Monday Morning Questions Post: How Shall We Celebrate SRK?

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Happy Monday!  And happy first day of 31 days o’ SRK!!!!  Very exciting.  For some of you.  For the others, don’t get too depressed, all the other regular coverage will continue, just with extra SRK posts in there that you can skip.

As always, you can ask me any question you want from the personal (“how do you celebrate SRK’s birthday?”) to the specific and factual (“when is SRK’s birthday?”) to the general discussion topic (“why is SRK’s birthday such a huge deal?”)

The only rule is, you have to let me answer first!  The discussion goes better that way somehow.

 

Now, I need your help!  I have 31 days o’ SRK to fill.  I’ll be keeping the same pattern as last year, so a series of lists with the first one being 31 items long and the last being 1.  But last year I only had 16 lists to fill, because I didn’t love him as much last year.  Now I have 31!  So give me ideas!

What are things that I can include in an SRK countdown?  Best films, best performances, but what else?  Best outfits?  Best hair?  This includes TGIF posts, by the way, so if you feel like, for instance, “27 photos of Shahrukh drinking coffee” now is the time to suggest it.

Oh, and fanfic too!  I need 4 new SRK fanfic ideas, at least.  If I get more than that, I can double up in the same post, but 4 is the minimum.

Help me commentators!  Prove your love for me and Him together!

88 thoughts on “Monday Morning Questions Post: How Shall We Celebrate SRK?”

  1. Not a fan of listicles. Plus too many lists in a month would get boring no? So, as a moderate but longterm fan, what I’d like to read this month would be analyses. Like your top 31 SRK films (in no particular order) but each analytical post cover the films in a certain format. Make it academic like:

    Film title
    Year
    Banner
    Producer
    Director
    Music label and director
    Distributor
    Budget
    BO
    Other records
    Co-stars

    Plot summary
    Themes
    Famous songs and dialogues
    SRK’s character in the film and an analysis of the same
    SRK’s look and styling in the film
    Coverage in media at the time and down the years
    Awards
    Film’s contribution to SRK’s career and fandom
    Film’s impact on Indian cinema at home and abroad
    When did you first watch the film and first impression of it
    What you think of the film in retrospect
    Trivia

    And the TGIF post could be a SRK picture list of your choice. And Sunday could be exclusively SRK fanfic day.

    See I’m know for a fact that you’re close to a PhD on the man and his craft. Why not use your knowledge on the man to create intellectual posts? The oglers have already seen the pictures you might be using. You can always compile the posts on the 31 films into a book later!

    At least that’s what I’d want but I know I’m not a major fan so this might not happen 😦

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    • Oh, that’s the plan! Happy ogler posts, mixed in with actual content. I’ve already got “Best films ranked in order” lined up for this week. Last year I also did “best performances” and “best characters” all of which have slightly different meanings and requirements.

      But what else? I have to fill 31 days!!!!

      On Mon, Oct 2, 2017 at 6:31 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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    • And speaking of Sunday as fanfic day, WHAT FANFIC?????? Ideas! I need ideas!!!!

      On Mon, Oct 2, 2017 at 6:31 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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        • I would love to see him do My Name is Khan, but without the desi touches. Straight up drama about the parents of the victim of a hate crime and what all they go through.

          On Mon, Oct 2, 2017 at 6:38 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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          • SRK is a second generation immigrant who was born and brought up in a small town in the US. He’s never thought of himself as brown or non-American. Even at college in the 90s, he was amongst only nice people. After college, he moved back to his small town to care for his ailing mother and took up the accountancy job his father had out of respect for his father’s old boss (jovial white guy) who’s like family. He married a Canadian Indian girl who died having their second child. The firm couldn’t survive the recession and the jovial white boss advises him to not stay in the small town and to explore his potential in a bigger city (I wanna say Atlanta). And there things happen

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          • Speaking of which, have I reccomended Ivide yet? Prithviraj AND Nivin, Prithviraj is a divorced depressed cop in Atlanta who has casual sex, Nivin is an office type with shades of grey. And it’s a thriller.

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      • Ok another SRK NRI film idea

        SRK is a divorced father of one. He came to the States in the late-90s to study, fell in love with a classmate, a second generation Indian girl, and got her pregnant so they rushed into marriage which turned sour soon.

        He stayed in the states against his parents’ wishes to stay close to his daughter.

