I already did a “favorite SRK director” post, this is a little more specific. Shahrukh has worked with a lot of directors only once, which one of them do we want to see him with again (excepting the ones who are dead)?
Hema Malini
His first director! The woman who discovered him. And who gave him advice on his hair.
Ashutosh Gowariker
Ashutosh was a co-actor with Shahrukh back in his TV serial days, they were even roommates on location. Years later, he gave Shahrukh one of the best roles of his career.
Subhash Ghai
Subhash really doesn’t like Shahrukh and vice versa. Shahrukh and Gauri were going through pregnancy struggles during filming and Subhash was not helpful. Years later, Subhash tried to put a film together with Shahrukh and Shahrukh dropped out last minute (as he saw it). But hey, sometimes conflict results in good art!
Mani Ratnam
Mani Ratnam, greatest director in the Tamil industry, has only made 3 Hindi films and he picked Shahrukh to be the lead of one of them. Wouldn’t it be great if he made another one with him?
Mansoor Khan
Aamir Khan’s cousin, he retired to a gorgeous farmhouse and dropped out of the industry. His only movie with Shahrukh, Josh, was a bit messed in execution but he definitely had a vision for Shahrukh’s character.
Shashilal K Nair
An odd director. A career with big gaps in it and no real commonalities. But his film with Shahrukh is definitely interesting, Shahrukh’s only cop movie.
Santosh Sivan
Very different movie, Shahrukh’s big epic historical film. And Shahrukh’s darkest greyest character.
K.S. Adhiyaman
Another Tamil director, specializing in family films. He gave Shahrukh a big southern style complicated family drama, complete with marital and sibling strife.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Bhansali is, you know, Bhansali. Candles, dancing, drama, the whole thing. Do we want to see Shahrukh do this again?
Shaad Ali
Okay, I’m fudging a little too include him, I just really like Shaad Ali. He gave Shahrukh a cameo in Saathiya, but he used him really really well.
Nikhil Advani
I also really like Nikhil Advani! Can you imagine what he would do with SRK post D-Day?
Amol Palekar
A classic parallel cinema actor, turned director. And an odd folk tale based slow moving film.
Shimit Amin
A completely different kind of film from a different kind of director, lowkey and real with no romance.
Zoya Akhtar
Okay, another stretch, it’s just a cameo but it is SO GOOD. Like, even the way Shahrukh looks and behaves is different than with other directors.
Priyadarshan
Billu may not have been that popular, but it was an interesting take on stardom and on Shahrukh himself.
Anubhav Sinha
Anubhav kind of turned into a different director post-SRK. I’d love to see the present day Anubhav, the Mulk and Article 15 Anubhav, working with him.
Maneesh Sharma
Possibly the best role ever written for him, and a strong confident director with an amazing challenge that he succeeds at perfectly.
Rahul Dholakia
A risky out there political art director who made one film with Shahrukh that combined flashes of brilliance with failed potential. What could he do if he had the chance to try again?
Imtiaz Ali
Of course we all love Jab Harry Met Sejal. The question is, would Imtiaz have anything new to bring out from Shahrukh?
Anand L. Rai
Personally, I don’t like what Anand did already. But for those of you who liked it but acknowledged it was flawed, would you like him to get another shot?
Hmm, I think for me I would pick Shaad Ali, Zoya Akhtar, and Nikhil Advani. Imtiaz, I’m not sure he has more to say, same with Ashutosh and Maneesh. Amol and Ratnam and Dholakia and Ghai, they just weren’t a good fit. Bhansali and Rai, I just hated the films. And all the others werne’t up to the challenge. But Shaad Ali and Nikhil Advani, now that they are experimenting in more genres and more confident directors, I would love to see what they did with him. And Zoya, in less than ten minutes she somehow cut right to the heart of Shahrukh, what could she do with a full movie?
How about you?
dontcallitbollywood 
I would LOVE LOVE to see SRK do a film with Zoya Akhtar! I’ve read plenty of bad reviews of Dil Dhadakne Do, but I think it might be my second favorite Hindi film. Clearly the majority of reviewers and I see different things. JHMS is my first favorite, and outside of your blog I wasn’t reading a lot of nice things about it. But back to Ms. Akhtar, the relationship in Gully Boy is so well done! I’m really not a fan of rap, Hindi, English, or in any language, and I still loved it. She can really nail characters. Otherwise I would like to see him do another movie with Subhash Ghai, I can’t put my finger on why I so enjoyed Pardes, but I did and it is one of those movies I go back to when I want something comforting.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I want to see Shahrukh do a film with Zoya too! Heck, if nothing else I would like to see him do a film with another female director besides Farah and Zoya. I think there is an interesting dynamic when a woman is behind the camera working with him.
Subhash Ghai just seems creatively exhausted. I don’t want to see SRK do another movie with him now, but if I had a time machine I might be interested in seeing them work together again back in the 90s.
On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 7:56 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
I would love to see Zoya Akhtar work with him for sure!
I’ve only seen Fan once but I really liked it so I would like to see what would happen if he worked with Maneesh Sharma again. Plus Aditya Chopra trusts Maneesh a lot so I would imagine that he has some pretty big, exciting ideas that are still waiting to be made.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m just worried that Maneesh doesn’t have another idea as good as Fan in him.
