Shah Rukh Khan

I'm the king of Bollywood! I can do whatever I want! (But I won't do that)

You don't know who you're dealing with here! This is KHAN! "The Tom Cruise of India", "the Brad Pitt of Bollywood", the Shia Labeouf of Mumbai, the Topher Grace of New Delhi, the dude from Twilight of Calcutta!"

—Aasif Mandvi on The Daily Show

Also called SRK or King Khan by those in the know. Chances are, if you've heard of Bollywood, you've heard of SRK. Maybe in a newspaper article calling him Bollywood's Tom Cruise or Harrison Ford, as in the page quote, but none of those descriptions can capture the mystique, the appeal, the popularity of the man himself (of course, he does have his share of detractors).

Famous for playing endearing manchildren who mature due to the the love of a good woman, but he does get some range in now and again by playing the Stalker with a Crush (Darr, Anjaam, Dil Se), Buddhist Emperors (Asoka), Super Coach to the Indian women's hockey team (Chak De India), a man with Asperger (My Name Is Khan), a deranged fanboy (Fan), and the eponymous Complete Monster in Don.

Forms a very popular onscreen jodi with Kajol and Madhuri Dixit, and helped launch the careers of several new actresses like Deepika Padukone and Anushka Sharma. Since 2013, Khan had requested that the name of his lead female co-stars appear above his own in the credits, claiming that the women on his life have been the reason of his success.

Notable Films:

• Asoka
• Baazigar
• Chak De! India
• Darr
• Devdas (the 2002 version)
• Dil Se
• Dil to Pagal Hai
• Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge
• Don the Chase Begins Again and it sequel Don 2
• Fan
• Happy New Year
• Jab Tak Hai Jaan
• Kabhi Kushi Kabhie Gham
• Kal Ho Naa Ho
• Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
• Main Hoon Na
• My Name Is Khan
• Om Shanti Om
• Paheli
• Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi
• Swades
• Veer-Zaara

Shah Rukh Khan provides examples of the following tropes:

• Almost Kiss: Refuses to kiss his costars (reportedly) out of respect for his wife. He only averted it in Jab Tak Hai Jaan, where he kissed his on-screen love interest interpreted by Katrina Kaif.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: You cannot have a Shah Rukh Khan movie without one of these.
• Can't Act Perverted Toward a Love Interest
• The Charmer: Used most famously in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge where he charms not only his love interest, but also her entire extended family including his girlfriend's future-in-laws of her arranged marriage that was being forced on her by her father and gets her father in the end to accept him as his son-in-law.
  • True in Real Life as well with his leading ladies (though their husbands don't seem to mind).
• Fan Service. All the time. More specifically Wet Dhoti Scenes.
• Love Hurts
• Love Makes You Crazy
• Psychopathic Manchild: Before he became famous as a chocolate hero, he was known for his villainous roles which were almost always in this mold. He revived this characterization for his Doppelganger antagonist in Fan.
• The Power of Love
• Puppy Dog Eyes. Boy howdy.
• Stalker with a Crush: He plays this in almost all his early movies. Either women he falls in love with return his love and he becomes endearing or in a darker movie, he becomes a psychopath.
• Verbal Tic: He's famous for his stutter. He also has a famous line reading from the movie Darr where his character stutters out the name of the heroine whom he is stalking. "K-k-k-k-kiran!"
• Stroke the Beard: He regularly strokes the hair on his head in each and every movie.