In the name of forty-six: a closed letter to all Shahrukh fans

Shahrukh! OMG! You can’t contain it in words. Those eyes of love, loneliness, longing, need, fear, hate and jealousy; that face with a thousand honest expressions, as if possessed, transmits exactly what he wants; that intensity of movements, which would make any melody sound good; that baritone of his voice, wavering, stopping and rising in perfect synchronicity with his majestic face; the fluffy mane of his past, which you would otherwise make fun of, but as noble and pure and honest as his smile. You can’t describe the Colosseum to someone who is blind, you can’t describe an orgasm to someone who is a virgin, and you can’t describe Shahrukh to someone who is not Shahrukhism. Shahrukh is not just a cinema; It’s much more than that. Sachin is not just a cricketer and the Beatles are not just a band. Better actors may come, but no one will ever replicate Shahrukh. As if nobody replied to Sachin and the Beatles. He can die with his legs in the air and it will look good. He can romance a cow on screen and it will look good. He can be knocked to the ground and he will look good. He can wear the most heinous clothes and perform the most heinous deeds, but with his alchemical touch, all that he is will be gold. He can be a loser and a failure, and you will love him.

You don’t need to write good roles for him, you don’t need to write good dialogues for him, you don’t need to design good clothes for him, you don’t need to create good songs for him; at the end of the day, it will be Shahrukh who will enact them, it will be Shahrukh who will speak those lines, it will be Shahrukh who will wear those clothes, and it will be Shahrukh who will be dancing with them. He will be the center of attention, in perfect control of everything around him. It’s easy to be a good actor. Really is. But it is impossible to be a Shahrukh. Try to fill in for someone in any shot of Shahrukh and you’ll know what I’m talking about (Hell! You can’t chase bad guys in a rickshaw or haggle to buy a watermelon for the leading lady and still look so cool!). Shahrukh can achieve anything and make it happen; make it believable. Sharukh always strikes the right strings. When you see it, you own it; you think it’s all yours; she is someone who would like to be his father, she is someone who would like to be his brother and she is someone who would like to be his son. Shahrukh is believable. Shahrukh is great. Portraying the fallacies and weakness of an ordinary man can only be Shahrukh’s forte. And he is magical at it.

Shahrukh off screen is an equal delight. While the rest of the fraternity can get nothing more than a chuckle from him as he looks goofy and upset, Shahrukh knows, every time, what he’s talking about. Super smart would be an understatement. He has wits that are genuine, and he has words that make others look illiterate. His brain and his reactions work at the speed of light, and yet everything he says will make sense and have the right mix of philosophy, humor and sarcasm. He has what all of his peers lack: presence of mind. He is the true showman off the screen. You may hate his performances, but you’ll overdo it if you hate him as a person.

Shahrukh isn’t perfect, and I wouldn’t have liked it if he had been. His imperfections are his charm, as is Sachin’s vulnerability in his nineties. He adds to his amazement. It’s like wondering for a moment how beautiful Michelangelo’s Pietà would have been without those broken pieces, and then thinking that the broken pieces actually add to the beauty of the sculpture. Shahrukh never gave his best; he always gasps you for more. I doubt he’s excited to give it his all even in his swan song rendition. Shahrukh is not about details, you have to appreciate the big picture. It is a painting that you cannot absorb in a single view. You want to watch it over and over again.

An actor should be judged solely on the basics of his performances on the big screen. Not on the basis of awards, accolades, fans and box office. His personal life and his background should be nobody’s business. But if you still want to use such parameters for Shahrukh, let him do his own math.

