Khan was born in 1965 to
Muslim[6] parents of
Pathan descent in
New Delhi,
India.
[7] His father, Taj Mohammed Khan, was an
Indian independence activist from
Peshawar,
British India. According to Khan, his paternal grandfather was originally from
Afghanistan.
[8] His mother, Lateef Fatima, was the adopted daughter of
Major General Shah Nawaz Khan of the
Janjua Rajput clan, who served as a General in the
Indian National Army of
Subash Chandra Bose.
[9] Khan's father came to New Delhi from
Qissa Khawani Bazaar in
Peshawar before the
partition of India,
[10] while his mother's family came from
Rawalpindi, British India.
[11] Khan has an elder sister named Shehnaz.
[12]
Growing up in
Rajendra Nagar neighbourhood,
[13] Khan attended
St. Columba's School where he was accomplished in sports, drama, and academics. He won the
Sword of Honour, an annual award given to the student who best represents the spirit of the school. Khan later attended the
Hansraj College (1985–1988) and earned his Bachelors degree in
Economics (honors). Though he pursued a
Masters Degree in
Mass Communications at
Jamia Millia Islamia, he later opted out to make his career in
Bollywood.
[14]
After the death of his parents, Khan moved to
Mumbai in 1991.
[15] In that same year, before any of his films were released, he married
Gauri Chibber, a
Hindu, in a traditional
Hindu wedding ceremony on 25 October 1991.
[16] They have two children, son Aryan (b. 1997) and daughter Suhana (b. 2000). According to Khan, while he strongly believes in
Allah, he also values his wife's religion. At home, his children follow both religions, with the
Qur'an being situated next to the Hindu deities.
[17]
In 2005,
Nasreen Munni Kabir produced a two-part
documentary on Khan, titled
The Inner and Outer World of Shah Rukh Khan. Featuring his 2004 Temptations concert tour, the film contrasted Khan's inner world of family and daily life with the outer world of his work. The book
Still Reading Khan, which details his family life, was released in 2006. Another book by
Anupama Chopra,
King of Bollywood: Shahrukh Khan and the seductive world of Indian cinema, was released in 2007. It describes the world of Bollywood through Khan's life.
[18][19]
Film career
Background
Khan studied acting under celebrated Theatre Director
Barry John at Delhi's Theatre Action Group (TAG). In 2007, John commented thus on his former pupil that, "The credit for the phenomenally successful development and management of Shahrukh's career goes to the superstar himself."
[20] Khan made his acting debut in 1988 when he appeared in the television series,
Fauji, playing the role of Commando Abhimanyu Rai.
[21] He went on to appear in several other television serials, most notably in the 1989 serial,
Aziz Mirza's
Circus, which depicted the life of circus performers.
[22] The same year, Khan also had a minor role in the
made-for-television English-language film,
In Which Annie Gives it Those Ones, which was based on life at Delhi University and was written by
Arundhati Roy.
1990s
Upon moving from New Delhi to
Mumbai in 1991,
[23] Khan made his Bollywood movie debut in
Deewana (1992). The movie became a box office hit, and launched his career in Bollywood.
[24] His performance won him a
Filmfare Best Male Debut Award. He went on to star in
Maya Memsaab, which generated some controversy because of his appearance in an "explicit" sex scene in the movie.
[25]
In 1993, Khan won acclaim for his performances in villainous roles as an obsessive lover and a murderer, respectively, in the box office hits,
Darr and
Baazigar.
[26] Darr marked his first collaboration with renowned film-maker
Yash Chopra and his banner
Yash Raj Films, the largest production company in Bollywood.
Baazigar, which saw Khan portraying an ambiguous avenger who murders his girlfriend, shocked its Indian audience with an unexpected violation of the standard Bollywood formula.
[27] His performance won him his first
Filmfare Best Actor Award. In that same year, Khan played the role of a young musician in
Kundan Shah's
Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa, a performance that earned him a
Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance. Khan maintains that this is his all-time favourite among the movies he has acted in.
[28] In 1994, Khan once again played an obsessive lover/psycho's role in
Anjaam, co-starring alongside
Madhuri Dixit. Though the movie was not a box office success, Khan's performance earned him the
Filmfare Best Villain Award.