        Present day: he travels to the UK to attend a wedding. He’s a charming bachelor in his mid-40s and he meets a girl 15 years his junior there. The romance is whirlwind and the girl is everything he wanted in a woman. He pops the question, she says yes. There’s just one problem – his family would never approve of another NRI girl in his life. Also, he has an 18-year old daughter he needs to convince. Plus the bitchy ex wife who’s always accused him of being immature.

        He thinks the girl’s family would be a piece of cake but they turn out to be super rich and super traditional (they’re Brit-Indians). Maybe Anupam Kher is the girl’s father. And he’s an MP with a title! A Lord!! And the girl is Archie Punjabi!!!

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        • Did you see that photo of them together? How cute was that!

          My only fear would be that Archie couldn’t contain herself to be mature and professional around SRK enough to convincingly play the role.

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          • That’s the idea! She’s the madly in love 30-something and anupam kher knows he can’t say no to her but he has to try!!

            I totally imagined this scene with SRK in a dark blue wash jeans, a black t shirt and brown leather biker jacket, slight scruff and well done hair sitting on a posh leather sofa in a rich sitting room that’s covered in like cherry woodwork in a posh British countryhouse!! And anupam kher in white kurta pajama and chappals looking funny. He changes into the proper House of Lords garb later with the tails and the top hat etc. Maybe he has a rival. Fawad Khan. Who is being pitched as a suitor by Anupam Kher.

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          • Part of what I love about this idea is that SRK’s devoted since childhood fanbase is now in their early 30s. Give us our fantasy of being with him! Like, mature Daddy-type SRK as he is now, and a grown up woman in her 30s who can appreciate him.

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          • Can he be like bad boy connected to his Indian roots thing? Like, maybe part of why she likes him is he takes her to Southall and orders her “real” biryani and stuff? Because his a first gen NRI from back in the 70s and can still joke with taxi drivers and stuff while she is a second gen who has been raised far away from all that stuff?

            On Mon, Oct 2, 2017 at 7:26 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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          • I’m a little conflicted now that I have Archie Punjabi in my head. Maybe the NRI wife is in Europe and he’s lived in London all this time. The girl and her family are based in like Essex and she’s a regular upper class British girl who only gets to be Indian when they visit their kin in London. She’s studied at boarding schools and then a college in Scotland (she’s not extremely bright so no Oxbridge for her) BUT she’s expected to marry an Oxbridge types. Fawad Khan. But she secretly loves her Southall cousins who are loud and proud and funny. The kinds that pepper ever sentence with the word “innit”.

            And SRK, meets her at a Southall wedding and the country house in Essex is something she’s nervous about.

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          • No, I like him as an Indian-American!!!! Because then there’s still the stress of this whirlwind romance which would be followed by moving all the way away from her family. So a reason for her father to be cautious besides just “you must obey me”. Like, Shahrukh took a 6 week leave from work, but he has to go back and wants her to come with him, so they have to get married now-now-now. And he’s not just being patriarchal and dominating in making her move to his country, he’s also got a daughter in the US so he really has to go back.

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          • Or her family could be American upper class. People with a house in the Hamptons. They meet at a Hawaii wedding. He could still be a middle class first gen American who works as a fight promoter in Vegas. He could have an Indian American biker gang and stuff. She could be a boarding school Ivy League girl who’s lived a very protected American life which only feels indian whenever her Senator father needs to meet his voters. He is more desi. The biryani thing can work then. He can help her discover her indian Americanness and she can help him find out what went wrong with his marriage and how he can stay connected to his American daughter.

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          • I like this! Maybe there it is parallel, he is winning over her father, and she is winning over his teenage daughter.

            On Mon, Oct 2, 2017 at 8:42 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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          • That could work. Or maybe he has a prejudice about Indian girls brought up in America that he got from his parents nagging him. They always blamed her for not trying to fit into their traditional ways and somewhere he too got influenced by their words and being so young he couldn’t understand that they weren’t in love just attracted to each other and hence the marriage didn’t work out. The clash of value systems is what he thinks is what broke up his first marriage and that’s why he’s never brought another girl home despite a string of serious relationships. His indianness and her Americanness is a problem they think they have. And their daughter is the sane one in this. Like the younger sister in DDLJ. She’s the child of two cultures but she remains sane because she’s seen her friends deal with divorce etc and so the parents fighting is not a big deal for her. But SRK seems to be insisting on her retaining her indianness more now that she’s grown up even though he himself doesn’t know what it means anymore.

