Shah Rukh Khan at 57: ‘King undefeated’, says trade as it weighs on superstar’s comeback with Pathaan, Dunki and Jawan

It won’t be a stretch to say that Shah Rukh Khan–despite being absent from a full-length film role for four years, battling targeted online hate and coming from a decade of mostly underwhelming box office reception –is still the last king standing.
The superstar, who celebrates his 57th birthday today, was last seen on the big screen in Aanand L Rai’s ambitious 2018 feature Zero, where he played a dwarf, who takes a journey to Mars to prove his love. The film’s poor box office collection, which came on the heels of consecutive failures, forced Khan to take a sabbatical.

Four years later, Khan seems to have rebooted himself. He is now expected to rise up to his larger-than-life stardom, raring to strike gold with his films starting next year with an enviable lineup that includes the big scale actioner Pathaan, filmmaker Atlee’s high-octane masala movie Jawan and Rajkumar Hirani’s social comedy drama Dunki. Pathaan’s teaser was released on November 2, the actor’s birthday.

According to multiple industry sources spoke to, even in the last decade when Khan’s career hit a stubborn low, he was far from out. “I feel positive that brand Shah Rukh Khan will be revived. You cannot write off a superstar like Shah Rukh so easily,” trade analyst Komal Nahta shares.
Of course, Zero’s failure made Khan reconsider his approach, he never intended to engineer a gap of more than four years at the movies. Pathaan, the first film he signed post Zero, was delayed first due to the pandemic and then later after his son Aryan was arrested in a drug related case the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) last year. The NCB later cleared Aryan Khan, pointing to “lack of sufficient evidence”.
“The gap doesn’t mean he has forgotten his craft, or his charm got out of the window. Shah Rukh, in fact, will strike back in such a major way that perhaps even he can’t imagine,” Nahta adds.
The first film Khan will return to screen with is Yash Raj Films’ Pathaan. The spy thriller is helmed Siddharth Anand and also stars Deepika Padukone and John Abraham. Pathaan, already one of the most awaited films of 2023, will enjoy a solo release on January 25.

According to trade observer Himesh Mankad, the unforeseen gap, during which Shah Rukh remained largely absent from the public eye, has made people anticipate him a lot more. Today, a Shah Rukh Khan film appearance feels like an unmissable event.
“With Shah Rukh, what has worked the best is that less is more. He has kept himself away from the media, from public appearances, so there is a genuine intrigue in people to see Shah Rukh Khan now. They can see him only on the big screen when Pathaan releases. It is a great way to revive the brand. The anticipation now is sky-high,” Mankad shares.
For Shah Rukh, who was riding on a high till 2010, last decade was perhaps his toughest. While he delivered his career’s biggest hit with 2013 comedy Chennai Express–earning more than Rs 200 crore in India–every other film underperformed. He started the decade with his ambitious superhero film Ra.One, which bombed at the box office. His other films, Don 2, Jab Tak Hai Jaan, Happy New Year, Dilwale, Jab Harry Met Sejal and Zero fell short on expectations.
For Shah Rukh, redemption was the key and Mankad believes he appears to have done it quite well. “The pandemic break only benefited him as the wait got longer. He is one of the biggest superstars of Indian cinema. When there is so much curiosity, when there is such a huge gap, it automatically builds your brand.”

Industry sources say that the reasons why Shah Rukh films in the last decade didn’t fire at the box office was because they were not designed as big scale, crowd-pullers unlike his future lineup. He did work with acclaimed directors, from Imtiaz Ali to Aanand L Rai, but they added little to his stardom. All hopes are now pinned on Siddharth Anand, Atlee and Rajkumar Hirani to revive Khan’s box office glory.
“Shah Rukh’s choices seem to be good. Pathaan is looking like an exciting film, he is doing Jawan with Atlee, who is a phenomenal director and then there is Rajkumar Hirani. So, has selected very cleverly. Of course, rest is up to the audience but from his side, he has selected good projects,” Nahta adds.
According to Mankad, actors taking breaks is not unheard of, but few have returned to cinemas with such wide-spread anticipation as Khan. “ planning your lineup such as this, you definitely live up to the expectations of the audience. Otherwise, you can stay away from the screen for so long and come up with a film that no one is excited about.
“If he had stayed away from the screen and returned with something like a Jab Harry Met Sejal, that would have been different. Pathaan is a smart choice. He is coming up with films that would justify his stardom, his aura. He is stronger than ever before. In terms of the positioning, this is the strongest Shah Rukh has been in the last ten years, despite coming off an uneven phase.”
According to Nahta, Shah Rukh has nearly Rs 500 crore riding on him with Pathaan, Jawan and Dunki, not taking into account his endorsements or the projects under his home production. Nahta says Khan “still inspires confidence in the trade.”
“People are waiting with bated breath for Pathaan, his first release. There is no other film coming on that day, which means they want to steer clear of Shah Rukh, obviously,” he adds.