[29]
In 1995, Khan starred in
Aditya Chopra's directorial debut
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, a major critical and commercial success, for which he won his second Filmfare Best Actor Award.
[30] In 2007, the film entered its twelfth year in
Mumbai theaters. By then the movie had grossed over 12
billion rupees, making it as one of India's biggest movie blockbusters.
[31] Earlier in the same year he found success in
Rakesh Roshan's
Karan Arjun which became the second biggest hit of the year.
1996 was a disappointing year for Khan as all his movies released that year failed to do well at the box office.
[32] This was, however, followed by a comeback in 1997. He saw success with
Subhash Ghai's social drama
Pardes — one of the biggest hits of the year — and
Aziz Mirza's comedy
Yes Boss, a moderately successful feature.
[33] His second project with
Yash Chopra as a director,
Dil to Pagal Hai became that year's second highest-grossing movie, and he won his third
Filmfare Best Actor Award for his role as a stage director who falls in love with one of his new actresses.
[33]
In 1998, Khan starred in
Karan Johar's directorial debut,
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, which was the biggest hit of the year.
[34] His performance won him his fourth Best Actor award at the
Filmfare. He won critical praise for his performance in
Mani Ratnam's
Dil Se. The movie did not do well at the Indian box office, though it was a commercial success overseas.
[35] Khan's only release in 1999,
Baadshah, was an average grosser.
[36]
2000s
Khan's success continued with
Aditya Chopra's 2000 film,
Mohabbatein, co-starring
Amitabh Bachchan. It did well at the box office, and Khan's performance as a college teacher won him his second
Critics Award for Best Performance. He also starred in
Mansoor Khan's action film
Josh. The film starred Khan as the leader of a Christian gang in
Goa and
Aishwarya Rai as his twin sister, and was also a box office success.
[37] In that same year, Khan set up his own production house,
Dreamz Unlimited with
Juhi Chawla (
see below). Both Khan and Chawla starred in the first movie of their production house,
Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani.
[37] His work with
Karan Johar continued as he collaborated on the family drama
Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham which was the second biggest hit of the year. He also received favorable reviews for his performance as Emperor
Asoka in the historical epic,
Asoka, a partly fictionalised account of the life of Ashoka the Great (
304 BC–
232 BC).
[38]
In 2002, Khan received acclaim for playing the title role in
Sanjay Leela Bhansali's award-winning period romance,
Devdas. It was the third Hindi movie adaptation of
Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay's well-known novel
of the same name, and surfaced as one of the biggest hits of that year.
[39] Khan also starred opposite
Salman Khan and
Madhuri Dixit in the family-drama
Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam, which did well at the box office.
[39] In 2003, Khan starred in the moderately successful romantic drama,
Chalte Chalte.
[40] That same year, he starred in the tearjerker,
Kal Ho Naa Ho, written by Karan Johar and directed by
Nikhil Advani. Khan's performance in this movie as a man with a fatal heart disease was appreciated. The movie proved to be one of the year's biggest hits in India and Bollywood's biggest hit in the overseas markets.
[40]
2004 was a particularly good year for Khan, both commercially and critically. He starred in
Farah Khan's directorial debut, the comedy
Main Hoon Na. The movie did well at the box office. He then played the role of an Indian officer, Veer Pratap Singh in
Yash Chopra's love saga
Veer-Zaara, which was the biggest hit of 2004 in both India and overseas.
[41] The film relates the love story of Veer and Pakistani woman Zaara Haayat Khan, played by
Preity Zinta. Khan's performance in the film won him awards at several award ceremonies. In that same year, he received critical acclaim for his performance in
Ashutosh Gowariker's drama
Swades. He was nominated for the
Filmfare Best Actor Award for all three of his releases in 2004, winning it for
Swades.
[41]
In 2006, Khan collaborated with Karan Johar for the fourth time with the melodrama movie
Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. It did well in India and much more so in the overseas market, becoming the biggest Bollywood hit in the overseas market of all-time.
[42] His second release that year saw him playing the title role in the action film
Don: The Chase Begins Again, a remake of the 1978 hit
Don. The movie was a success.