            And the new girlfriend, he meets at an Indian wedding and she’s all Miss Traditional there and he mistakes his own genuine attraction and subsequent falling in love with her as him having fallen in love with her Indianness.

            She makes him realize that he loves her for who she is and not her ethnicity. And she helps him realize that him forcing his version of culture on his daughter won’t help anyone.

            All this just in super comical way.

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          • Sure. We start with him breaking up with the last in a string of semi-serious girlfriends. Like, he isn’t using them or anything, he is a decent boyfriend who remembers birthdays and stuff, but it will never be more than that. Maybe his newest girlfriend is pushing to meet his daughter that he is always talking about, they’ve been dating for two years, it’s time. And it finally comes out that he is happy to keep dating as long as she wants, but they are never going to move in together, she is never going to meet his daughter or his family, it’s just not going to happen.

            And then he goes to the wedding where there is one of those spicy challenge type dances from the bridesmaids and his attention is captured by the young woman in a sari, who also has the kind of confidence and intelligence he likes. And he finds himself singing back to her, and then tracking her down, and he sees her being awesome and jokey with her grandmother and speaking good Hindi, and charms and dares her into coming out with him for “real” biryani, and generally they fall in love with him thinking she is a confident modern woman who still has a desi touch, and her thinking he is a bad boy who likes the real her.

            But as they try to make their families agree, it comes out that she thinks his daughter should be allowed to date and go to school away from home (which he doesn’t agree with), and he thinks they shouldn’t just elope if her father disapproves (which is too old-fashioned for her). They fight, they make up, they compromise, there is a big fight that makes it look like everything is actually over, but then his daughter and her father get together and trick them into making up. Maybe some sort of locked room situation where they have to fight it out. And the happy ending is a Vegas elopement, followed by a big Indian style reception.

            Oh, and his parents are dead. Which is why things are kind of bad now, his mother used to help him connect with his daughter and now he can’t, plus he promised his parents that he would only marry a woman if she would be “good” for his daughter, not realizing that Archie Punjabi is that woman.

            On Mon, Oct 2, 2017 at 10:26 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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          • I don’t think Archie Punjabi can do a decent American accent. Can she? She has a very British India face! 😂 that’s a real thing seriously!!

            I have no idea where this story is going now. I guess I should leave you to make the final draft for a Sunday post and then we can fine tune the backstories and subplots. The daughter is a subplot right? I want the romance to be the main plot.

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          • Oh yes, the daughter is a subplot. But an important one, I hate it when kids are introduced and then forgotten in movies. Make sure she is just as important as she should be! Also, launch role for Suhana?

            On Mon, Oct 2, 2017 at 11:16 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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          • Nooooooooo.. She’s doing the action film with her brother for her debut from our fanfic!!! It would be such a shame if she debuted with a girly non-important side role!

            As for characters being forgotten, you can’t not have a full family in an Indian film and you also cannot give everyone a meaningful story.

            So maybe, so as to not take focus away from the funny romance, maybe the child happened later. Much later. Like whirlwind romance, clashes, separation, but neither files for divorce because Indian culture and both are busy with their careers and they meet again as 35-somethings to get the divorce done and they celebrate the divorce by getting drunk together and the baby happens. More shouting and shouting continues to present day. So there is SRK, with a 7 or 8 year old daughter who’s really sweet and loving and kinda chill about her parents not living together. And she doesn’t need a full plot of her own. She can be a twist in his new romance. Like he could be on the phone with her telling her I love you and i miss you and I’ll call you when I get back and his new fiancé hears it and they fight and when she hears about who it really is, she’s even more freaked because it would be even more impossible for her to convince her family now.

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          • Oh! Movie recommendation! Yennai Arindhaal. It’s on Hotstar. That is assuming you like silver fox father’s of little girls with complicated pasts who fall for confident young career women?

            On Mon, Oct 2, 2017 at 11:31 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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          • Check out Yennai, I found it really interesting. A cop movie, but a more thoughtful cop movie.

            And was it Ivide you were looking for? Prithviraj-Nivin? I had a really hard time finding it too, ended up buying it on DVD.

