The Khan with the biggest clout at the box office has a hard act to follow.
Devdas was not just the biggest success of 2002, it also placed a huge responsibility on Shah Rukh Khan's shoulders: what next?
Shah Rukh says he plays just a regular character in his new film Chalte Chalte. "Devdas was a hard act to follow. Films like [Aditya Chopra's] Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and [Karan Johar's] Kuch Kuch Hota Hai gave me a larger-than-life image. In each film, I was expected to make an 'entry', the way heroes did in the 1970s with the camera panning the shoes first. Now it is time for me to behave like that character in mythology who decided to become a mosquito to fight the rakshasa [demon].
"I play an ordinary character in Chalte Chalte. It's a simple character. It is a very Hrishikesh Mukherjee kind of film. It is really about people who are normal. I don't even want to be noticed in Chalte Chalte. Adaaon se mein maar khaa gaya nahin to main bahut achcha actor hota [Gimmickry got the better of me, otherwise I would have been a great actor]."
The actor, who is currently holidaying with his wife and two children in London, is all praise for his co-star Rani Mukerji, who replaced Aishwarya Rai in Chalte Chalte after she had shot for the film for two days.
The question is, will audiences accept their superhero as a workday guy who woos, and almost loses, the girl?