Having been honoured with various epithets like ‘King Of Bollywood’, ‘King Of Romance’ and ‘Baadshah of Indian Cinema”, India’s numero uno star Shah Rukh Khan has beguiled us with his impeccable performances year on year ever since he forayed into the entertainment industry.
Each year on his birthday, huge crowds throng outside his Mumbai residence, waiting to get a glimpse of the birthday boy who has come to define and preoccupy the zeitgeist of Indian cinema.
For over 25 years, SRK has reigned the hearts of the world through his myriad roles with unflinching regularity. His evergreen charm and panache has reeled in generations; right from five-year-olds to 55-year-olds, courtesy of his body of work that is spilled across the Indian landscape like a red wine.
Be it the 90’s, when he burst onto television sets as a charming soldier in the series ‘Fauji’ or when he aced a charming lover boy in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ) or when he played a psycho anti-hero in movies like Darr and Baazigar, he’s been a darling of the masses. Characterised by intense honey-dew eyes, S-shaped eyebrows, adorable dimples and that eponymous arm-spreading pose that has us drooling, SRK is also the most 3-D scanned superstar in the history of cinema.
His contribution to cinema is not limited to acting as he has played a significant role in bestowing on India some of the most unfathomable VFX-marvels which we had never imagined we’d ever be treated to. His impetus to the incorporation of advanced technologies which led to setting up of the VFX-wing (redchillies.vfx) of his production house is testament to the limits this middle-class boy from Delhi’s Rajendra Nagar area had the gall to push in a bid to churn out world-class content.
The superstar had a life-long dream to produce a visually stunning science fiction or superhero film which spurred him on to envision a world-class special effects studio 12 years ago in 2006.
On the occasion of his 55th birthday, let us check out some of the films in which he mesmerised the audience. Here are the VFX heavy movies that SRK floored us by:-
Paheli
Retelling of the 1973 film Duvidha, Paheli tells the story of a woman who is left by her husband (SRK) and is visited by a ghost disguised as her husband. The ghost falls in love with the woman. The film was the opening act at the ninth Zimbabwe International Film Festival. It was India’s official entry to the 79th Academy Awards as well. Most notably, the movie also showed how redchillies.vfx deployed the seamless images to portray the supernatural elements with the help of Houdini, laying down the seminal work and blueprint on which Indian cinema learnt what could be achieved through visual effects in their stories.
Main Hoon Na
Shah Rukh Khan played an undercover army officer in the movies with a range of VFX-heavy action-filled scenes. The film also stars Sushmita Sen, Zayed Khan and Amrita Rao in lead roles. He was tasked with helping release civilians and captives on either side of the India–Pakistan border. The movie featured some of the most breathtaking action scenes made possible by redchillies.vfx. Ranging from explosions to bullets to chroma screens, the movie is an absolute visual extravaganza.
Don
Shah Rukh Khan who plays Vijay, a lookalike of criminal kingpin Don, is hired by DCP D’Silva in order to find Don’s secrets. But after D’Silva dies, Vijay struggles to reveal his real identity. Right from explosions to digital doubles to action-scenes, this movie truly portrayed the menace of the criminal kingpin with brilliant screenplay and visual effects. The admiration meted out to the movie was rewarded with a sequel. SRK played the crime lord like a true boss, making the movie a huge success.
Ra.One
Helmed by Anubhav Sinha, Ra.One featured Khan in double roles, one as a superhero G One and another as a game designer. The actor went for prosthetic makeup and donned a difficult superhero suit specially designed for the movie. This movie laid down the foundations of what Indian superheroes movies could look like with the help of tier-3 visual effects deployed by redchillies.vfx. Ra.One remains one of India’s first VFX-heavy superhero movies that explored the range of effects that we hadn’t seen in the past, thanks to SRK’s undying spirit of filmmaking and largesse.
Fan
Shah Rukh Khan played a lookalike fan who was crazily obsessed with the star, again played by SRK in Fan. Gaurav (SRK) bears an uncanny resemblance to Aryan Khanna (SRK), which helps him win a local talent show impersonating his favourite star. He goes to Mumbai to meet Aryan. When another actor says unpleasant things about Aryan to the press, Gaurav beats him up and makes him apologise. Aryan gets him arrested and humiliates him, telling him that he isn’t a true fan. Enraged, Gaurav swears revenge. This movie is India’s successful experiment with digital doubles and de-ageing where you see some high-quality and pioneering work done in how SRK was de-aged to look like a teenager with proper body scans. Right from rooftop chase scenes to action to digital double technology, redchillies.vfx set a benchmark by making possible what had hardly even been tried in Indian cinema before.
Zero
Zero was an ambitious VFX-rich project that revolved around a dwarf whose ambitions knew no limit. SRK played a dwarf which was made possible by redchillies.vfx and they managed to shrink him successfully on celluloid; an unprecedented feat in the Indian cinema again, making Zero a veritable case study for VFX artists all around the world. The visual effects of this movie were so mind-blowing that even experts from Hollywood were in disbelief until redchillies.vfx released a breakdown to depict how they delivered this impossible-looking imagery. Shah Rukh Khan’s portrayal of a dwarf is nothing short of spectacular.
His boyish charm, pervasive energy, undying zeal for cinema and his ability to wow the audience are what deservedly makes SRK the greatest superstar in the world.