It’s snowing in Chicago, and will continue snowing for…..ever? The point is, it’s grey and drab outside and I need a distraction. So let’s have a totally silly and self-indulgent fan discussion!
As I explain to people every time I do my lecture around K3G, the Star Intro is a basic element of Hindi film. You want to build excitement slowly until it bursts forth in an orgy of whistles, cheers, stamps, and applause. Shahrukh has had some really great intros but which (in your mind) is his absolute BEST???
These are the intros I remember, complete with gif/video/image reminders:
Deewana: Doing motorcycle stunts and singing as he rides down the roads of Bombay
DDLJ: Scoring the winning rugby goal
Yes Boss: Singing on the back of a truck
Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham: Voice over, then feet hitting ground, then running back, taking off sunglasses, and finally coming around the corner in slow motion while waving his finger
Devdas: Flying sheet reveals his face.
Kal Ho Na Ho: Slowly coming out on a snow covered balcony to have his face revealed as the family next door prays for an angel, with flashbacks to face-obscured moments of arriving in America.
Main Hoon Na: Obscured bits of eyes and hands, and then triumphal arrival in an explosion of glass and light
Don: Obscured sunglasses face, slowly revealed as he walks through a dance studio, finally fully viewed during opening fight scene
Om Shanti Om: Waving hand from the crowd, then slow motion catch of a jacket thrown to him by historical Rishi Kapoor
Don 2: Hair covering face until fully viewed during fight scene
Jab Tak Hain Jaan: Motorcycle and sunglasses, then slow low angle walk down the street
Happy New Year: Mud fight with his face covered in mud, until water is poured on his naked torso finally revealing him, culminating in his slow motion shirtless walk to the camera with his voice over in the background.
Dilwale: (special circumstances, second intro) Walk down the hospital corridor as his face hardens into anger, followed by shadowed fight scene with flames revealing his face as he burns the drugs at the end.
Dear Zindagi: Voice, then slow pan into room to reveal him casually dressed and relaxed continuing his monologue.
Raees: Shirtless, sweaty, whipping himself with chains in slow motion
Zero: slow walk gunslinger style.
Okay, so far as I am concerned K3G, DDLJ, and Main Hoon Na are the ones to beat. For you, which is most memorable? Like, you read the title of the movie and immediately could picture his intro?
Also, bonus, which film has the most/best entries? Like, Happy New Year where ever five minutes Shahrukh was moving into a room in slow motion from a low angle.
dontcallitbollywood 
Nothing can beat K3G imo 🙂
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This is why I always show K3G as my intro movie! It has the best of all those elements. Best entry scene, best club number, best festival number, best wedding song, best love at first sight, and on and on.
On the other hand, Main Hoon Na has him crashing to earth through glass and light explosion.
On Thu, Jan 23, 2020 at 12:52 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I love the K3G intro too. But I have a feeling lots of people will vote for that one so my vote is for Jab Tak Hai Jaan. SRK riding onto the the scene in full military garb, hot aviators, short non coiffed hair, and just the right amount of scruff had me drooling. Also, maybe because he is fully covered expect for those sexy forearms, when he pats those gloves and you get a close up of those forearms… oof! 🤤 I never thought I’d find forearms sexy.
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While not as good as K3G, the JTHJ one is also a good whistle getting. The balance of having enough going on that it isn’t boring, but not so much that you can’t cheer and clap over it was just perfect.
On Thu, Jan 23, 2020 at 1:11 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Don 2, is one of my favorite opening sequences ever, though it is more about the whole than just SRK. For SRK emphasis, it would have to be K3G.
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Yeah K3G really sold you on “you should be very Very VERY excited right now about this person!!!!”
Don 2 has the water wheel fight, right? That is indeed awesome.
On Thu, Jan 23, 2020 at 2:29 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Don 2, on first watch was kind of a let down after the opening scene. But I was watching again recently, where I actually paid attention, and realized it really wasn’t so bad. I love the joke of introducing his hacker man, and the camera shows a man drive up on a motorcycle and then Kunal rides by on his bicycle.
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The stuff in Don 2 like care chases and the final heist sequence really holds up. It just doesn’t have the pure joy (for me) that Don 1 does.
On Thu, Jan 23, 2020 at 2:40 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I’ve gone back and forth on Don 2. I’m in a moment of liking it again, though I agree it doesn’t have the joy and inventiveness of Don. One point in favor of Don 2 – the character of Don is one of his most fun to watch for me, I do like that we get to see him straight through with no layers on top.
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This is really for Emily but I couldn’t reply to her post. No layers? You’ve got to explain this one to me.
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I’m gonna be a bad person and answer for Emily. If you have seen Don 1, you know that Shahrukh’s performance involves a lot of “pretending to be someone pretending to be someone else”. While in Don 2, his character never pretends, is always himself.
