Shahrukh Khan

Shahrukh Khan (born November 2, 1965) is a wellknown Bollywood actor, producer, and was recently the host of the popular game show, "Kaun Banega Crorepati". Shahrukh Khan has established himself as one of the most prominent leading actors of Bollywood.

He was born to a Muslim family but was raised by Hindus for most of his life. His father's name was Taj Mohammed Khan, who was from the famous Pashtun Niazi tribe, was a freedom activist of Punjabi Pathan background. His mother Lateef Fatima,was the adopted daughter of Major General Shah Nawaz Khan of the Janjua Rajput clan, who served as a General in the Indian National Army of Subash Chandra Bose.

Khan's father came to Delhi from the Kissa Kahani Bazaar in Peshawar now in Pakistan, before the Partition of India.His mother's family came from Rawalpindi which is also in Pakistan now. Shahrukh Khan has a sister .Her name is Shehnaz, who is lovingly known as Lalarukh.
Shahrukh Khan attended St. Columba's School . He was good not only in acdemics but also in sports and drama . He won the Sword of Honour, an annual award given to the student who embodies most the spirit of the school. Then he attended the Hansraj College (1985-1988) to earn an Honors degree in Economics. Next, he completed his Masters Degree in Mass Communications from Jamia Millia Islamia University.

After the death of his parents, Khan moved from New Delhi to Mumbai in 1991. In 1991, he married Gauri Khan in a Hindu wedding ceremony. The couple has two children, son Aryan (born in 1997) and daughter Suhana (born in 2000).

Nasreen Munni Kabir, the noted British filmmaker, produced a two-part documentary film on Khan, named " The Inner and Outer World of Shah Rukh Khan" in 2005. The film Featured his 2004 Temptations concert tour.The film contrasted Khan's personal world of family and daily life with the outer world of his work. Another book on Shahrukh Khan named "Still Reading Khan" was released in 2006 which details his family and his life.Shahrukh Khan's life-size wax statue is available in Madame Tussauds wax museum ,London, which was installed in April 2007.Shahrukh Khan has been chosen for the "Ordre des Arts et des Lettres" (Order of the Arts and Literature) award of the French government for his “exceptional career”.

Shahrukh Khan started his acting career in 1988 with the popular television serial named Fauji where he played the role of Commando Abhimanyu Rai.Then he appeared in another television serials such as "Circus"(1989), based upon the life of circus performers. That same year he also had a minor role in the television film named "In Which Annie Gives it Those Ones".It was written by Arundhati Roy and was based on life at Delhi University.

After the death of his parents Khan moved from New Delhi to Mumbai in 1991. He made his Bollywood film debut in the movie"Deewana" (1992) which was a super hit and launched his career in Bollywood.Shahrukh Khan made his presence felt in movie in spite of the presence of established actors like Rishi Kapoor and Divya Bharati. He won the Filmfare Best Debut Award.

His next release was "Maya Memsaab" which was known for its controversial issues as Khan appeared in what was apparently an "Explicit for Bollywood" sex scene for the film. In 1993 he won acclaim for his performances as a psychopath lover and a cold blooded murderer respectively in the box office hits "Darr" and "Baazigar" . He won his first Filmfare Best Actor Award for his performance in "Baazigar".
He was also appreciated for his role as a young loser in Kundan Shah's "Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa" which earned him the Filmfare Best Actor Award (critics) that same year. In 1994 Khan once again played another negative and psychopathic role in "Anjaam". Although the movie was not successful but his performance in a negative role earned him the Filmfare Best Villain Award.

In 1995 he starred in Aditya Chopra's directorial debut "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" which was both a critical and a commercial success and has entered its twelfth year in Mumbai theaters, grossing over 12 billion rupees in all, making it as one of the biggest film blockbusters. The year 1996 was a unlucky year for Shahrukh Khan as all his films released that year flopped. In 1997 he made a great comeback, with Yash Chopra's "Dil to Pagal Hai" which went on to be the year's second highest grossing film. He was also praised for his performance in the film.