On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 9:37 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
Hmm, that’s possible but I feel like he probably does since Aditya Chopra trusts him so much.
Speaking of Maneesh Sharma, I don’t see any new on him directing another movie. There was rumors that his next movie was going to be with Ranveer but then it turns out that he’s just producing Ranveer’s next movie, not directing it.
LikeLike
Maybe he just isn’t directing any more and is only producing?
Or, maybe he has another brilliant film he is working on that will take 10 years to come into being like Fan did.
On Sun, Sep 15, 2019 at 12:06 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
Except Priyadarshan , i don’t have hopes on any of those to give a good movie; priyadarshan because it would certainly be a comedy remake!
LikeLike
Really? Priyadarshan would have been one of my last choices!
On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 9:58 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
Well i dont trust priyadarshan, i trust the remakes he brings.
LikeLike
I trust your judgement because I don’t know most of the directors well enough to have an opinion about their work, but what I liked about Shimit Amin and Chak De India was that the script and idea existed separate from SRK. Kabir Khan existed as a character, and the story was fully formed, and then Shah Rukh got to come and embody him. I feel like that was freeing, as an actor, he was back to basics of building a performance around the needs of the story and the film, rather than all of it being distorted to some degree by twisting around his real life stardom. They always ask him in interviews, and his directors, how they contend with the legend in his latest film, but the thing is he’s an actor, just let him act. He’s good at it. I’d love to see more roles where he’s *not* playing some version of himself or relying on tropes from earlier movies, but just playing a good, meaty role in a story written to be true to itself – not to whatever idea of his legacy, or fan expectations. Chak De India was maybe uniquely well suited to him, but I’m sure there are more great stories out there.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I would add Dear Zindagi as another movie that just had him playing a role. Although that wasn’t as perfect as Chak De because he wasn’t the lead. I get what you are saying though. I think that is part of the reason I want to see him with Zoya. Based on her other films, I think she is good at looking past the star and seeing the actor.
On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 11:35 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
Cheers to looking past the star and seeing the actor. I could get on board with Zoya. Just no talking dogs.
LikeLike
Interesting topic…
My favourites from the lot would be Amit (ChakDe), Gauri Shinde, Shaad Ali (Saathiya…with Tabu!!!), the new Anubhav Sinha, Rahul Dholakia and Zoya (preferably a movie with Vidiya Balan) and – maybe – Ashutosh (he knows him so well) … but then, there are so many talents I believe couls focus on the actor he is/wants to be.
We will see what he’ll decide 🙂
LikeLike
ooooo, Zoya and Vidya and Shahrukh would be interesting! Zoya hasn’t worked with Vidya before either.
On Sun, Sep 15, 2019 at 5:47 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
Honestly I wanted Tabu and Shahrukh to get their own story just based off the Saathiya cameo. I remember when I watched this in the theater I feel asleep through pretty much the entire film but I woke up during that cameo scene!
LikeLike
They were so good together!
On Sun, Sep 15, 2019 at 1:39 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
Still holding on hope that they will do a movie together! Tabu is still working so it’s not entirely impossible!
LikeLike
I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if they end up uniting for a love story at age 60 or something. And it will be wonderful, and we will all say “why couldn’t they co-star before this?”
On Sun, Sep 15, 2019 at 3:03 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLiked by 1 person
Like The Bridges of Maddison County – one of the most beautifully romantic movies I’ve seen, even though it was ‘old people’. 🙂
LikeLike
I’m very curious now…what was the advice Hema gave to Shahrukh about his hair?
I’d like to see him work with Mani Ratnam again. Maybe something of a smaller scale and character driven like OK Kanmani or Saathiya.
It would also be pretty cool to see him do a kind of Cary Grant-ish role in a comedy of remarriage. I could totally see him in His Girl Friday or My Favorite Wife. I would think those would translate pretty well into Indian films.
LikeLike
How has Aamir played Cary Grant in two remakes and Shahrukh in none? This makes no sense!
On Sun, Sep 15, 2019 at 5:48 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
>
LikeLike
Oh, and i think the hema advice was just to get his hair out of his eyes, put a part in the bangs
LikeLike
Ones I want to see him working with: Ashutosh Gowariker (just on the basis of Swades and Jodha Akbar, I’m afraid he’s lost his touch after that), Mani Ratnam, Santosh Sivan, Shimit Amin (he should make another movie, with anyone!), Zoya Akhtar (top choice), Anubhav Sinha (new avatar) and Gauri Shinde (you missed her on the list?)
Ones I don’t want to see him working with: Subhash Ghai (he’s a creep and I hate Pardes), Nikhil Advani (I don’t believe he directed KHNH and nothing he’s done since has interested me).
LikeLike
Have you seen D-Day? Action genre, so it may not interest you, but really really well directed. It restored my faith in Nikhil Advani. And Soorma wasn’t bad either.
I have hope for Ashutosh, even Mahenjo Daro had flashes of goodness, it just somehow didn’t gel together. He could still pull off another good film. I think I put Gauri on my last “which director should SRK work with?” list, so I left her off of this one. But yaaaay, another vote for Zoya!
Oh oh! What if Zoya does Don 3? Keep it in the family, but give it to the director/writer whose actually working?
LikeLike