Recently there have been rumors that the Khans no longer have the superstar pull for their movies. It is backed by the string on flops all 3 khans have given recently. Thugs Of Hindostan (Amir Khan), Race ( Salman Khan ) Zero ( SRK).
So here are my thoughts on SRK and the paradox surrounding him.
SRK as we all know is the poster boy for the romantic hero and the Box office is the proof for the same. Right from Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa to Kal Ho Na Ho, all his romantic films were blockbuster. But there was always an opinion about SRK that he never tries different roles and just sticks to his romantic Genre.
I guess somewhere at the back of his mind SRK too wanted to do roles other than romantic. And for the same reason, he took some extreme roles like Ashoka, Ra-one, Paheli, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, Fan & recent one being Zero. All these films although different didn’t go well with his core audience and hence these films were average at box office.
SRK even tried his hand in action movies like One two ka four, Dilwale, Don, Don 2 but apart from the Don series all of them were box office dud.
So why don’t SRK’s nonromantic movies work?
First, let me tell you that SRK is no stranger to taking risky roles. His  1993 movies Darr and Baazigar were the polar opposite of Romantic character. He played a villain and Antihero ( imagine the risk he took in the year 1993 when the Indian audience were mostly interested in Bollywood formula movies ) and both of them were super successful at the box office.
Talking about risk SRK had given a nude scene in Mayamemsaab in 1993.
Let’s not go that far … even the 2007 Chak de India  SRK played the role of a failed sportsman who becomes a successful coach was played bloody well and it was a box office success. Also, 2004 Swades where he plays a Nasa engineer is again a nonromantic role and yet a box office success.
I think the problem lies in Directors putting more SRK in the character than the character itself. For example, when you watch Asoka, you still see Raj, not the king. In the movie Zero too, you see Less of Bua Singh as a character and more of SRK.
And that’s what makes the movie less appealing. Also, the audience has matured in India ( Stree, Andhadhun, Badhai ho being proof of that). I think SRK should focus on selecting a movie script that’s great in its entirety and not just his character.
Its a difficult paradox for a superstar to break as it is the mold that the star himself creates, but there is one person who has successfully broken it. That’s Akshay Kumar. He was a poster boy for action hero and the same paradox bit him hard when his Khiladi titled movies started doing terrible on box office. But then he completely reinvented himself as comedic hero in Hera- Pheri and then took story driven movies like Special 26, Baby and then social cause-themed movies like Toilet, Padman etc. he completely broke the paradox and mold and as of now does any and every movie that has a compelling story ( his upcoming movie Kesari too is looking like a box office breaker ) . And most of his movies do very well on the box office.
I strongly believe that SRK is one of the finest actor Bollywood has but he and the directors should keep the SRK trademark aside and let him mold into the character and role that the movie demands. If he breaks the paradox like Akshay, the superstar will be unstoppable.
