Watching Circus on Doordarshan brings back best memories of Shah Rukh Khan

It's hard to recall the last time Shah Rukh Khan remained completely honest in his interviews. When you scroll through the internet, you get to see one of the AIB podcasts where the superstar had been in his honest-self.

When he decided to remain politically correct, and why he wants to remain that way, his expressions were unmissable. Although he may or may not have answered the questions the way you wanted to hear them, you would still want to watch it, because at least somewhere he is not reciting rehearsed speeches and dialogues. 

But most of the time, you only end up listening to the same old rehashed, polished, politically correct speeches. On very rare instances these interviews happen to be different from the rest.

SRK's performance in Fauji, Circus 

His performance in Doordarshan television serials such as Circus, Fauji, reflected his strong foundation in theatre and drama. During an exclusive conversation with International Business Times, Rajit Kapur had shared the simpler times when characters were written based on their scripts. Times were simpler. Scripts would serve the purpose of the story, and go on without interferences from the non-creative departments.

After years of watching Shah Rukh Khan decorated with various brands, watching Shekhar in Circus without the branded spectacles, or a GAP T-shirt, remained a refreshing break from the brand that he created about himself. Scripts back then were written keeping characters in mind, but for the past couple of years, Shah Rukh Khan's films have been catering to his stardom.

In 2016, when Yash Raj released Fan, we anticipated the film to be a platform where we can see the actor in his true self again. Sadly, it turned out to be the most narcissistic choice made by the Shah Rukh Khan, where he became a fan of his own brand.

When you see actors such as Vicky Kaushal, Rajkummar Rao, Ayushmann Khurrana on screen, it is impossible to forget the roles they have portrayed on screen.

The three Vickys' of the Hindi film industry (Vicky Kaushal - for real, Vicky or Bicky from Stree, and Vicky Arora from Vicky Donor) have played characters which were so filled with real-life and rare kinds of honesty even while playing their characters in a mainstream film. They parted ways with their stardom and became mere tools to be a part of the cinematic universe that is adapted from real life.

For several reasons, these actors manage to hold your attention and speak to you. Watching Circus in the midst of lockdown only reminds us that there used to be a time when Shah Rukh Khan too used to be one of these ordinary middle-class boys from Delhi, who cared less about the next #AskSRK session and more about the good-scripts and acting opportunities.

Watching Shah Rukh Khan in these characters after years of enjoying his King Khan phase as Rahul, Raj, Aman he managed to hold our attention with the very thought, that there once dwelled a carefree boy in him, who never restricted himself from having an opinion even if that had been a different one.

In years to come, only Shah Rukh Khan the actor, the producer, the superstar can tell if he can go back to those times and relive those characters again, or if he wants to rebuild the legend like the king of romance with the new generation of cinephiles.