Bollywood’s Khan Flops as Superhero in India’s Costliest Movie
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Shah Rukh Khan climbed to the summit of Bollywood on a path trodden in the U.S. by stars like Humphrey Bogart and Cary Grant: playing mostly the same character in film after film.
Khan at his box-office best portrays a fast-talking, modern young man with raffish good looks who enchants the heroine and then reveals a respect for Indian tradition that charms her mother. When mum asks the couple to elope, our hero refuses and vows to win over the grumpy patriarchal father, thus capturing the hearts and rupees of every movie-going daughter and mother.