Which is why we wince a little when watching him fill Amitabh Bachchan's hotseat. Over the last year the actor has been visibly trying to do his own Bigger-than-The-B thing, doing a badly received Don and declaring great intent to remake Deewar. For now, he's trying out Mr Bachchan's game show, and the sleeves still seem a shade too long for SRK.
(For those who say comparisons shouldn't be made, hush. SRK wants the contrasts judged, and he wants to win. He's taking Bachchan head-on, with a superlative grand ambition you can't help but be awed by. King Khan is out to oust Emperor Bachchan, and he's rushing to the kill, Karan-tailored wardrobe blazing.)
Prem Panicker: SRK makes KBC work, and how!
Waiting in front of our television sets, things kicked off with significantly ill portent. A tacky music video, styled like Abhishek Bachchan's Bluffmaster, with an overdone English bit straight out of Amitabh's Namak Halaal soliloquy. Star TV, please tell us that this is just for the launch, and we won't have to sit through 'Rupa's baniyan' jokes everyday? Please.
Khan kicked off the show welcoming rollover contestant Prasenjit Sarkar, a man fortunate enough to share seats with both mega hosts. SRK introduced his new phrase, but it seemed very contrived: 'I won't lock, I'll freeze,' he said. Um, okay? Then came the Bangla-butchering. While both Khan and Bachchan are anything but maach-eating natives, Amitabh's sophistication shone through in his near-pristine attempts at any language -- then again, to be fair, he did marry into a very Bangla family.
All we ask of Khan is that he do his homework a tad better (he knew his first contestant ages in advance, after all), and maybe learn to pronounce 'Kolkata.' Or he could decide to leave the Bangla (and soon, the Telugu) out of the show, his attempts anyway tinged with a supercilious flavour.
The Kaun Banega Crorepati section
Which brings us to a major issue: Shah Rukh persistently tosses us a smirk we haven't quite deciphered yet. Is this condescension towards these contestants, nervousness, or defiance against the Big B? He started his show trying to get a laugh with overpure Hindi, and occasionally licking his lips in a clear show of nerves. We're used to him being irresistibly cocksure and full of great bluster, and this anxiety to please, nay outdo, isn't quite becoming of him. What say you, Compaq-garu?
Shah Rukh Khan is a wit, arguably the sharpest talker in Bollywood, both rapier-edged and articulate. That's what makes the prospect of this show so mouthwatering, but the major chunk of opening night banter was reserved for his forced attempts at creating catchphrases (what's with kachcha-pakka, really?) to replace Bachchan's iconic ones, his doubts ('Did you enjoy this?,' 'Hope I was good enough') and, most crucially, his trying way, way too hard.
Neither Bachchan nor Khan can ever be an everyman. They're far too massive. Yet Amitabh struck a perfect balance between awesome and accessible, coming across as a genial, niceguy superstar. Khan, with his massages and hugs, tries perhaps too hard to be one of the people, and doesn't yet look convincing enough. Is he throwing in too much too soon in an effort to win the viewers?
This is however a review based on one hour. An hour where a young star nervously tried to eclipse an icon. An hour where we saw Shah Rukh more unsure than ever. An hour where Amitabh Bachchan was decidedly not dethroned. But nevertheless, just the first of several hours.
Maybe it was just opening-night jitters. Shah Rukh Khan is a champ, a man who rises to the occasion and one who has made a habit of achieving the unthinkable. Give him a couple of nights, a couple of weeks and he'll hopefully grow into his own affable self, instead of trying to vainly be the Anti-Amitabh.
Good luck, SRK. But no high-five for you just yet.
