Shahrukh Khan, fondly called ‘King Khan’ or ‘Badshah of Bollywood’, is the biggest star of Indian cinema. His success story looks no less than a film script. Coming from a middle class family, without any film background, he ruled Bollywood with hard work, talent and passion. 2 November Shahrukh born in Delhi in 1965 His father, Taj Mohammad Khan, was a Pathan who came to Delhi from Peshawar and was a freedom fighter. He ran a small transport business. The mother, Latif Fatima, was the daughter of a magistrate and ran the household.

Shahrukh’s elder sister was Shehnaz Lalarukh. It was a middle class family, but a happy one. Shahrukh was fond of acting since childhood. While studying at St. Columbus School, he used to participate in plays and was the captain of the hockey team. He received the ‘Mel Ramnath Goenka Award’ in school. He graduated in Economics from Hansraj College, Delhi University, where he became the President of the Acting Society. Went to Jamia Millia Islamia for Masters in Mass Communication, but got drawn towards the film world.

no godfather

Father passed away from cancer in 1981, when Shahrukh was just 15 years old. Mother also passed away in 1991, these sorrows made her stronger. Left Delhi and came to Mumbai, where the struggle began. No godfather, only dreams and determination. After reaching Mumbai, Shahrukh started his career with TV. In 1989, he got the role of Lieutenant Abhimanyu Rai in Lekh Tandon’s series Fauji. This was his first big break, the series became a hit and Shahrukh became famous overnight. After this he did series like Circus (1989), Inkaar Ki Kahani and Umeed.

Amazing story of debut

On Shahrukh Khan’s 60th birthday, producer Vivek Vaswani shared an interesting incident from his early days. When Shahrukh was at the beginning of his career and was trying to get his first break in a metropolis like Mumbai, he used to live in Vivek Vaswani’s house. One day Hema Malini’s call came to Vivek’s house. Vivek’s father picked up the phone and asked, ‘Who is Hema Malini?’ When Hema ji gave her intro again, it was then understood that superstar Hema Malini was calling.

Dharmendra was sitting wearing lungi

Hema Malini asked, ‘Does that boy Shahrukh still live at your house? Then Vivek woke up Shahrukh and brought him on the call himself. Hema Malini called Shahrukh to her house at 5 pm. When Shahrukh and Vivek reached Hema Malini’s house, they were nervous. He did not immediately recognize a person reading the newspaper there, who later came to know that it was Dharmendra himself.

you are so ugly

Upon meeting, Hema Malini told Shahrukh, ‘But you are very ugly! When asked the reason why she wanted to cast Shahrukh, she told, ‘Aamir Khan and Salman Khan have refused for this role.’ To prove Shahrukh even better, Vivek Vaswani also said, ‘Rakesh Roshan and Ramesh Sippy have signed Shahrukh.’ Although this was not true, sometimes these small things are necessary to improve one’s career. Finally, Hema Malini decided that she would cast Shahrukh in her film ‘Dil Aashna Hai’ and asked to pay Rs 50,000. He already had stars like Jeetendra, Mithun Chakraborty, Dimple Kapadia, Amrita Singh, Kabir Bedi, but he gave a chance to newcomer Shahrukh.

‘Dil Aashna Hai’ and the real debut

Although ‘Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman’ is considered to be his first release film, but actually Shahrukh Khan first signed ‘Dil Aashna Hai’. This film was released in 1992, and Shahrukh’s big screen journey began with this film. Along with Shahrukh in the film, there were actors like Divya Bharti, Jitendra, Mithun Chakraborty, Dimple Kapadia and Amrita Singh.

king of romance

In 1995, Aditya Chopra’s Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ) came with Kajol in the role of Raj Malhotra, an NRI boy who has traditional values. The film broke records and ran in marquee cinemas for 20 years. Shahrukh got the title of ‘Romance King’. After this, films like ‘Dil To Pagal Hai’ (1997), ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ (1998), ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham’ (2001) became hits. Her pairing with Yash Chopra and Karan Johar was golden. Even his statue in Switzerland, SRK’s smile, arms spread pose and dialogue delivery made him a global icon.

Experimented in these films

Shahrukh did experiments in the 2000s, NASA scientist in ‘Swades’ (2004), ‘Chak De! Coach Kabir Khan in ‘India’ (2007) both critically acclaimed. Autistic person in ‘My Name is Khan’ (2010). But blockbusters like ‘Chennai Express’ (2013), ‘Happy New Year’ (2014) broke the box office. He became a producer and started Red Chillies Entertainment. Become the owner of IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders. He is in the billionaire list in Forbes. The 2010s saw some flops like ‘Fan’ (2016), ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’ (2017), but ‘Pathan’ (2023) made a comeback and joined the Rs 1000 crore club. ‘Jawaan’ (2023) and ‘Dinky’ (2023) proved that King Khan still rules. This year he received the first National Film Award in his career for Jawan.