SRK aka Shah Rukh Khan. Not just a name, but an enigma. A superstar. An icon. Try what you may and there would be a point in time where no adjective would perfectly come to describe a man in whose life there are no full-stops. The “Fauji” of his own career, who, well after becoming a (multiple) Carorepati, hosted a show that, quite frankly, needs no introduction: Kaun Banega Carorepati.
And in 2006-07 season, there did come a moment in time where the inimitable Amitabh Bachchan, the man who may never be replaced by another star, regardless of what generation, genre or era, was replaced by Shah Rukh Khan as a host of KBC. An attempt to introduce a radical new change, some would’ve thought?
To many others, a change whose time had come. Regardless- nine in ten would tell you that it never really paid off.
Hence, Shah Rukh Khan, SRK that is, was replaced and the main man came back to adorn KBC’s throne.
While many may still, to this day, have their own versions about what went wrong and that SRK just wasn’t good enough, what could not have been avoided was the customary wit and the eloquence with which the mighty King Khan went about hosting the show in the little time afforded to him.
But was there ever a possibility of SRK actually staying put for as long as the age of 60? Could he have hosted the show well into 60 (years of age).
As a matter of fact, while Mr. Amitabh Bachchan who’s well past that age, being the great machine that he is and having not backed off from active work one bit, just come to think of it how it would’ve been with SRK hosting the show until his age of 60?
Taking nothing away from the legend behind movies like- Swades, Pardes, Veer Zara, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kal Ho Na Ho, Chak De and countless others, would he have sustained himself the way Mr. Bachchan still is?
Surely, in a culture and nation that takes to comparisons with the same passion with which Tendulkar takes to batting, this would have been the greatest question of them all.
Yet, what happened even as SRK revealed his desire to host the show until the age of 60?
How was he able to not succeed and did he actually feel that he was the ‘right’ choice for it.
We all have our views on it and it makes little sense to dissect the smallest or biggest of issues, but there again, here’s what the man himself had to say, as per a news report published on the respected Hindustan Times:
During an appearance on Koffee With Karan in 2007, Shah Rukh was asked during the rapid-fire round to name someone else that he could see as the host of KBC. “I don’t know. See, before the last host sort of gave up the place, he was 60. So, I don’t know, till I am 60, I don’t see anyone else. Post that, anyone. Would you like to take over?” he asked Karan Johar.
Farah Khan intervened, “He won’t know any of the answers.” Shah Rukh jokingly said that Karan would not even know any of the questions.
Now what makes sense is to note that the mighty King Khan, who’s never had any dearth of movies as such wished to host the show, when like any egotistical actor, many of whom have more attitude than success on their resumes, when he could so easily have discarded the very thought.
Really, something that makes him one of a kind?