Shahrukh’s success is the success of an ordinary man. And it’s the only reason you can hate him. It is a success that we all dream of, but that is hardly achieved. Yeah, people wonder how a mediocre guy who comes from nowhere can take the whole world by storm. ALL THE WORLD! This observation fuels jealousy and hatred. You wonder what it is about him that took him so high. He makes you feel restless. Shahrukh is a winner any day. He is not an underdog. People love it when underdogs perform. And unfortunately, all of his fellow underdogs have been shockingly incompetent and that again is Shahrukh’s fault. When his teammates have a short-lived success, they are acclaimed and no one remembers his big serial failures of the past. Shahrukh’s success is taken for granted, but his failures are shelved and mocked more intensely. Even in his success, points of failure will be sought. When his peers promote their projects by giving public haircuts and riding rickshaws around the country dressed as pranksters, they are praised as innovators; when Shahrukh beats them, it’s just shameless marketing. When movies without a story are successful and shirts rip themselves, they’re cult classics; but each of Shahrukh’s films is poignantly analyzed in the balance of logic. A sixty-year-old bald actor with his antics is a demigod on screen, but they never stop counting the wrinkles on Shahrukh’s forehead who, unlike his peers, thanks to his injuries, cannot help Botox to look young. .

They have tried everything possible to match their success. Some have tried to pretend to be ‘different’ and act as the ‘art house’ of Hindi cinema (it certainly works, because people also need to fake their elitism by pretending they like that ‘art’). Others are desperately finding solace in remaking southern hits from shot to shot. May everyone be successful. They need all those tactics because they are all mechanical and inexpressive. They are all insecure and it is noticeable how difficult it must be for them to stand their ground. But it was Shahrukh who first changed the laws of cinema when he started. He made the audience believe that heroes can be mean, heroes can cry, and heroes don’t need to flex their muscles all the time. No matter what anyone else says, Shahrukh changed all the conventions, truly as Hindi cinema’s first iconoclast. Shahrukh is the reference point of everything. All achievements in Hindi cinema are and will always be compared to Shahrukh’s! Is there anything else to say?

Shahrukh is called shallow because he wants to have all the money in this world. Unfortunately, he does not accept the morality that we impose on him. But thank God he’s not pretentious. Thank goodness he doesn’t support Medha Patkar’s causes without really understanding what they are about (only to run away later when her movie screenings are vandalized and stopped). Thank God he’s not supporting Anna’s campaign just because. We did not see it when the Olympic torch arrived in the country. He doesn’t belong there. But he is always in the places where he belongs, and he challenged the so-called tiger in his “own lair” while reiterating his statement of support for Pakistani cricketers. Shahrukh is shallow because he doesn’t care what people think of him. He works day and night so that he can have enough money when he is old and weak. He is an artist who now seeks commerce over aestheticism, who now prefers glamor and indulgence to abstinence. He is the Indian god of hedonism. All hedonists hate it for the same reason. Because he is excelling at it.

Millions of people around the world can’t be wrong. Respect their judgements. And no one can argue that his name has transcended the barriers of nations, languages ​​and religion like no one else. It is, it is difficult and it is beyond the imagination of most of us, the following of fans that he enjoys abroad. He is arguably the most recognized living Indian man in the world. The world knows only his face. But even if he hadn’t achieved all of this, he would have been just as charismatic.

For me, cinema is nothing more than Shahrukh. I have cried and laughed with him every time. She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs when he was next to Mannat. I, unfortunately, do not understand any other actor. I have tried, really, over and over again, but I have failed. But I’m sure they’re all good. But I just don’t understand them. And it’s okay if you don’t get Shahrukh. Yes, each of you has your own taste in cinema. You may hate him to the core. You can make fun of everything he is. You may think that he is ugly and not a hero in the Indian cinema sense. I would understand all that, but still it’s a shame that you never experience the variety of emotions that we followers of Shahrukhism experience every time we see it. Shahrukhism is not an elite cult, but it’s still a shame you don’t belong to it. And more pity that you cannot convert to Shahrukhism because if you are not in it, you cannot be in it. And those who belong to it will know what I’m talking about. For the rest, this post will mean nothing more than a sentimental anthem, a drama, a joke? To rest, all in the name of Shahrukh Khan, he has promised to entertain us as long as he lives. The landmark may say forty-six, but imagine abhi baki hai mere dost… (The show is not over yet…)