Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan And Dilip Kumar's Similar Journey As Bollywood's Biggest Stars

Big B's Failure And Comeback With KBC

But in general, Bachchan's comeback as an actor was a failure and so was his production company, including the Miss World 1996 event in Bangalore that was allegedly mismanaged by ABCL. The ‘Big B' was declared bankrupt, post which he attempted to revive his acting career with films like Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (1993) and acted in his own Major Saab. But once again his films in 1999 like Lal Baadshah and Hindustan Ki Kasam bombed at the box office. It was in the year 2000 that Bachchan ventured into character roles. But it was his attempt to do a TV quiz show - the now famous Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) - that revived his career as an actor, and he has been unstoppable ever since in his new innings!

One may recall here that in the film Shakti (1982), Amitabh Bachchan was more of a threat to the veteran star Dilip Kumar than merely a co-star. Dilip Kumar was returning to acting after a long break with this Ramesh Sippy film. Dilip Sa'ab in the first schedule of Shakti felt that Amitabh Bachchan's voice and dialogue-delivery sounded like him. The actor summoned both the writers of the film, Salim-Javed (Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar), and he apparently told them that Bachchan was sounding like him and therefore took a gap before he came with a different version of himself on screen.

Like Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan, Dilip Kumar also had many ups and downs in his career. After his films like Gopi (1970), Dastaan (1972), Sagina (1974), Bairaag (1976) flopped, the actor took a break from films and made a notable comeback with Kranti (1981), the aforementioned Shakti, Mashaal (1984), Saudagar (1991), and his last film Qila (1998).

Unlike Amitabh Bachchan who continues to work as an actor, Dilip Kumar had decided to direct a film but it did not see the light of day. Now one only hopes that Shah Rukh Khan makes a course correction and takes the Bachchan route!

It is interesting to see the similarities between the lives of these three superstars - the highs, the lows and the getting back on the right track again Though they belong to completely different eras, their journeys spell the same! Take a look:

The beginnings

Both Dilip Kumar and Shah Rukh Khan's career took a flying start. In this, Amitabh Bachchan differed since he had a string of flops before he made his mark in Zanjeer and Namak Haraam in 1973. Strangely, Amitabh Bachchan's debut film Saat Hindustani and the then superstar Rajesh Khanna's film Aradhana released in the same year (1969). Bachchan dethroned Rajesh Khanna after Namak Haram.

Dilip Kumar entered the film industry Jwar Bhata (1944) before the Partition of India when there was curiosity about cinema. There were dreams and hopes and actors like Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand along with Dilip Kumar offered this to the audience through their cinema. Amitabh Bachchan, on the other hand, was more of a representative of a globalised cinema of India and he came from a generation that was creative but very result-oriented. It was by now believed that actors were products and marketing was essential for them.

The Decline

Dilip Kumar's decline began when he started dominating the director and the star in him popped out of the screenplay. His age had started showing when he was romancing Leena Chandawarkar in Bairaag. Before that, he had films that failed badly at the box office, and so he decided to take a break from acting for five years and returned in a new avatar as an ‘angry old man'.

Like Dilip Kumar, even Amitabh Bachchan took a break from acting, not once, but twice and failed to make a hit return. Bachchan took a break from acting to join politics. But the Bofors controversy hit his stardom very hard. Bachchan took a two-year break and returned with little luck with films like Aaj Ka Arjun (1990) and Hum (1991). Bachchan's career continued to dip from 1988 and he struggled till 1999, with his choice of films like Sooryavansham (1999) and the aforementioned Lal Badshah and Hindustan Ki Kasam failing miserably. Besides, the global star Shah Rukh Khan had started ruling the roost. The audience, too, had changed and didn't really want to see the kind of films Bachchan was part of.

In 2020, Shah Rukh Khan's career seems to be going the Bachchan way - his choice of films has dipped his box office rating, though his popularity as a star is still very high. Like Bachchan, SRK's career has taken several dips - the critics and the film industry said he was finished after Hrithik Roshan's entry in 2000 with Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai. But SRK continues to be one of the top-ranking stars, though the business of his films has dented his acting career. His last three films failed at the box office, but the failure of his last film Zero has shaken the actor so bad that he has not signed a single film for over a year now. He has been listening to scripts, but has not signed any and is spending time with family and producing content for digital platforms. We hear SRK wants to make a comeback with a commercial action film and hope it is a correct route, too!

The other problem with Shah Rukh Khan was that he did not want to move out of his comfort zone and had more faith in his stardom that reflected in the films that he chose for the longevity of his career as an actor.

The Correction

Dilip Kumar took a break from acting after Bairaag in 1976 and returned as an ‘angry old man' in Karma (1986) and continued his spell as a senior actor in films like Saudagar (1991) in which he was pitted against Raaj Kumar and later in Vidhata (1982). Dilip Kumar's die-hard fans still talk about Devdas (1955) and his other roles as the Tragedy King of Bollywood. His decision to direct a film ultimately finished his career as an actor.

Amitabh Bachchan also took a similar course correction as an actor after several failures as a lead. He got a chance to do TV with Kaun Banega Crorepati in 2000 and he took it, although during those days it was considered ‘down-market' to be a TV star. However, Bachchan who has a command over the Hindi language used it to win over his audience all over again! Kaun Banega Crorepati was a huge comeback for him.

Bachchan later met Yash Chopra for a film. It was the Shah Rukh Khan-Aishwarya Rai starrer Mohabbatein (2000), directed by Aditya Chopra, through which Bachchan moved from lead roles to playing principal characters. Today, Amitabh Bachchan continues to experiment with cinema and is also open to working with younger and new filmmakers.

The Controversies

Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and Dilip Kumar - all the three superstars have always had a huge impact on society and their actions really matter to their fans. As a result, they have been caught in controversial situations. They are socially commanding stars and it puts them in a position of great responsibility, with all their actions coming under heavy scrutiny.

Dilip Kumar got into trouble with his Indian fan-base after he accepted the Nishan-e-Pakistan award. The Shiv Sena protested against him, demanding he return the award. The thespian had to seek help from the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for protection and he was allowed to keep the award.

Amitabh Bachchan's life has been shrouded with controversies - the fallout of his political career due to his alleged involvement in the Bofors case, the photographers banning him at the peak of his career, and then the time when he was blamed for instigating Emergency in the country.

Shah Rukh Khan, too, has gotten into trouble a number of times. His statement on the inclusion of Pakistani cricket players in the Indian Premier League (IPL) got him into trouble with the Shiv Sena. As a result, the party protested and almost stopped the release of his film My Name is Khan (2010). He also got into a scuffle with a security professional at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai and was banned from entering the stadium for a long time. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation also demolished the ramp outside his bungalow Mannat, alleging it was illegal. SRK also was slammed for his comments on intolerance in the country.

Let's hope Shah Rukh Khan now takes the right decisions in terms of scripts and makes a spectacular comeback in Bollywood, like his seniors Amitabh Bachchan and Dilip Kumar!