            On Mon, Oct 2, 2017 at 11:45 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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  2. Lets imagine two fanfic situations, one dark and other somewhat light or ‘mainstream’ one (as a tribute to his varied personas). Approve both, reject one, reject both… anything, your choice finally. No hard feelings.

    First, the serious one. A drama with four major roles where SRK is an aged doctor seeking redemption because his act of being a sperm donor to his friend X has disturbed the latter’s wife so much, who actually was SRK’s ex whom he still loves. The fourth role, is SRK’s biological child who shares a healthy rapport with her mother and SRK’s friend (she obviously is unaware who SRK is). How will SRK end up being redeemed at least to an extent when the child is in a danger from which only he has to save (either as a doctor or personally, your wish).

    Second, the lighthearted one. SRK is the owner of a drama company. As the company’s previous plays failed, SRK decides to make a play on something controversial and writes a play on a fictional love story between the kids of warring politicians. The events unfold in real life in the way the play showcases, and SRK is targeted. How will he come out of this mess, managing the theatre and helping the love birds as a mentor?

    The ideas might suck I guess. But, if you like any, give it a thought and let me know.

    All the best for this huge SRK festival. Will be an active participant this time. 🙂

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    • Yay! I like both those ideas! I will have to see if they work once I start writing them out.

      And also, yay! glad to hear you will be participating. As I just told Asmita, there will be actual content posts mixed in with the rest of them. So it won’t all be a fanfest (although today’s post is, I decided to start light)

      On Mon, Oct 2, 2017 at 6:33 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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    • Great ideas!! Finally a guy fanfic writer in here!!

      About the first one, you said four major roles. But you’ve given just one – SRK as Doctor. Do you mean like SRK as friend’s wife’s ex is one role or him at one age and that part ends and then they’re older and it’s different role and age?

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      • Four roles:

        SRK as a doctor X
        [Your choice – Male] as SRK’s friend A
        [Your choice – Female] as A’s wife-cum-X’s ex B
        [Your choice – Female] as X’s biological D who considers A and B as her parents (she doesn’t know anything about X)

        Yes, as young people, this whole thread of rejected X unknowingly turning a sperm donor later, A and B finding this, B seething further and X waiting for redemption.

        Now, SRK has aged, with sufficient grey hair, and is a well known specialist, still waiting for a chance. If D is in a danger from which only X can rescue (either as a doctor or as a biological father), and gets redeemed in the eyes of B only to an extent (not wholly; I don’t want the lady to be that submissive) is the key point.

        Now, you guys do the casting. Let’s see how your views go. But, remember, D must be minimum 15 years old.

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          • B stays with A. Nothing has changed. He seeks redemption, and gets it in part. That too, as a respect that he saved D, and nothing else. Things are still the same.

            The climax I wanted is, D is safe. A and B are happy that she is safe and vice versa. Back at the hospital, X is invited to a seminar about sperm donation. He reluctantly accepts and goes there. When he is asked to talk in support of it, he is at loss of words before the mike initially. (A and B bid goodbye last night, and D is still oblivious to the truth). X wants to walk away, but remembers that he is a professional at the moment, and nothing else. That nobody is interested about his personal life. Certainly not the organisers. With sharper, wet eyes, X supports sperm donation proudly, giving his profession importance over anything. Him walking away slowly from the venue and fading away is the final shot.

            This is my thought. If you want some other climax, go for it. I have no issues. 🙂 But do let me know, what would be the ideal ending according to you if this has to be a dark tale of redemption and liberation.

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    • Somehow, the disaster film option is the one that sparks for me. SRK as boring responsible facilities engineer type at a massive factory who suddenly has to figure out how to save all the workers (plus a busload of school children there for a tour) when the roof collapses.

      On Mon, Oct 2, 2017 at 6:35 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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      • That’s a thriller. How about SRK as ISRO scientist who’s been warning the environment ministry about a catastrophe for years and for his troubles he gets demoted and posted to a remote weather station in the middle of nowhere. And then disaster strikes and only he knows how to save a city of millions

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        • Eh, I don’t like the “city of millions” part. Just personal taste, I prefer my disaster films to have slightly more manageable disaster levels. More like “400 people on a speeding train” kind of thing.

          How about a suburb of a city that only has like 2 thousand people in it/

          On Mon, Oct 2, 2017 at 6:42 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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          • See, 100 families, that the mind can grasp! that’s like 20 kids, a handful of old folks, and a bunch of adults to run around screaming.