[42]
Khan's success continued with a few more highly popular films. One of his most successful works was the multiple award-winning 2007 film,
Chak De India, about the
Indian women's national hockey team. Earning over
Rs 639
million,
Chak De India became the third highest grossing movie of 2007 in India and won yet another
Filmfare Best Actor Award for Khan.
[43] The film was a major critical success.
[44] In the same year Khan also starred in
Farah Khan's 2007 film,
Om Shanti Om. The film emerged as the year's highest grossing film in India and the overseas market, and became India's highest grossing production ever up to that point.
[43] It earned him another nomination for
Best Actor at the
Filmfare ceremony. Khan's more recent films include the 2008 release,
Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi which was a huge box office success, and his only 2009 release was
Billu which failed at the box office.
Khan's next film,
My Name Is Khan, was released on 12 February 2010.
[45] While on one shoot in
Los Angeles, along with his wife
Gauri and director
Karan Johar, he took a break from filming to attend the
66th Golden Globe Awards, held in
Los Angeles, California, on 11 January 2009.
[46][47] Khan introduced
Slumdog Millionaire along with a star from the film,
Freida Pinto.
[48][49] He is currently filming for
Anubhav Sinha's science fiction
Ra.One opposite
Kareena Kapoor, which is due for release on June 3, 2011.
Producer
Khan turned producer when he set up a production company called
Dreamz Unlimited with
Juhi Chawla and director
Aziz Mirza in 1999. The first two of the films he produced and starred in:
Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani (2000) and
Asoka (2001) were box office failures.
[38] However, his third film as a producer and star,
Chalte Chalte (2003), proved a box office hit.
[40]
In 2004, Khan set up another production company,
Red Chillies Entertainment, and produced and starred in
Main Hoon Na, another hit.
[41] The following year, he produced and starred in the fantasy film
Paheli, which did poorly.
[50] It was, however, India's official entry to the
Academy Awards for consideration for Best Foreign Language Film, but it did not pass the final selection. Also in 2005, Khan co-produced the supernatural
horror film Kaal with Karan Johar, and performed an
item number for the film with
Malaika Arora Khan.
Kaal was moderately successful at the box office.
[50] His company has gone on to produce
Om Shanti Om (2007), in which he starred, and
Billu (2009), in which he played a supporting role as a Bollywood superstar.
Apart from film production, the company also has a visual effects studio known as
Red Chillies VFX. It has also ventured into television content production, with shows like,
The First Ladies,
Ghar Ki Baat Hai', and Knights and Angels
. Television advertisements are also produced by the company.[51]
In 2008, Red Chillies Entertainment became the owner of the
Kolkata Knight Riders in the
BCCI-backed
IPL cricket competition.
Television host
In 2007, Khan replaced
Amitabh Bachchan as the host of the third series of the popular game show
Kaun Banega Crorepati, the Indian version of
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.
[52] The previous had hosted the show for five years from 2000–05. On 22 January 2007,
Kaun Banega Crorepati aired with Khan as the new host
[53] and later ended on 19 April 2007.
[54]
On 25 April 2008, Khan began hosting the game show
Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain?, the Indian version of
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?,
[55] whose last episode was telecasted on 27 July 2008, with
Lalu Prasad Yadav as the special guest.
[56]
Awards and nominations
Khan has been awarded several honours which includes the
Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award from the Government of
India in 2005. In April 2007, a life-size wax statue of Khan was installed at
Madame Tussauds Wax Museum,
London. Another statue was installed at the
Musée Grévin in
Paris, the same year.
[57] During the same year, he was accorded the
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of the Arts and Literature) award by the French government for his “exceptional career”.
[58] There are also statues in Hong Kong
[59] and New York
[60]
In October 2008, Khan was conferred the
Darjah Mulia Seri Melaka which carries the honorific
Datuk (in similar fashion to "Sir" in British knighthood), by the
Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Mohd Khalil Yaakob, the head of state of
Malacca in
Malaysia. Khan was honoured for "promoting tourism in Malacca" by filming
One Two Ka Four there in 2001. Some were critical of this decision.
[61] He was also honoured with an honorary doctorate in arts and culture from Britain's
University of Bedfordshire in 2009.
[62]
