Copyright:indianexpress.com
Shahrukh Khan has won the national award for the best actor this year with Vikrant Massey. His movie Jawan was a big hit.
But Shahrukh Khan has been ruling the Bollywood industry for 33 years now.
He started his career with the movie Deewana, released in 1992, which featured him with the Late Divya Bharti.We bring to you the 5 most iconic movies of SRK, which are a must-watch for any Bollywood fan. The period from 1995-2007 was the golden period of Shahrukh’s career.
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge(1995)
Aditya Chopra directed Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge(1995). In this movie, Shahrukh Khan plays the spoiled son, Raj Malhotra, of a London Millionaire (Anupam Kher), and goes on a Eurotrip with his friends. He meets the character of Simran (Kajol), who has taken permission from her strict father(Amrish Puri) to be a part of this trip. She arrives late on this trip and is about to miss the train when Shahrukh holds out his hand to lift her onto the moving train. This is one of the most iconic scenes of the movie. They argue almost every day on the trip. One day, when Simran is checking out something at a Switzerland station, she misses the train to Zurich. Raj also misses the train. Together they have to arrive at the destination of Zurich to catch the train again. On their journey together, their opposing values clash. Raj is a modern guy, and Simran is a girl raised in a traditional house with no tolerance for nonsense. This movie is the longest-running movie, and although it was released in 1995, it ran at the Maratha Mandir cinema theatre for 25 years till 2020. This movie launched the legendary romantic pair of Shahrukh Khan and Kajol.They have been seen in other successful movies such as Kuch Kuch Hota Hai(1998),Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham(2001) and Dilwale(2015).
Pardes(1997)
This movie was released in 1997 and furthered Shahrukh Khan’s career as a romantic hero. He falls in love with the character of Mahima Choudhary(Ganga), who lives in India with her parents and is chosen as a bride for his son Rajiv by Amrish Puri’s character, Kailash, who is an American NRI. Arjun is the adopted son of Kailash. Shahrukh’s character, Arjun, befriends Ganga, and she considers him her confidante. In the end, when Kailash’s son, Rajiv(Apurva Agnihotri), tries to rape Ganga in Las Vegas, she hits him and flees to India with Arjun. Then, in the end, the truth about Rajiv’s character is revealed to his father and Mahima’s father(Alok Nath), and they cancel the marriage. The movie highlights the Indian values like celibacy before marriage and love and respect for the spouse. This movie was written and directed by Subhash Ghai and consisted of several melodious musical numbers.
Kal Ho Na Ho(2003)
Then in 2003, Shahrukh Khan gave a spectacular performance as Aman Mathur in Kal Ho Na Ho, who teaches how to live life to the hilt to the irascible character of Naina(Preity Zinta). Naina’s father committed suicide, and she lives in a dysfunctional family with her mother, Jenny(Jaya Bachchan), two siblings, one of whom is adopted, and her grandmother. Her grandmother and mother are squabbling all the time. The film had several hit musical numbers like It’s the Time to Disco and Kal Ho Na Ho. Saif Ali Khan also had a supporting role in the movie as Rohit Patel. The movie had a message: joie de vivre means to live the most till you die.
Swades(2004)
Shahrukh Khan gave an unforgettable performance in the movie Swades(2004). It highlights the problem of brain drain in India. Ashutosh Gowarikar directed this movie. Shahrukh Khan’s character Mohan Bhargava plays a NASA scientist who comes to India to meet his nanny, Kaveri Amma. Mohan settles down in India because he is deeply affected by the poverty of this country. The movie showed how a NASA engineer is happy fulfilling the dreams of villagers who want to get electricity in their village. Mohan has come up to India on leave from his office in the USA, but keeps extending his leave and decides to stay back.
Chak De India(2007)
The next iconic movie is Chak De India(2007), which is about a male hockey player Kabir Khan, played by Shahrukh who is maligned for making India lose a hockey match against Pakistan. Shah Rukh Khan’s character comes as a strict coach who tries to unite the female Indian players from diverse backgrounds. This movie was one of the biggest hits of Shahrukh Khan’s career.
Shahrukh Khan has also given some other hits, such as Kuch Kuch Hota Hai(1998), Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham(2001), Devdas(2002) and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi(2008).
