Perfectionist fumbled badly with his last release when Yash Raj Films' big-budget Thugs of Hindostan (2018) disappointed the audience and the critics alike. Long considered to be the King of Bollywood and the God of Box Office, Shah Rukh apparently is facing a do-or-die situation now. Farah Khan's Happy New Year (2014) and Rahul Dholakia's Raees (2017) did not flop as such, but both the films did not do as well as expected either. Actually, since Rohit Shetty's Chennai Express (20130, none of Shahrukh’s movies has turned out to be a blockbuster. Such conjectures, however, did not arise merely because of the failure of Zero. Ever since Zero crashed at the ticket windows in December 2018, speculations have been rife in and outside the Hindi film industry that SRK has lost his Midas touch. Shah Rukh has a lot at stake in his upcoming ventures. If reports are to be believed, he might resume shooting his films in December. But everything came to a halt owing to the arrest of the son. It was widely expected that after a long hiatus, Shah Rukh would come back with a bang with not one but three back-to-back movies and silence his critics who had been putting a big question mark on his future after the failure of his last few films. He had also reportedly given his nod for Rajkumar Hirani's next film.
He, therefore, began shooting for Yash Raj Films' Pathan and the next film of South India's well-known director Atlee once the Covid situation eased off. Ever since his ambitious film, Zero (2018) bombed at the box office three years ago, Shah Rukh had been making meticulous plans to stage a grand comeback with a film that could prolong his three-decade reign in the film industry.
The arrest of his son Aryan Khan in the Mumbai cruise drugs case recently turned out to be a personal blow to superstar Shah Rukh Khan not only as a father but also as a professional actor. The rise of news stars, the prolonged shutdown of theatres, the advent of over-the-top (OTT) platforms and, above all, the remarkable predilection of the new-age audience for fresh content have thrown a big challenge to the indisputable kings of the box office.
After ruling the Hindi film industry for about three decades, the kingdom of the formidable triumvirate of the Khans – Aamir, Salman and Shah Rukh appears to be facing an unprecedented threat.
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