When Shah Rukh Khan’s friends and family made him an outcast after he became a star: ‘They ignored me, gave me dirty looks’

Shah Rukh Khan is a man of many talents. He is a movie star, yes, but he is also a great public speaker, and according to those who’ve attended his parties, a trememdous host. But once upon a time, he was also a column for DNA, who wrote about his life, career, stardom and family. In one of his columns from 2014, Shah Rukh wrote about the concept of loyalty, and what it means to him.
He recalled how, in the years immediately after he became a star, he was treated differently his own family. Some of them even refused to talk to him. He wrote, “Friends and even family started to ignore me at get-togethers and some even gave me dirty looks. I was at loss at this sudden change. Sometimes my insecurity made me feel that perhaps they are unhappy with my choice of films or roles! Later, I got to know the reason. Their explanation was always the same. You have changed a lot. Of course, I had.”

Shah Rukh continued, “From being a non-entity penniless, orphan I had become a household name. I had become rich and famous and above all extremely busy. I thought it should have made those who loved me proud, instead they were upset with me because they felt I had changed my ways with them. I was trying to harness the madness that had catapulted me into the stratosphere and make some meaning out of it. But most people didn’t understand that. Some thought I ‘ditched’ them and still believe so. As if I had calculated the entire episode and known all my life that I would become a big star and throw them the way side.”
Shah Rukh added that he ‘loved those people’, but perhaps too much water had flown under the bridge for them to behave like they did with each other. He stressed that even though the circumstances had changed, he hadn’t. Shah Rukh recalled what his father used to say about loyalty, and wrote, “My father taught me to stand the people I cared for, no matter what. Not because they were better than any others, but because I chose to care for them. In my heart this choice was like a life-long pact I made with myself. To stand for them meant to be true to the feeling in my heart. It required a certain tenacity of emotion.”
Shah Rukh turned 57 on Wednesday, and celebrated the moment with his fans. He greeted a large crowd that had gathered outside his house at midnight, and in the morning, debuted the first teaser of his upcoming film Pathaan. The action-thriller marks Shah Rukh’s return in a starring role after four years.