2007-2011

Oki, so I have been hearing this a lot ever since Don 2 released that Don is Shah Rukh's best performance after Chak De! India. I definitely don't agree with that.

After Chak De! India, Shah Rukh's releases were Om Shanti Om, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, My Name Is Khan, Ra.One and Don 2. Here's how I see it.

Om Shanti Om: Om Prakash Makhija/Om Kapoor
Om Prakash Makhija is a highly filmy junior artist in love with a superstar named Shanti Priya. After Om Prakash passes away, he's reincarnated as Om Kapoor, who goes on to become a huge superstar. Now Shah Rukh played a double role. Two different people with the only similarity of being in the film industry. But that's their profession. Performance wise, I will agree that Shah Rukh was a little over the top as Om Kapoor but Om Shanti Om being a over the top kind of movie, it didn't have much scope for Shah Rukh to make Om Shanti Om one of his best performances. So for me personally, this movie doesn't fall in the top 10 SRK performances.

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi: Surinder Sahni/Raj Kapoor
Surinder Sahni is like the ordinary and common man we meet or see everyday. He's not 1 in a million to stand out but part of that million. Like Shah Rukh had described him, but I'll put it in more harsh words; If such guy is part of a triangle love story, he'd be the one to be ditched for a person like Raj. Now Raj Kapoor is the happy-go-lucky, cheap and loud person. He can win over a girl more easily than Surinder Sahni. Anyway, in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Shah Rukh pulled both characters off real nicely. He kept Surinder the way he should have been which is nice, quiet but very loving at heart. He got Raj to be again, over the top because that's how Raj was supposed to be. So yes, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi does fall in the top 10 SRK performances of mine.

My Name Is Khan: Rizwan Khan
Rizwan Khan, we all know, is a autistic man who divides the world in good and bad, removing all the boundaries that are in our world map. Even if I don't want to, I will have to exaggerate the autism part of this character. One big reason is because Shah Rukh is not autistic in real life so it is hard to convincingly portray a sensitive character of that of an autistic man. Playing a role like that of Raj Kapoor, Om Kapoor or somebody else is not hard because there are millions of people like them but there are hardly many Autistic Rizwan Khan in this world. Shah Rukh as Rizwan is the best performance for me of Shah Rukh's. He played the role with a lot of handle and care. Secondly, Shah Rukh was pushed beyond his comfort zone for the first time I believe. Yes, Rizwan tops the list for me.

Ra.One: Shekhar Subramanium/G.One
Shekhar Subramanium is that geeky Dad who tries to be strict with his child and make him a part of his life but ends up becoming a part of his child's life. You know that tug-of-war most parents and children have? Anyway, as Shekhar Subramanium, there wasn't much to do for Shah Rukh but to be like that Dad he is in real life coated with the South Indian spices. As G.One, Shah Rukh was really good. He played both characters quite convincingly but G.One is my favorite of this lot. Because G.One required Shah Rukh to be a little robotic, no display of expressions and yeah. But still I can't put Shekhar or G.One in my top 10 list.

Don 2: Don
In Don 2, Shah Rukh is just a plain mean villain. In Don 1, Shah Rukh has a double role, one as a good guy morphed into a bad guy and one just a plain bad guy, but now it's off topic. Anyway, such character is beyond Shah Rukh's comfort zone because the other villainous roles he played, it was backed by love or reason. Don didn't require a emotion based reason to be evil. There may be some "love" kind of moments but Don just likes to play around. Don is like a daredevil who just plays with danger. This performance is in my top 10 list but I will have to say one thing though, from a critical point of view that what helped Don to be Don was his style, wit, and the story itself.

But I won't reveal my top 10 SRK performances list yet, well, at least not in this post because I wrote this to reflect on people's views which say Don 2 is Shah Rukh's best after CDI.