LOVE ME LIKE YOU DO, SHAH RUKH KHAN!

I remember watching Dil To Pagal Hai and going gaga over Shah Rukh Khan. I have to, however, admit that I’m not his biggest fan and neither am I a diehard romantic. But, come to think of every scene where he’s seen serenading Madhuri Dixit, I can only think of one way to describe him—heart of my hearts and king of my dreams. And this is for the times when my heart is made of mush and not veins, and dreams made of candy and anything sweet. Basically, that time I’m talking about has to be mushy.

So you know what I’m getting at it now? Mush is to Khan what Nutella is to bread. It’s been a couple of years that I last saw Dil To Pagal Hai and I can still say with utmost confidence that I wouldn’t have another actor do what he did in the film.

Then of course, why should we stop at just that one film. Let’s talk Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge or Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Those movies remind you of only aspect of the actor’s stupendous career—he might or might not be everyone’s favourite, but he’s definitely everyone’s favourite romantic. Everyone becomes a hopeless romantic when the screens light up with Khan’s dimpled charisma and face. And well, he should continue doing that.

At the cost of sounding blunt and a bit rude to all the SRK fans out there, I personally thought his last couple of outings as non-romantic heroes (a hero nevertheless) had not been quite up to the mark. Let’s take Dilwale, Raees, Happy New Year and Fan for example. I’ll be lying if I say that I know how little money they made in comparison to other ‘mushy’ movies he’s done, but I sure as hell am confident when I say that people probably related more to him in Kal Ho Na Ho than they did in Raees. It’s a fact. Many ardent fans probably want to burn me alive because “he’s their favourite actor and they connect with him all the time”. But let’s face it, SRK was meant for love and mush. He was meant to be in every scene where there are flowers and hearts, and maybe guns and blood as long as it’s for love.

We need him to love through and through. In movies like Chennai Express, for example, SRK didn’t quite realise that there was a woman by his side and that maybe, just maybe, he was in love with her while trying to protect her. Noo! We wanted him to be aware of the fact all through. Didn’t we? I did, at least.

Remember ‘aadmi ka sar sirf teen auraton ke saamne jhukta hai’? In Kuch Kuch Hota Hai when SRK goes to Rani Mukherjee’s room to tell her he’s going to bow in front of her because she’s the love of his life—it still makes me go weak in my knees.  Or if you refresh your memory, the ‘aur paas’ in Dil To Pagal Hai. Oh My God! And of course, our ideal #relationshipgoals, twenty years hence, are still falling into the arms of our lover in a mustard field, like Kajol walked into SRK’s open arms.

You can’t go wrong there can you? No you can’t. but you can go wrong when SRK is being a misogynist, crass talker in movies like Happy New Year or being a delusional part of himself in Fan. You’re not going to dream about him then. But you will dream about mustard fields and open arms.

SRK is this—he is the person who makes people fall in love with the idea of falling in love. He is also the person who makes people accept heartbreak. And that, dear reader, is a huge, huge plus for an actor. And to say that he’s been doing it (off and on) for more than 20 years is a feat in itself. And that man can rage for another 20, if not 30.

Now for the other side of the argument that some of you might give me. What about the dangerous lover that he was in Darr? Or SRK as the sort of person he was in Baazigar? Or the innocent, yet (at times) lying lover boy in Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na. Well, again, at the cost of people hating me, I still took back SRK with me. He loved dangerously, but he loved with passion. He killed for love, but everything’s fair in love and war for some people right? Not justifying killing or hurting here, but it is Shah Rukh. Nobody can love like SRK and that’s a fact. When eyes start going minuscule and his forehead turns into a million creases, you know exactly what being rejected by your one, true love means. And when he flashes his dimples, and sheds a tear of happiness you know exactly what it means to be hopelessly and die-hard in love.

So, dear SRK, you might need range. You might feel the need to ‘explore’ and expand. But continue loving. And love as much as you can. For a non-romantic like me, I equated you to Nutella on bread. I’m sure there are many others like me.

I’ll sign off, with lots of love to you.