Shah Rukh Khan

Shah Rukh KhanTemplate:Efn (Template:IPA; born as Shahrukh Khan on 2 November 1965), popularly known by the initials SRK, is an Indian actor and film producer renowned for his work in Hindi cinema. Referred to in the media as the "Baadshah of Bollywood" and "King Khan",Template:Efn he has appeared in more than 100 films and earned numerous accolades, including a National Film Award and 15 Filmfare Awards. He has been awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India, as well as the Order of Arts and Letters and Legion of Honour by the Government of France. Khan has a significant following in Asia and among the Indian diaspora worldwide. In terms of income, several media outlets have described him as one of the most successful film stars in the world.Template:Efn

Khan began his career with appearances in several television series in the late 1980s and made his Hindi film debut in 1992 with the musical romance Deewana. He was initially recognised for playing villainous roles in the films Baazigar (1993) and Darr (1993). Khan established himself by starring in a series of top-grossing romantic films, including Template:Lang (1995), Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998), Mohabbatein (2000), Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001), Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003), Veer-Zaara (2004), and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006). He earned critical acclaim for his portrayal of an alcoholic in the period romantic drama Devdas (2002), a NASA scientist in the social drama Swades (2004), a hockey coach in the sports drama Chak De! India (2007), and a man with Asperger syndrome in the drama My Name Is Khan (2010). Further commercial successes came with the romances Om Shanti Om (2007) and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008), and with his expansion to comedies in Chennai Express (2013) and Happy New Year (2014). Following a brief setback and hiatus, Khan made a career comeback with the 2023 action thrillers Pathaan and Jawan, both of which rank among the highest-grossing Indian films. For Jawan, he received the National Film Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

As of 2015, Khan is co-chairman of the motion picture production company Red Chillies Entertainment and its subsidiaries and is the co-owner of the Indian Premier League cricket team Kolkata Knight Riders and the Caribbean Premier League team Trinbago Knight Riders. He is a frequent television presenter and stage show performer. Khan's philanthropic endeavours have provided health care and disaster relief, and he was honoured with UNESCO's Pyramide con Marni award in 2011 for his support of children's education and the World Economic Forum's Crystal Award in 2018 for advocating for women's and children's rights in India. He regularly features in listings of the most influential people in Indian culture, and in 2008, Newsweek named him one of their fifty most powerful people in the world. In 2022, Khan was voted one of the 50 greatest actors of all time in a readers' poll by Empire, and in 2023, Time named him as one of the most influential people in the world.

Early life and family

Parents

Khan's father, Mir Taj Mohammed Khan, was an Indian independence activist from Peshawar who campaigned alongside the Khudai Khidmatgar, a nonviolent resistance movement led by Abdul Ghaffar Khan that sought a united and independent India. Mir was a follower of Abdul Ghaffar Khan,Template:Sfn and affiliated with the Indian National Congress. He was also the cousin of the major general in the Indian National Army Shah Nawaz Khan.Template:Efn According to Khan, his paternal grandfather, Mir Jan Muhammad Khan, was an ethnic Pashtun (Pathan) from Afghanistan. However, his paternal cousins in Peshawar later clarified that the family speaks Hindko, a language related to Punjabi that Khan can understand and speak even if not fluently, and is originally from Kashmir, from where they settled in Peshawar centuries back, thus contradicting the claim that his grandfather was a Pashtun from Afghanistan. As of 2010, Khan's paternal family was still living in the Shah Wali Qataal area of Peshawar's Qissa Khwani Bazaar.

In 1946, Mir moved to Delhi to study law at Delhi University.Template:Sfn With the partition of India in 1947, he was forced to stay in Delhi and did not return to Peshawar until many years later.Template:Sfn Khan's mother, Lateef Fatima, a magistrate, was the daughter of a senior government engineer.Template:SfnTemplate:Efn His parents were married in 1959.Template:Sfn

Early life

Khan was born as Shahrukh Khan on 2 November 1965 into a Muslim family in New Delhi.Template:Sfn He spent the first five years of his life in Mangalore, where his maternal grandfather, Iftikhar Ahmed, served as chief engineer of the port in the 1960s.Template:Efn Khan has described himself on Twitter as "half Hyderabadi (mother), half Pathan (father), and some Kashmiri (grandmother)".

Khan grew up in the Rajendra Nagar neighbourhood of New Delhi. His father had several business ventures including a restaurant, and the family lived a middle-class life in rented apartments.Template:Sfn Khan attended St. Columba's School in central Delhi where he excelled in his studies and in sports such as hockey and football,Template:Sfn and received the school's highest award, the Sword of Honour.Template:Sfn Initially Khan aspired to pursue a career in sports, however a shoulder injury in his early years meant that he could no longer play. Instead, in his youth, he acted in stage plays and received praise for his imitations of Bollywood actors, of which his favourites were Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, and Mumtaz.Template:Sfn One of his childhood friends and acting partners was Amrita Singh, who became a Bollywood actress.Template:Sfn Khan enrolled at University of Delhi’s Hansraj College (1985–88) to earn his bachelor's degree in economics, but spent much of his time at Delhi's Theatre Action Group (TAG),Template:Sfn where he studied acting under the mentorship of theatre director Barry John.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Baker, Steven |date=9 April 2007 |title=Theatre is at an all-time low in Delhi |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/art-and-culture/theatre-is-at-an-all-time-low-in-delhi/story-cdTZmWVLZbZpajDHYUYWiM.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001114344/http://www.hindustantimes.com/art-and-culture/theatre