BIRTHDAY SPECIAL: EK DILWAALA AUR USKI DIL BEHLAANE VAALI KUCH BAATEIN ... LI PETER JOHN 

I have often tried to find out what the perfect formula to be successful is and I still have to find an answer, but I will not stop going on looking for the formula. Is it only talent? Is it only hard work? Is it only the passion to pursue a goal? Is it just sincerity? Or is it sheer luck or the hand of destiny that works wonders and miracles?

I have tried to find what the formula has been for the consistent success of Shahrukh Khan, the man whose success has been so powerful that his admirers now tend to almost forget his original name and have started calling him Badshah Khan, King Khan, the King of hearts and the king of romance ( Dilwaala). But as I have been watching his success for the last fourteen years, I feel there is only one formula that has worked for him and that is the unique ability to be rooted to the ground, be humble, and show genuine love for those who love him and even those who don't. In this piece, I would like to make my observations about his rising to the heights he has reached and shows no signs of slipping in spite of all the odds sprinkled and thrown in his path...

There have been very few times when he has forgotten his not-so-comfortable past. He has never forgotten the life he and his little family had to live in the early years. He has kept talking about his learned father Taj Mohammad Khan who he once said was a master at six major languages, had a post-graduate degree in law, and even had a political background but couldn't make any headway in life and he has always told people about how his father didn't want to practice law because he didn't know and didn't want to lie. He remembers the time when his father once asked him what he was planning to do in life and when he (Shahrukh) said Kuch nahi, his father smiled and said, Jo kuch nahi karte voh kamaal karte hain. Shahrukh has never forgotten the pain of losing his father when he was 10 and losing his mother when he was 20 and how their early deaths had affected him and made him more sensitive and more responsible. He had taken over the responsibility of not only bringing himself up but also taking care of his elder sister Shehnaaz who had not been keeping very good health for years. It must be mentioned here that Shahrukh loses no opportunity to ask his fans to find time to spend with their parents and once in a way tell them how much they love them. He has gone on record to say that no child who sees his parents unhappy can ever be happy.

SRK has always been a very grateful human being. I remember that night when he had won his first Filmfare award for Baazigar and how he had lifted his trophy to the sky and said," Mother, this is for you". And then drove straight to Mohammad Ali Road in the middle of the night to celebrate his win with his director, Abbas -Mastaan.

He has also been grateful to all those who helped him during his struggling days and if one gets a chance to listen to him tell stories about the tough times he had to face, it can surely bring tears to the most hardened heart and can even bring tears flowing down, but he has always tried to keep his struggle story away from the limelight and has only focussed on his work and has always wanted his work to speak for him.

He could have been branded as a villain after he had done films like Baazigar, Anjaam, Deewaana, and Darr, but he worked very hard to break the bond he was being tied into and finally flew free and found his new flight to reach the sky of romance and that is where he has been ruling for the last so many years.

He has worked with the maximum number of young actresses, but not once in all these years has he been linked with any girl and is called "a boring star" by the gossip press and even by some of his own heroines. For him, romance is what he has been having with his wife Gauri and real-life romance stops for him with Gauri. Reel love is only a part of his profession and he does it very well.

I have seen stars come and go and I have closely observed how they have tried their best or even worse to keep their wives and children away from all the glamour, glitz, and glory in the strange sheer that the big wild world of Bollywood can harm or hurt them. But in Shahrukh's case, it has been so very different. His family comes first for him and that is why he always gives all the credit to his wife Gauri for all that he is and all that his children, Suhana, Aryan, and AbRam. And he is perhaps one father who keeps track of all that his children want to do, wishes to do, or will do in the future. Right now, he is more involved with the career of Suhana who has told him very emphatically that she would like to make a career in films.

If Shahrukh is what he is today, it is because of his very close and personal links with his entire staff which runs into thousands of men and women working in different departments of his empire Red Chillies Entertainment.

There have been attempts made to tarnish his image, but his foundations have been so strong that no attempt made to diminish him in any way has succeeded and he is perhaps one big megastar who is untouched and unrivaled in spite of all that has been said about him, written about him or done to him.

There are many other arguments I can present to let the world know how different this superstar is, but as I say again and again, if he had not shown how very human he was when I met with that accident exactly four years ago, I could have been six feet down four years ago. And I am not the only one who has benefitted from the big heart (Dilwale), there are hundreds of others who depend on him personally and his many foundations and trusts that touch people and their lives at every level. That is perhaps why people of all religions pray for him, his family, and hai company. I have and I swear that I have still to hear anyone speaking ill about this king and I believe that if he has not changed now when he is 55 years old, I don't think he will ever change.

I was walking outside Yashraj studios last evening and I could see the excitement all around on making inquiries, I was told that Shahrukh Khan was to start shooting for his new film "Pathan" the next morning and he was going to be back at the studios after more than three years after his last film "zero" failed to impress his fans who had always expected him to be more than an actor or a star but someone who had descended from the sky to bring joy and unlimited entertainment and love into their lives.

Will Pathan usher in a new era of entertainment in Hindi cinema? It is only Shahrukh, the king of entertainment who can answer this tricky question because only he knows what he will do now to win back his admirers and how he will do it, and then the prayers and blessings of his millions of admirers from all over the world are with him.