Shah Rukh Khan just became the first Indian actor to deliver a TED Talk address in Canada. In the 18-minute-long address, he left the audience enthralled with his charm. King Khan, as he is popularly called, was witty, thoughtful and entertaining throughout the session. He expressed his thoughts on stardom, romance and the global changes due to the advent of the internet.
Critics question him for doing the same kinds of roles for the past two decades. His views on intolerance and freedom of expressions are greeted with crude retorts like ‘deshdrohi’ and the actor is asked to ‘go to Pakistan’. A member of the elite Khan triumvirate, Shah Rukh Khan is often compared to peers Salman and Aamir. Social media trolls often deride him for ‘losing’ the sheen at the box office, often peppering him with nasty tweets and Facebook posts. Well, no offence to them. But Shah Rukh is more than an actors and his films. He is a businessman, philanthropist and a global icon.
On the contrary, the good deeds of Aamir Khan and Salman Khan get a lot of play in the Indian media. And Akshay Kumar, who has aced churning out movies with patriotic themes, is the darling of the media. All that he does and says, his app for soldiers and his national award makes news, also because of his popular image of being a nationalist. For some reasons, it is Shah Rukh Khan, who has the amazing quality of creating magic with his spoken and written words is somewhat misunderstood by our media.
Shah Rukh Khan while addressing TED Talks 2017.
His speech at TED Talk is a stark reminder of how he is among the flag-bearers of India at international platforms. He is bigger than we can imagine. Here are a few instances:
While he is not doing films or endorsing a product, Shah Rukh Khan can be seen delivering a lecture at a prestigious university abroad. His statements on life, Indian cinema and freedom of speech are followed by the international media.
He boasts of a record 24.60 million followers, which is more than that of Hollywood A-listers like Tom Cruise (6.21M) and Robert Downey Jr (8.01 million). But more than that, Shah Rukh Khan has shared stage with Google CEO Sundar Pichai and interviewed Lady Gaga as well. He has been knighted by the Malaysians and given the highest civil honour by the French government.
His speech at the University of Edinburgh is indeed inspirational. And by the way, he even performed the lungi dance at the event.
You should hear his speech at the Yale University as well.
Need we say more? While his fellow Delhiite Akshay Kumar won the National Award for Rustom, Shah Rukh is yet to get one. But the Ted Talks will remain as another feather in the cap of an actor who made his debut in television before making it big. While his fans are busy answering back trolls who question his patriotism, Khan is unabashedly keeping the Tricolour high in his own style.
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