A distance of 1,314 kilometres separates Chennai from Mumbai’s iconic old-world theatre Maratha Mandir, where Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol’s Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ) turned 30 on Monday (October 20, 2025). While the romantic blockbuster is on a seemingly eternal run, it is also time to look at Shah Rukh’s celluloid links with the Madras of the past.
It is a bond further strengthened recently as Shah Rukh’s maiden national award for best actor was garnered for his role in Jawan, a movie directed by Chennai-based Atlee. Back in 1993, Baazigar was quite the rage in Madras, and the film catapulted Shah Rukh towards stardom.
After 30 years, why do we still fall in love with DDLJ’s Shah Rukh Khan?
He immediately followed it up with Darr, and in this too, the actor donned a role with a negative shade, and movie halls erupted with cheers when he appeared on screen. There were some theories about the Shah Rukh phenomenon at the Madras box office, and inputs were drawn from the Tamil audience’s soft-corner for villains-turned-heroes.
Shah Rukh Khan in ‘Darr’