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          • 100 families is the smallest possible village which is 5 minutes walk away from 5 villages in every direction.

            Also, our government doesn’t care for JUST 2000 people at risk.

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          • It could work if he’s in like himachal! But he’d be the least qualified guy there to tell anyone how to handle an environmental disaster!

            Maybe he leads a team of a 50 people who race against time to prevent a dam collapse or rescue villagers caught in a flash flood!!

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          • Yes! And in the end, they can save the village, but the camp where the team is staying is in danger. So we still get our running around shouting scenes, but it’s just to save these 50 people. And in the end of course the grumpy complaining one turns unexpectedly noble and sacrifices his life to save the rest. Boman Irani maybe? And we all sob and sob as he says his catch phrase one last time while the water covers his head.

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          • But then a small child softens his heart and he volunteers to stay back and set off the last controlled explosion which will save the rest of them, and we all cry and cry.

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          • He remembers the moment he lost his wife and young child in a similar flood decades ago when the people from the village failed to save them and which was the reason his heart had hardened in the first place

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          • Wife: Zarina Wahab. Because she shows up onscreen and you start to cry.

            On Mon, Oct 2, 2017 at 7:28 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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          • But the wife dies young! Maybe they can call up the woman from the villagers’ front row in BB2. She looked like she’d be great at dying because of apathy from fellow villagers

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          • Well, in BB2, she played the role of “somehow managing not to die over and over again despite apathy from fellow villagers.”

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          • That’s because she was Team Bahubali. Plus they probably didn’t have enough money to cast different village folk. And the Mahishmati public was strangely very democratic! 😁

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    • All are interesting ideas. But, one thing. In “SRK in an out and out horror film”, is he the one haunted or the one who haunts or the one who helps the haunted? What is your preference?

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  4. Thank goodness there is a happy Monday morning questions post as we wake up to yet more preventable insanity in the world. Brainstorming for lists: best character quotes/dialogue-baazi; best real quotes; best interviews (snippet or full;written or video); best gifs; most awkward moments (character or real). I tell people in my life that Shah Rukh veers (on-purpose) between the William Shatner of India (crying scenes in Kal Ho Naa Ho, many fight scenes) and brilliant, subtle, or grab you by the throat acting (too many to mention). Perhaps something like that? Best over the top scenes vs best subtle scenes? I enjoyed every list last year so hoping for an updated version of each of them.

    For Fridays/photo lists: SRK drinking coffee; SRK laughing; SRK and kids; SRK and sports; SRK smoking (I know it’s bad, but hot); SRK looking sad/thoughtful/angry; SRK being charming/winning/trying to get someone to do something (character or real). Suggestion from my husband–who is among the world’s nicest husbands obviously–SRK dancing in the rain/water, with wet clothes. We laugh at all the wet-jeans dancing scenes–like the rain song in Dil To Pagal Hai, or Mourya Re from Don. Another from hubby–Shah Rukh drunk scenes or songs.

    Fanfic: I like ones about the actual SRK even though that might be creepy. How about, SRK gets caught up in a murder mystery on the set of his latest movie a al Agatha Christie; SRK hanging out with international movers-and-shakers stumbles on a deep-dark state secret or evil corporation plot, and has to put his life and career on the line to stop it (a la Hitchcock or John Grisham). SRK struggles with depression and writer’s block as he tries to finish his long promised autobiography and meets a Jug type (but a slightly older woman–say Shabana Azmi-like) therapist who challenges him on his world view and the stories he tells about himself. All of these could work as parts in a movie as well, if you’re uncomfortable writing about the real guy like that. 🙂 Of course I could no more write these than fly to the moon.

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    • I thought of SRK smoking TGIF too! And then I thought “no, that is a disgusting habit, no one but me will enjoy it.” But apparently not! Perhaps just a straight up “Shahrukh oral fixation” post? Smoking and coffee?

      Hmm. Don’t know if I can handle an “SRK as SRK” straight up fanfic. But he’s played himself onscreen so many times now (Billu, Fan, OSO), maybe I just slightly fictionalize it and then it could work. I do like the idea of exploring the access and powers a movie star has and how they could be used.

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      • I don’t really read much fanfic, but as I was thinking about my response, I realized how much potential there is for really super-angsty fic, based on all the internal darkness Shah Rukh hints at in himself. Like I need something else to google related to him, hah. Oh, and I like how you capitalized “Him” in your post. Shah Rukh as a manifestation of the divine.

