho Na Ho and his production house saw it’s first success in Chalte Chalte. 
His second production house, Red Chillies Entertainment, saw light in 2004 and it’s first release Farah Khan’s debut Main Hoon Na, was one of the biggest successes of the year, alongside his other movie the same year, Veer-Zaara. He walked away with the Filmfare Best Actor Award for his role in Swades though the movie created hardly any ripples in the box-office. Another big release from Red Chillies Entertainment in 2005 was Paheliin which he played a ghost. It was India’s entry to the Oscars. A documentary on Khan titled The Inner and Outer World of Shah Rukh Khan was produced by Nasreen Munni Kabir in 2005. Another multi-starrer directed by Karan Johar in 2006 was Kabhie Alvida Na Kehna that made a splash in India and overseas. He also starred in the remake of the seventies hit Don. The Filmfare Best Actor Award landed in his hand yet again in 2007 for his role as Kabir Khan in Chak De India where he is the tough coach for the girls’ hockey team. His performance in Farah Khan’s Om Shanthi Om also won him nominations. 

Khan was back again on the small screen, after KBC, in 2008 as the host of Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain?, which is the desi version of Are you smarter than a fifth grader? There are more movies lined up to release in the later part of 2008 and 2009, like Billo Barber and My Name Is Khan, as he shows no signs of slowing down.

Other worthy achievements
Khan is one of the Bollywood actors whose life size wax statue was created and displayed at Madame Tussaud’s Museum in London. He has been honored with the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of the Arts and Literature) award by the French government in recognition for the mark he has made in the industry.

Filmography as Actor

Billo Barber (2009) - Superstar Actor

Dulha Mil Gaya (2008) - Raj

Happy New Year (2008)

My Name is Khan (2008)

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008)

Bhootnath (2008) - Special appearance

Krazzy 4 (2008) - special appearance in item song

Om Shanti Om (2007) - Om Kapoor/ Om Makhija

Chak De India (2007) - Kabir Khan

Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (2007) - Special Appearance

The Mahabharata (2007)

I See You (2006) - Special Appearance

Don (2006) - Don/Rahul

Kabhi Alvida Naa kehna (2006) - Dev Saran

Alag (2006) - Special Appearance (Song)

Baiju Aur Tansen (2006) - Bajiu

Kaal (2005) - Special Appearance (Song)

Kuchh Meetha Ho Jaye (2005) - Himself

Paheli (2005) - Kishen/The Ghost

Silsiilay (2005) - Sutradhar

Swades (2004) - Mohan Bhargav

Veer-Zaara (2004) - Veer Pratap Singh

Main Hoon Na (2004) - Maj. Ram Prasad Sharma

Yeh Lamhe Judaai Ke (2004) - Dushant

Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003) - Aman Mathur (as Shah Rukh Khan)

Chalte Chalte (2003) - Raj Mathur

Saathiya (2002) - Yeshwant Rao (Special Apperance)

Devdas (2002) - Devdas Mukherjee

Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam (2002) - Gopal

Shakti: The Power (2002) - Jaisingh (Drifter)

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... (2001) - Rahul Raichand (as Shah Rukh Khan)

Asoka (2001) - Asoka (as Shah Rukh Khan)

One 2 Ka 4 (2001) - Arun Verma

Mohabbatein (2000) - Raj Aryan Malhotra

Gaja Gamini (2000) - Shahrukh (Special Appearance)

Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega... (2000) - Rahul (Special Appearence)

Hey Ram (2000) - Amjad Ali Khan (as Shah Rukh Khan)

Josh (2000) - Max

Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani (2000) - Ajay Bakshi

Baadshah (1999) - Raj 'Baadshah'

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) - Rahul Khanna

Dil Se.. (1998) - Amarkanth Varma

Achanak (1998) - Himself

Duplicate (1998) - Bablu Chaudhary/Manu Dada (as Shah Rukh Khan)

Dil To Pagal Hai (1997) - Rahul

Gudgudee (1997) - Special Appearance

Koyla (1997) - Shanker (as Shah Rukh Khan)

Pardes (1997) - Arjun Saagar

Yes Boss (1997) - Rahul

Army (1996) - Arjun

Chaahat (1996) - Roop Rathore (as Shah Rukh Khan)

Dushman Duniya Ka (1996) - Special appearance

English Babu Desi Mem (1996) - Vikram/Hari/Gopal Mayur

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) - Raj Malhotra (as Shah Rukh Khan)

Guddu (1995) - Guddu Bahadur

Karan Arjun (1995) - Arjun Singh/Vijay

Oh Darling! Yeh Hai India (1995) - No name

Ram Jaane (1995) - Ram Jaane (as Shah Rukh Khan)

Trimurti (1995) - Romi Singh/Bholey

Zamaana Deewana (1995) - Rahul Malhotra

Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa (1994) - Sunil (as Shah Rukh Khan)

Anjaam (1994) - Vijay Agnihotri

Maya (1993) - Maya's Lover

Baazigar (1993) - Ajay Sharma/Vicky Malhotra (as Shah Rukh Khan)

Darr (1993) - Rahul Mehra (as Shah Rukh Khan)

King Uncle (1993) - Anil Bansal

Pehla Nasha (1993) - Himself

Chamatkar (1992) - Sunder Srivastava

Deewana (1992) - Raja Sahay (as Shah Rukh Khan)

Dil Aashna Hai (1992) - Karan (as Shah Rukh Khan)

Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman (1992) - Raju

Idiot (mini) (1991) - Pawan Raghujan

Circus (1989)

Fauji (1988) - Abhimanyu Rai

Filmography as PRODUCER

Billo Barber (2009) - producer

Happy New Year (2008) - producer

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008) - producer

Kaal (2005) - producer

Paheli (2005) - producer

Chalte Chalte (2003) - producer

Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani (2000) - producer