Dear Shah Rukh,
I know you must be excited and anxious about Pathaan but the advance ticket booking must have been a relief. It has shattered all the records. I am so happy to see that. I have been wanting to write this letter to you for a long time. People might call Pathaan your comeback film but you were never gone. Actors of your strata prefer to play the lead, but you proved that you are truly a superstar when you did cameos in several films, sometimes even without taking the fees. That shows how passionate you are about your profession. Respect!
Let me be honest, my one-sided love affair with you began when I was 4 years old and I saw a charming man slowly raising his arms in a mustard field. I still vividly remember the entire cinema hall erupted into whistles and claps when the girl came running to you. I sat there quietly with a huge smile on my face, and my mother tells me that I referred to you as ‘My Hero’ for days.
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayege, released in 1995 was the first film I saw in a theatre. As a child who loved Bollywood, I found comfort and happiness watching you. I have manifested meeting you ever since then. Imagining it brings tears (of happiness) to my eyes.
Now, almost 26 years later, I am still that girl who is willing to wake up early in the morning to watch the first show of Pathaan. I am more than excited to review the film as if it’s my own. I am waiting to see you spread the charm with your smile and dimples.
SRK, no matter what the future has in store, you’ll always be the superstar. Your stardom cannot be matched with any other actor in the Hindi film industry. The day I’ll meet you, I’d ask you – How it feels to be SRK?
You know I admire the way you’ve handled hard times and various controversies that surrounded you, your films, or your kids. Take a bow for that! You are a hero – both on and off the screen. People say that you have set expectations so high that women are waiting to find their Raj, but I’d say that you have set the expectations so high that I am waiting to find my Shah Rukh, a man who loves his wife and children and would take a bullet to protect them. That’s love for me.
You know SRK, I have laughed, cried, and danced with you for years, and I’d be brutally honest, you have also disappointed me numerous times with the movies you have chosen. But when I watched the interviews, you gave to various media portals and platforms, I found a person who is well-read, acutely self-aware, never lets go of a chance to crack a joke on himself, a person you can listen to for hours because you know he comes from knowledge and experience.
Shah Rukh, no matter how dark the days get, there will always be a sea of people standing outside your house, Mannat, waiting to greet you on your birthday or before your films. And that’s your legacy.
Yours Truly,
A Fan (always and forever)