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  5. I do like a listicle or two. How about SRK’s best lines of dialogue? Best look (costuming) in a movie? A critique of his dancing in comparison to other actors? His best interviews?

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  6. Well, here you go – for Day 1, there is another deleted scene of JHMS out. So SRK starts you off by giving you a gift!

    My hindi is not great but this is the general gist of the scene.

    I think there must be another deleted scene preceding this one because Anushka comes in wearing a wedding flower garland. SRK has one too but his is hanging off the luggage.

    Mayank: This apartment’s fortunes have changed! Sir has come back after 2 years. I already moved in with Irina 6 months ago. Since then…

    (Sejal and Harry move to the balcony)

    Sejal: So this is home. That you’re afraid of. And also looking for. You’re funny, huh.

    Harry: Really?

    Sejal: I’m sure.

    Harry: Aren’t you afraid of the ring that you’re also looking for?

    Sejal: Show me. (referring to the wound on his head)

    Harry: It’s okay now. (it’s hard to hear – not sure exactly) You put something on it…

    (Mayank comes in and coughs loudly on purpose)

    Harry: (sarcastically) Do you want me to give you some medicine for your throat?

    Mayank: No, it’s fine.

    Harry: Take take of it. It’s sounding serious.

    Sejal: So where’s the engagement?

    Mayank: I’ve booked a table at the Hotel Medici. I’ll put the ring on her there and we’ll have dinner too.

    Sejal: Huh? This is an engagement? Putting a ring on her finger in a restaurant?

    Harry: You’re funny. Who gets engaged in a restaurant? Really, an engagement should be romantic. Right?

    Sejal: Yeah, where’s the romance?

    Harry: Where’s the romance?

    Sejal: Where’s the romance?

    Mayank: Can we decide the engagement first? You can romance later.

    Harry: Okay, okay, talk.

    Mayank: Okay, so where will we do the engagement?

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  7. This idea is probably only because I was watching SRK celebrate his 50th birthday with his fans at an event in 2015. Sometimes some fans end up saying the most perfect things to him…and you want to scream out THANK YOU for letting him know from all of us. Maybe you could do a list of the best/truest things that a fan has told Shah. Or even his best moments with different fans. I would love to see more about him as a person.

    Also for fanfic, would you ever do a fanfic for already sketched characters? Like I’m going through major withdrawal symptoms for JHMS, so would love to see some romantic/sexy/angst fanfics of what’s happening in their life now or just moments. Also FYI, new deleted scene posted today.

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  8. I am now up to 2010 (My Name is Khan) in my chronological trek through SRK’s films, and have been mulling the following question. At what point does he start really drawing on his own emotions, even the truly dark ones? In his early films, we see Shah Rukh the actor, but his more recent works have much more emotional depth. What is going on with this transition, and when is it first visible? Remember that Margaret gets to answer first!

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    • Hmm. I feel like there have always been flashes of his own emotions and experiences. But usually more the happy parts, not the darkness. But I know what you mean about it getting more and more as he gets older. Perhaps it’s just a function of aging? The 30-something Shahrukh didn’t have that same kind of darkness inside him yet, wasn’t mature enough to understand it, but as he got older it came out more and more.

      For me, I think the first time I noticed it was in a couple of scenes in Om Shanti Om. Which is such a happy movie, perhaps that’s why those moments of pure emotion stood out so strongly. But his death scene, and the FilmFare award scene, there is something really different there.

      And then Chak De India and My Name is Khan brought the personal to a whole new level. And now there is stuff like even one little moment in Dear Zindagi talking about his character’s parents, and you suddenly know those people are dead, you know? I wonder if that’s also why he started doing the completely impersonal trash films, Dilwale and Happy New Year could be kind of an escape from that sort of intensity.

      On Mon, Oct 2, 2017 at 9:44 AM, dontcallitbollywood wrote:

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  9. My question – at what age do you think SRK was at his hottest?

