Shah Rukh Khan made his acting debut in films with 1992 smash hit Deewana. The actor was seen in a supporting role in the film with Rishi Kapoor playing the lead alongside Divya Bharti.

Post the huge success of Deewana, Shah Rukh Khan went from strength to strength at the box office in a short span of period, leaving every established & new star far behind proving his box office supremacy.

The King of Bollywood ruled the industry ever since delivering one blockbuster after the other with no major competition in sight. Sure, there were fellow superstars like Sunny Deol, Govinda, Salman Khan, Suniel Shetty, Ajay Devgn, Aamir Khan & Akshay Kumar who’d deliver a blockbuster here & there, but no one had the consistency of Shah Rukh Khan.

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While he ruled the ‘90s and post-’00s, it was a one-horse race for Shah Rukh Khan as he delivered the biggest blockbusters of the year in a row.

And I believe, the way Om Shanti Om in 2007 & Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi in 2008 rocked the box office, it was the peak of Shah Rukh Khan doing what he does best.

However, things changed drastically post-2008 with the release of Ghajini followed by Wanted & the final nail in the coffin was Dabangg in 2010.

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This was also the time that marked the rise & rise of Salman Khan while Aamir Khan constantly delivered mega-blockbusters.

The last decade was the worst for Shah Rukh Khan in terms of box office & now, he is all set to make a comeback hoping to reclaim his past glory with the release of Pathaan.

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Before Pathaan, here are 5 reasons why Shah Rukh Khan lost his top spot to Salman Khan, Aamir Khan & other superstars:

1. Lots of Experiments

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Post-2010s, when most of the stars stuck to done & dusted formula & churned out blockbusters, Shah Rukh Khan believed in backing unique content which didn’t work out for him every time.

While Salman was doing the likes of Dabangg, Bodyguard, Ek Tha Tiger, Tiger Zinda Hai etc, Shah Rukh delivered My Name is Khan, Ra.One, FAN, Jab Harry Met Sejal & Zero.

Not all of these films received love from the audience & Shah Rukh Khan slowly alienated himself from what the audiences were willing to see at the time.

Interestingly, Ra.One is now getting its due after a decade and I believe in the longer run, films like FAN & Zero will be considered cults.

2. Lack of Masala Entertainers

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Post-2010 was the era of masala entertainers and it seemed Shah Rukh didn’t get the memo. This was also the time when box office numbers in Bollywood saw unprecedented growth.

In this decade, Shah Rukh only had one blockbuster which was Chennai Express, a masala entertainer. He did try the genre again with Happy New Year & got good results, however, Dilwale received heavy criticism and didn’t get the love as expected from the audience.

There was also Raees, which masqueraded as a masala entertainer but in reality, it turned out to be a dark film.

If you look at the box office stats, Chennai Express is still Shah Rukh’s highest grosser (inflation unadjusted). The film stands at the 12th spot in the all-time worldwide ranking followed by Happy New Year at the 19th spot & Dilwale at 21st.

Now, Dilwale was not a clean hit & still it’s his third-highest grosser which goes on to show that all SRK needed was a better masala entertainer & he’d have ruled the box office.

3. Age Catching Up To King Of Romance

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It was his romantic films that made him the world’s biggest star and the unfortunate thing with romantic stars is that there comes a time when you have to put a stop to the roles you are doing when age catches up.

While his fellow superstars like Salman could continue with action films & Aamir could continue with social dramas, the genres they ace, Shah Rukh couldn’t fit into the mould of the romantic comedies which is a youth-centric zone.

And perhaps, that’s why one saw him doing a lot of experiments instead of sticking to the genre that was working.

3. Bad Music & Films Lacking Repeat Value

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In the first two decades of his career, the music in Shah Rukh Khan’s films used to be bangers. However, in the past decade, barring Chammak Challo in Ra.One, Gerua in Dilwale, Lungi Dance in Chennai Express, Zaalima in Raees & Hawayein in Jab Harry Met Sejal, most of the Shah Rukh Khan songs just failed to find listeners.

Similarly, you can pick almost any Shah Rukh Khan movie pre-’10s and can watch it multiple times. However, in the last decade, there was only a handful of them that had the repeat value and those were Ra.One, Chennai Express & FAN.

4. Poor Script Selection

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Let’s be honest, there is something seriously going wrong with the selection of scripts by Shah Rukh Khan. We can talk all about the experiments & genres but if the writing isn’t up to the mark then nothing works.

Case in point, Zero, FAN, Jab Harry Met Sejal & Raees. All these films had the potential to be massive hits but somehow writing faltered and these films are proof of it.

Now, Shah Rukh Khan is making a comeback with three massive films, Pathan, Jawan & Dunki. All three films belong to different genres and are expected to set the box office on fire.

There is hope from everyone that Shah Rukh Khan will finally find his name in the top 10 list of highest-grossing Bollywood films of all time.

It’s been four years since SRK was seen on the big screen & 8 years since he delivered a clean hit. Here’s hoping it all changes with Yash Raj Films’ Pathaan on January 25, 2023.