That same year he also had another hit with Subhash Ghai's "Pardes" ."Pardes" was one of the biggest hits of that year.He also appeared in Aziz Mirza's moderately successful film "Yes Boss".Khan was welcomed with similar success in 1998 starring in Karan Johar's directional debut "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" which was the biggest hit of the year and won him his third Best Actor award at the Filmfare. He was critically acclaimed for his performance in Mani Ratnam's" Dil Se" . Although the movie did not do well at the box office in India, but it earned good collections overseas.

While 1999 was another unfortunate year for Khan, the year 2000 saw good success, with Aditya Chopra's second directional film "Mohabbatein" doing well at the box office, and Mansoor Khan's hit "Josh". He gained critical acclaim for his performance in the former, which won him his second award for Best Actor (critics) at the Filmfare.

In that same year, Khan set up his own production house named "Dreamz Unlimited" in collaboration with Juhi Chawla. Both the partners starred in the first film from their production house named "Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani". But the movie did not do well at the box office.

In 2001, Shahrukh Khan worked with Karan Johar for the second time with the multi-starrer family film named "Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham" which also had many other big stars like Amitabh Bachhan , Hrittik Roshan, Jaya Bachhan, Kajol and Kareena Kapoor. The movie was one of the biggest hits of the year.

He was also praised for his performance as Emperor Asoka in the historical epic "Asoka" which was the second film from his production house.In 2002, Shahrukh Khan played the title role as the tragic lover Devdas in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's award-winning period romance "Devdas" (2002) .The movie was an adaptation of Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay's famous novel of the same name.

In 2003, Khan starred in "Chalte Chalte" along with Rani Mukherjee which was the first successful film for his production company. He then made his third film with Karan Johar, in Nikhil Advani's directional debut "Kal Ho Naa Ho" which went on to be one of the year's biggest hits in India and in the overseas market as well. Khan's performance as a guy who has heart disease was also well received.

2004 proved to be a good year for Khan commercially and critically as well. He set up another production company called "Red Chillies Entertainment". He starred in its first film "Main Hoon Na" which was also the directorial debut by Farah Khan. The movie did well at the box office, whilst Yash Chopra's "Veer-Zaara" was the biggest hit of that year.Shahrukh Khan performance in "Veer - Zaara" was praised and he won various awards for the role.

Shahrukh Khan's performance in Ashutosh Gowariker's "Swades" was critically acclaimed and also won him the Filmfare Best Actor Award for the sixth time.But the film was a box office failure.

His only major film release in 2005 was "Paheli" along with Rani Mukherjee which was also produced by Red Chillies Entertainment. He played the role of a friendly ghost in the movie.It was not as successful at the box office, but his performance was acclaimed.

In 2006 he once again collaborated with Karan Johar in the multi-starrer film "Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna"(2006) which did well in India and became the biggest hit in the overseas market. That same year he played the title role in Don (2006), a remake of the 1978 hit film Don which was also successful .

His most recent film was the sports film "Chak De India" which released on August 10, 2007. Khan received good reviews for his performance as the coach of a girl's hockey team in the film and the film is doing well at the box office despite a slow start.He recently made a cameo appearance in Farah Khan's brother Sajid Khan's directorial debut "Heyy Babyy" which released on August 24, 2007. His other forthcoming release is "Om Shanti Om".

He is also producing and starring in Farah Khan's Om Shanti Om which is due for release in November and making a cameo appearance in Farah Khan's brother Sajid Khan's directorial debut Heyy Babyy.Khan has also produced some of the films he has starred in. However he has had mixed success as both the producer and the star of his films.

Khan was chosen as the host of the third series of the popular game show Kaun Banega Crorepati, in 2007 taking over from the original host Amitabh Bachchan who had hosted the show from 2000 to 2005. The show is deemed the most popular programme in Indian television history. On Monday, January 22, 2007, "KBC" aired with Khan as the new host. The season ended on April 19 2007.