The Mannat curse that engulfed the actor Shah Rukh Khan

Mannat house story: It was in the year 1992, when a slim boy crooned his way into the hearts of the masses. Leaving the handles-bars of his sports bike, singing the tune of ‘Koi Na Koi Chahiye Pyaar Karne Waala’, a chocolate boy made his grand entry into the world of Hindi cinema. Coming all the way from Delhi to try his luck in the ‘City of Dreams’, he went on to be known as the ‘King of Romance’, Shah Rukh Khan.

Once a part of the millions like us, he is now the heartbeat of billions around the globe. He started his career in Hindi Film industry by showing off his manliness. He rode bikes, sang songs and ultimately reinvented romance in the minds of the people. It was the role in movies like Daar, Baazigar and Anjaam that established him on the big screen as a capable risk taker.

Mannat

Shah Rukh received applause from the critics and audience alike. He got praised as one of the critically acclaimed stars in the nation. This sudden rise to fame now lured him to buy a sea facing house on the beaches of Mumbai. Most of the megastars owned sea facing homes at that time. Shah Rukh too bought a property which he named Jannat first and ‘Mannat’ later.

However, the cost of the property was too much for the actor to digest. Now there are two theories behind his source of funding for Mannat. Once Salman Khan joked that had he not rejected Baazigar, SRK would never have bought Mannat. However, a more believable theory is the one, where he had to enter into agreements with Yash Johar and Yash Raj for long term contracts. No wonder we could see SRK develop into the lover boy he is well known for.

From action to no action

This however, restricted Shah Rukh from playing diverse roles. Both, Yash Raj and Yash Johar needed a romantic actor for their projects. Rishi Kapoor, Anil Kapoor and actors of those leads were too old to play the role of the romantic boy next door. Shah Rukh turned out to be the best possible replacement. However, it cost the actor too much if we look at it in terms of his acting. Ever since, Shah Rukh never came out of the roles of Raj and Rahul.

Shah Rukh’s journey with the Johars and Chopras has been great as he gave blockbusters like DDLJ, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, and the like. But if we talk with respect to the roles and the impact that could have been created, we can very well say that the actor missed the mark.

Also read: After the failure of “Zero” at the box office, Shah Rukh Khan doesn’t want to do films anymore

Just a poster boy

Once, acclaimed to be the most promising star, he has now been reduced to an advertising star. With his age increasing, the possibilities of getting a romantic role does not hold good prospect. Therefore, we can see a downfall in his career in the last few years.

The actor has not experimented much with the roles he took. His only famous experiment can be said to be the role he played in Chak De India and that experiment worked in his favour. Other than that he failed horribly in whatever experiments he did, be it Hey Ram, or Asoka, or even Swades to name a few.

Also read: Shah Rukh Khan is to acting what Pritam and Anu Malik are to music

Too late

That is to say, that the actor started experimenting too late due to the long association he had with the two greats, the Johars and the Chopras. At the core of this dichotomy is the curse which came along with the fascination to own the sea facing home “Mannat”.

Sadly, we as fans of cinema can certainly say that India would have a produced actor par excellence going by the skills shown in movies like Darr, Baazigar and few more of initial SRK projects. To make my point more factual let me tell you that Shah Rukh’s role in Darr was so advanced and  promising that it was copied as it is in a Hollywood movie.

But alas! We as audience could not receive enough of Shah Rukh khan as he kept his peak hours of journey in the world of cinema confined to romance. It’s sad to see that the once King of Hindi cinema is not the King anymore and has been reduced to an endorsement star.

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