The Shah Rukh that nobody knows!
Why is he ashamed to reveal his secret side?
Rohini Lyer
Shah Rukh Khan will not like this. To put it bluntly, the actor is a hypocrite. Khan wants everyone to believe that he doesn't give a damn about the world. That he doesn't care about opinions. That he is completely self-centered. That all he cares about is his own little well, the one he lives in, where he is the frog prince. "I love myself and all is well in my world," Shah Rukh's favorite slogan goes hand in hand with the facade he has maintained so well all these years. Only the people who know Khan too well know better. They can see behind the mask. This one-man variety show. Others don't stand a chance of getting close. The world is a stage and Shah has put a lot of effort into perfecting his act.
Perhaps that is one reason why the Killer Khan would never admit to his emotional side, which he hides as if its existence were monstrous. The other side, which he would probably call the path of the heart. Only the chosen are allowed a glimpse of this side. And then there are a few lucky ones who at least manage to get a brief glimpse of it. Without ever having met the man.
Ask Inder Kumar. The hero of Masoom who initially had every vendor singing his praises. The music industry bigwigs promoted him in a big way. Not to mention the fair-weather fans who couldn't stop raving about Inder's talent. Until recently. One wrong move and the newcomer's carefree existence collapsed like a house of cards. It all started when Inder had to do a dangerous stunt scene for Majboor, one of his films in production. The enthusiastic newcomer gave his all to pull off the stunt, which required him to make a flying leap out of a helicopter (in the style of his first promoter Khiladi Kumar) from a height of about fifty feet. Unfortunately, it backfired badly and Inder was hospitalized for months with a fracture in his right leg and a broken back. Then came the final blow. Doctors suspected paralysis. That all but spelled the end of his promising career. That's when the bright-eyed newcomer was forced to face the harsh reality. The friends disappeared overnight. Some panicked producers decided to take a U-turn and disown the actor outright. Only a few loyalists rallied around him, mainly his co-stars. Akshay Kumar, Raveena Tandon, Ayesha Jhulka, rumoured to be his girlfriend, Isha Khopekar, among others. And where does Shah Rukh Khan fit into the picture, you might ask? Exactly. That's the surprise factor. Shah Rukh, who didn't even know Inder until his unfortunate incident, suddenly turned out to be a regular visitor at the suburban hospital where Inder was battling for his life for nearly four months.
Shah, who was suffering from a torn ligament at the time, didn't give a second thought to his own ailments when he heard of his fellow actor's serious injury. Although dead tired himself, the actor would head straight to Inder's station every evening and stay the whole night, reading him the Kalma (the Islamic declaration of prayer). Reciting the Quran himself. At other times, Shah Rukh would end up going full entertainer in an attempt to chase away Inder's depression. This completely bowled over the young Kumar. Here came a total stranger, a hugely popular star, who himself barely had time to visit an ailing aspiring actor, cheer him up and help him recover. What was it if not pure compassion?
No wonder Inder still can't stop singing Shah's praises. "He is amazing. He is a fabulous human being. Shah Rukh didn't know me at all. As far as he was concerned, I was just Inder Kumar, an actor. But he still came to see me. He was so brilliant and encouraging. He prayed for me, he even read me the Kalma. I can never forget the fact that he did so much for me despite being such a big star. When I met him after I got out of the hospital, he was even more amazing. He is such a super guy..." Inder was all praise for Khan when we got in touch for a review. And he was quite emotional about it too.
Now you know why Shah Rukh won't like this. Because his tough, 'you'll find me hard to swallow' mask has just been pushed aside. And what do you see? That this Khan has a heart of gold.
And we challenge Shah Rukh or Inder Kumar to deny that.