10 Years Of Chak De! India - Shah Rukh Khan's Life Comes Back Full Circle With Jab Harry Met Sejal
August 2007 - This is when history was created, what with Shah Rukh Khan starer Chak De! India not just emerging as a huge success, but also one of his most respected films ever. The film took a slow opening at the Box Office but then word of mouth spread like wild fire and by the time the opening weekend was through, the country was talking about this Shimit Amin directed film. The heady mix of sports, patriotism, and drama coupled with Shah Rukh Khan's bravura act made sure that the film achieved cult status over the decade gone by. The film is remembered till date, and how, for its entertainment quotient.
August 2017 - 10 years have gone by since Chak De! India and Shah Rukh Khan's newest release Jab Harry Met Sejal has turned out to be the biggest disappointment for the superstar in this time period. Though his winning streak of back to back centuries had already been broken by Fan last year, the kind of response that the Imtiaz Ali directed film has met with is something that no one could fathom. The film stands for nothing that Chak De! India was. It is not entertaining, it is largely boring and it has not captivated audience attention at all.
All that has still remained constant is Shah Rukh Khan's drive to deliver his best.
Nonetheless, what has turned out to be an ugly shock is the fact that not just has Jab Harry Met Sejal crashed big time, it is now also slated to conclude with a similar lifetime total as Chak De! India. One look at the lifetime total of Shah Rukh Khan releases over the decade gone by and it paints the picture right up there:
Happy New Year - 205 crore
Chennai Express - 227 crore
Dilwale - 148 crore
Raees - 137.51 crore
Fan - 85 crore
Jab Tak Hai Jaan - 122 crore
Don 2 - 107 crore
Ra. One - 114 crore
My Name Is Khan - 73 crore
Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi - 83 crore
Om Shanti Om - 80 crore
Chak De! India - 68 crore
Jab Harry Met Sejal - 68 crore* (expected)
As can be seen, he has delivered several back to back successes over the decade and Fan is the only film which hadn't actually gone well. Still, it had reached 85 crore mark. However, Jab Harry Met Sejal sits at the bottom of the barrel (its current score is around 60 crore and not much is expected to come in the days to come). What makes it all the more disappointing is the fact that in true value (after considering inflation and ticket prices), Chak De! India is actually much bigger than what it appears with its 68 crore total.
No wonder, life has come back full circle for Shah Rukh Khan and one just hopes that when he returns with Aanand L. Rai's film in winter of 2018, he makes a big enough impact to find himself right on the top of this list, hence surpassing even Happy New Year.