On Fri, Jan 24, 2020 at 12:21 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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As you all know, I love Shah Rukh beyond all reason. But these retro posts are starting to make me sad because I do not want him or us to ‘rest on our laurels” by only looking to the past. That being said, my favorite favorite entrance is his very first one. I love to think about an audience in a regular, non fancy theater watching an average/to below average Rishi Kapoor film. Rishi is waaay too old to be playing a romantic hero in this. So they are eating and talking. Then interval. Then just as they are settling in their seats, the song comes on and over the crest of the highway comes this boy they have never seen and the audience is stunned into silence. WHO IS THIS. I’m not the first to say it, but even though it wasn’t the first movie he made, it was the first released so he roared into Hindi film.
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And he is so happy in that video! You can really see his joy with being on camera and making his movie star launch.
On Thu, Jan 23, 2020 at 4:12 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Absolutely and you also know how sad he was in actuality. His mother had died very recently and he didn’t know his future at all….
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I will always be grateful to the good forces of the Universe that they made Deewana be his launch movie!
As for you, this entry scene will have a special place in my heart. It will be in one line with JTHJ and K3G…I just put the other two before because there he is alone – with no distraction from him.
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And, in Yes Boss we see Mannat as it was when he bought it. He first saw it when he was filming this. Imagine this boy, new to the film industry sees that house and says, “It will be mine.”
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What? Mannat is in Yes Boss?
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Yes, during a song sequence (at 2 min):
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Yes; if you look closely when he jumps on the hood of the car in the long piano scene Mannat is in the background. It is a run down heritage house. If you google it, people have put up pictures of the then and now.
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And last entry before I go do the jobs I need to do: If I had watched that Kal Ho Na Ho entry more carefully I would have known the inevitable ending….I can’t watch that film anymore…it kills me. Spoiler comment: Just as Jo should marry Laurie, Rhett should come back to Scarlett, and FOR sure Naina should marry Aman……
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For me K3G is about the helicopter entrance and Main Hoon Na is about the helicopter exit. Both iconic.
Of the newer movies, the intro is the main thing I like about HNY, I could watch that scene over and over and skip the rest of the movie. And Raees is intense. Effective for the star, the character, and the story.
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Now I want to do an edit of K3G and MHN together, just so we can have the helicopter exit/entrance.
On Thu, Jan 23, 2020 at 9:51 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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When I read the title of this post I immediately thought of JTHJ. But, wait, Raees involves him shirtless, sweaty, and whipping himself with chains? How is it possible that this made no impression on me?
Also, just watching Devdas: Is “Kemon acho?” also Hindi for how are you, or is Kirron switching to Bengali for verisimilitude? Or am I mis-hearing it?
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Raees has a lot of different edits floating around, I know that whips one is the one I saw in theaters but it might not be the one on Netflix.
I feel like if JTHJ was your first thought, you should stick with that.
On Thu, Jan 23, 2020 at 9:52 PM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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Oh, oh, oh, there are so, so many entry scenes I love/like! I will always start with the one that I find the most impressive.
on/in/with a vehicle: JTHJ leading ‘the pack’, K3G, Deewana, Don2, ChalteChalte, KingUncle
through dreaming: KHKN, Zero, Dilwale, Ra.One, Baazigar
in a song: PBDHH, Billu, Chaahat, VeerZaara, YessBoss
with a match; Chak De, DDLJ, KANK
character intros: Raees (identity), Baadshah (really cooool), RNBDJ (shy), Dear Zindagi (ironic/charming), Koyla (devoted), Anjaam (pretentious), Swades (professional), Duplicate + RBGG (cute), One2Ka4 (dynamic), Chamatkar (nice), HeyRam (dedicated), Paheli (boring), Shakti (street smart), Army (naughty), Trimurti (kooky)
through a fight scene: MHN, HNY, ChennaiExpress,
‘bits & pieces’, then full: Darr, Don, Devdas, Mohabbatein
combination scenes+song (special impact): DilSe, JHMS, OSO, KHNH, ODYHI
Some, I don’t see as an intro but more within a/the story…like in KKHH, MayaMemsaab, Swades, Asoka, MNIK, Pardes, RamJaane, ZD
Then there are those intros I don’t find appealing like in DTPH,Karan-Arjun, Josh, HTHS, Guddu
There are also some ‘exit scenes’ I can swoon over 🙂
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I love how you broke this down! As you know, I spent much much time discussing the importance of Shahrukh’s intro in DDLJ being through Kajol’s fantasy, his character is there to serve hers right from the start. But I hadn’t thought about how many times his character is introduced through dreams, either his own or someone elses.
On Fri, Jan 24, 2020 at 2:01 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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I am partial to the Dear Zindagi reveal just cause it’s both understated and anticipated at the same time. We’re 35+ minutes into the movie, and we have learned by then that Kaira is a mess and she needs help, so when the camera reveals Dr. Jehangir Khan talking about the difference between crazy people and normal people. And of course later when she reaches his office before him, is waiting for him, and she opens the door to leave and he shows up there! It’s anticipated and understated! Love that entry.
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Dear Zindagi is good! Especially the way Gauri Shinde tricks us into thinking he isn’t getting an “entrance” at all. there’s no slow motion, no swelling music, none of the usual stuff. But she still builds up to him and makes his appearance feel like a big Thing.
On Fri, Apr 24, 2020 at 4:31 AM dontcallitbollywood wrote:
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