Shah Rukh Khan’s First Ever Film Idiot — A Masterpiece That Never Reached Theatres

By Sharad Rai

Among Shah Rukh Khan’s fans, there has always been debate about which film marked his big-screen debut. Some claim it was Hema Malini’s Dil Aashna Hai, while others insist it was Deewana opposite Divya Bharti. Shah Rukh himself has always remained silent on the topic (“Let whoever wants take the credit!”).

However, it’s worth noting that after his television success with Fauji and Circus, the first feature film made with Shah Rukh Khan was Mani Kaul’s Idiot — a film that never saw a theatrical release but became a favorite at film festivals.

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Shah Rukh Khan’s 1991 Film Idiot Earned Critical Acclaim Abroad

Idiot was made in 1991, featuring Shah Rukh Khan, Ayub Khan-Din, Mita Vashisht, Pushpa Verma, and Imam Khan. It was screened at the New York Film Festival in October 1992, where it received critical acclaim. But since there was no widespread media, news channels, or social media back then, and because art films rarely got theatrical runs in those days, it remained largely unseen by the public.

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Then, in June 1992, Deewana was released — a massive hit that became known as Shah Rukh Khan’s first film. Hema Malini’s Dil Aashna Hai had started shooting earlier but released only after Deewana.

Mani Kaul: The Visionary Who Shaped SRK’s ‘Idiot’

Mani Kaul was known as a pioneer of art cinema and the Indian New Wave. Idiot was a thought-provoking, realistic film based on Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel The Idiot. In the story, the protagonist, played by Shah Rukh Khan, suffers from epilepsy and is ridiculed by those around him. Mita Vashisht and Pushpa Verma also played significant roles.

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Most of the film was shot at the Films Division campus in Mumbai, recalls actress Pushpa Verma, who has played character roles in numerous films and recently appeared as Dinesh Lal Yadav (Nirahua)’s grandmother in a Bhojpuri film. She remembers:

“Shah Rukh was a different kind of young man then — charming and full of life. He would always smile and joke with everyone. He once asked me, ‘Can I call you sister?’ That innocence and charm — I never saw that again in his later films.”

Idiot had a runtime of 2 hours and 45 minutes (165 minutes). It premiered at the New York Film Festival, and later at the 24th International Film Festival of India (Delhi, 1993). Interestingly, Doordarshan also released it in 1991 as a four-part mini-series.

In 2016, it was screened again at the MAMI Film Festival under the title Ahmaq (meaning “Idiot”). The film was written by Anup Singh, Hemendra Bhatia, and Rajeev Kumar, with music by Vikram Jogalekar. Mani Kaul, a master of realism, never viewed Idiot as a commercial film — nor did he see Shah Rukh as a “star” or “hero.”

And yet, today, as Shah Rukh Khan turns 60, one might ask — who could have imagined that the lead actor of Mani Kaul’s 1991 film Idiot would one day become the undisputed ‘King’ of Bollywood?

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