Shah Rukh Khan

<p><b>In this unique study of the star, Sunera Thobani unpacks Shah Rukh Khan's unlikely and yet unparalleled rise to fame, set against the backdrop of India's evolving socio-political landscape.</b><br><br>Thobani provides close readings of key films from across Khan's three-decade-long career, including <i>Darr </i>(1993), <i>Swades </i>(2004), <i>Om Shanti Om </i>(2007), <i>My Name is Khan</i> (2010) and his most recent work <i>Dunki </i>(2023), examining his depiction of a 'desirable masculinity' and how this differs from notable predecessors like Amitabh Bachchan and his 'angry young man' persona during the 1970s. Through the lens of Khan's Indian-Muslim identity, she analyses his often risky role choices, arguing that he is able to simultaneously embody hegemonic and counter-hegemonic discourses, while staunchly resisting the relegation of Muslims to the margins of Indian nationhood since the earliest stages of his stardom.<br><br>She goes on to explore Khan’s popularity amongst diasporic communities in South East Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, considering how his cultural politics, both on- and off- screen, embody the dichotomies of majority and minority, nation and diaspora, and tradition and modernity, arguing that it is this dynamism that bolsters his lasting cultural influence and transnational stardom.</p>