    Okay- let me try my hand with fanfic here…SRK was adopted as a young child by an American couple that clearly love and adore him but it is a major shift in his life. He goes from being a poor orphan in India to a small, predominantly white town in America. He’s bullied by other kids but also has to deal with countless micro-aggressions, covert racism and a general sense of not fitting in throughout his childhood. But he feels (and is constantly reminded by nearly everyone around him) this immense sense of gratitude for his parents because they ‘saved’ him. He feels that his parents would feel terrible if they knew all of what he was dealing with so he decides to protect them. He acts like there’s no issues and he’s perfectly fine. He also throws himself into being the perfect all-American son – getting into sports, wears the ‘cool’ outfits, etc.. and in the process gives up on any remaining vestiges of his Indian-ness. His parents are thrilled with their son and love that he’s fitting in so well now. Eventually, he heads off to college in a larger city and has something of a revelation. He finally gets to put his treatment into the larger context of social problems in America. He becomes woke. We fast forward to present day and SRK has become a lawyer that works on pro-bono and civil liberty cases primarily. He lives in big city and is very involved with the community and local issues. He’s something of a serial monogomist- going from one serious relationship to another but never really finding the one. He’s too emotionally invested in the work he does to fully commit to a relationship. That one client or meeting with city officials or paperwork he’s working on for that non-profit is critically important because it could change lives for the better and that’s got to be more important than an anniversary dinner. He gets his emotional fulfillment from knowing he’s made a positive impact in someone’s life.

    Years of constantly dealing with the worst of what humanity is capable of has left SRK on edge. He’s feeling hopeless about the amount of problems he sees in the world and feels like all he’s done is a drop in the ocean. He still hasn’t really discussed anything with his parents as he realizes that his current life is so far out of touch to his parents more conservative, ‘why can’t things just go back to the way they were’ belief system. He visits on holidays, continues to play the part of perfect son and continues to shield them from the problems he still faces. He’s visiting his parents for the holidays when they tell him about their plan to visit India now that Dad’s finally retired and they want him to come with them. He’s very skeptical of the plan but his friends, coworkers and exes (because he’s still on good terms with most of them) have all pointed out that he needs to take a break as he’s changed. He’s got more sharp edges than he used to have and doesn’t seem to get the satisfaction out of the work as he used too. SRK gives in and agrees to the trip.

    And here I start to draw a blank on the details. The trip to India changes the perspective for the first time for SRK and his parents. They are in a country where everyone looks like SRK and his parents are the ones that stick out. He also meets a woman who I feel like should be very practical and a realist. Not a bad person but someone who finds SRK’s attempts to fix the world quixotic and will point it out. SRK also finally figures out that his parents always saw the problems he had as a child but dismissed it as kids being kids instead of seeing the larger problem. At some point, he confronts his parents and points out that it isn’t enough to just love him. They need to be advocates for their child even if it means stepping outside of their comfort zone and questioning their own long-standing beliefs.

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    • This sounds trite, but I think Shahrukh is always hottest next year. Honestly, the man gets better and better as he gets older and older. I think he was cuter when he was young, maybe even more charming, but just pure sex appeal, it’s all about the older SRK. At some point I am sure he will hit a tipping point and stop being hotter year by year, but it hasn’t happened yet.

      Fanfic, I love it!!! And I was jsut recommending Ivide to Asmita in another comment, have you seen it? Really really good movie and picks up a lot of the themes you discuss. Our hero was adopted by a white American couple as a young boy in an Indian orphanage, struggles with his identity, etc. etc.

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      • Some people just get better with age. I kind of feel like young Shahrukh was a little awkward looking at times. He’s really grown into his looks.

        I have not seen Ivide but I just saw your review and it is on my list! Thanks! 🙂

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        • You’re fanfic was spookily close! although it’s also just a common story I guess? a little boy adopted from an Indian orphanage, struggles with his identity, is teased at school and his parents don’t really understand, goes to college and explores his Indian identity, ends up trying to make the world better in his own way.

          Only, Ivide ends with him making his peace with his duel identity in a different way than your fanfic. Otherwise the same!

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          • Actually, I was reading this story about this Indian-American couple that had adopted twin girls who are white.
            http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/american-indian-indian-american_us_59402890e4b094fa859f1c44

            It led me down this rabbit hole of stories and blogs about transracial adoptions and the topic was on my mind. Its a really interesting topic and usually Indian films don’t really deal with adoption quite in these terms. It either tends to be adopted child learns he/she is adopted and goes into an existential crisis about being an orphan or the adoptive family is family and that’s that. I love finding new films like this!

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  11. How about ranking the movies that Shahrukh produced? Or best movies he produced? Because he did produce some movies that he didn’t act in like SOTY.

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