18 Shah Rukh Khan Films That Made Him the King
Filmfare's birthday special traces SRK's journey through 18 films, from Baazigar and Darr to DDLJ, Chak De! India, Don and Raees.
Shah Rukh Khan’s birthday has once again turned film fans into a debating club. This year, Filmfare marked the day by looking back at 18 films, from Deewana (1992) to Raees (2017). It is not a ranking. It is an argument that the man we call the King of Romance built his crown on roles that should have made him the villain.
The list begins with a twist of fate. Hema Malini’s Dil Aashna Hai, released the same year, was meant to be Shah Rukh Khan’s debut. Deewana reached cinemas first, and a new generation of Hindi film leads arrived with it.
The anti-hero years did the heavy lifting
Before he was Raj, Shah Rukh Khan was Ajay Sharma in Baazigar (1993). The film, a loose remake of the Hollywood hit A Kiss Before Dying, cast him as a man seeking revenge for his father’s death, even if it meant murder. The list argues that this is where he became a star. In Darr (1993), Yash Chopra pushed the idea further: love as obsession, with a stutter—“K…K…K…Kiran”—that the youth picked up instantly. Filmfare notes that the anti-hero was a hard sell for Indian audiences until Shah Rukh broke that jinx.
Then he built the romantic template
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995) is the pivot. It is easy to forget how much it did at once: road-trip romance, family approval, Indian values, a touch of patriotism, and an album by Jatin-Lalit that still plays at weddings. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham… (2001) turned the Karan Johar style into an event. But the list refuses to let him settle there.
The range kept stretching
Swades (2004) replaced escapist fantasy with an NRI who returns to build self-sufficient villages. Chak De! India (2007) replaced the lover-boy with a disgraced coach and a “sattar minute” speech that allegedly found its way into B-schools. My Name Is Khan (2010) gave him Asperger’s syndrome and a post-9/11 America. Don (2006) and Raees (2017) brought back the edge—one a cold crime lord, the other a bootlegger with his own code.
A watchlist, not a countdown
If you want to use the list, here is a simple map:
- Start dark: Baazigar and Darr.
- Then go romantic: DDLJ and Dil To Pagal Hai.
- Watch the range: Chak De! India, My Name Is Khan and Raees.
- End with the experiments: Fan and Zero, where he goes far beyond the star image.
The throughline is that Shah Rukh Khan never let the audience keep him in one box. As fans wait for his next release, King, these 18 films are a reminder that the same man who made “Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahi, namumkin hai” sound like law also asked us to take a hockey team seriously. That range is the birthday gift.
Source: Filmfare
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