On Women’s Day, Here’s Why SRK is Our Favourite Feminist Star

Thank you, Shah Rukh Khan, for everything: particularly for being the poster boy for feminism in a highly sexist town

(Shah Rukh Khan has never held back when it comes to discussing the parity in treatment of male and female actors in Bollywood. He doesn’t brush it under a rug, and unlike many of his contemporaries – doesn’t deny gender biases exist. For that and many, many other reasons, he’s our favourite feminist star. The article below was originally published on SRK’s birthday – and today, in tribute to Women’s Day, we’d like to reiterate yet again why we love him.)

It’s difficult to write about your favourite star. Particularly when that star is the collective consciousness of a billion crazed fans, who’d fight you any good day (and twice on Sundays) to get first drool rights over him. I’m not happy to secede mine, I’ll tell you that. But I have more important things to discuss about him. More important than his romance (a Swiss box of warm, gooey chocolate), his charm (that oozes easier than the fountain of youth he clearly drinks from) – OR, the humanitarian that he is. I love SRK for all of these reasons, and a million more, but mostly for his unabashed, fierce championing of feminism.

If there was one Bollywood star among that entire bevy who could take the fight to misogyny – and how – it would be King Khan.

And if you’re still gawking at the amount of oestrogen SRK leaves in his wake, here’s why we women love him:

Female Lead’s Name Before His Own

Shah Rukh Khan is among the pitifully few in the industry who’ve made a declaration and stuck to it. In 2013, the Badshah of Bollywood made an unprecedented and gaspworthy move in a pretty sexist industry when he said that the female lead’s name in every one of his movies would appear before his own in the credit roll. He even appeared in an ad (for Tata tea) where he made this announcement – a beautiful and thoughtful campaign if ever there was one – and followed it up with Chennai Express, where Deepika’s name appeared before his own. Ever since, every SRK movie has struck true and firm to his word. Kudos.

The Gender Pay Gap Debate

This isn’t a Shah Rukh-Salman tale of fisticuffs, we swear (er, I think) but let’s count the gendered differences, shall we? Salman Khan recently went on record (when the entire gender pay gap brouhaha emerged in Bollywood) to rubbish Deepika, Kangana and Vidya’s claims, saying something as flimsy as “there are so many female actors who get paid more than male ones”. Really, Salman? Let’s look at your contemporaries, shall we? Does Sridevi, your senior in the industry conduct a higher price than even your Saturday night eviction episodes of Bigg Boss? SRK, meanwhile, in his speech after being conferred the honorary doctorate by Edinburgh University, fearlessly declared:

We can start with pay being equal. In our company, we believe in putting female stars’ names before the male stars’ names. These are insignificant things in comparison to what needs to be done, but having said that, when I see women working in Bollywood, or other industries, I feel there is a certain movement of equality.

SRK on Juhi Chawla

This might seem silly, even trivial to harp on – like a desperate clutching at straws to prove a feminist stance – but how many blue-blooded denizens can you think of who confess to their female co-star being much, much better than they are? SRK has most famously maintained, throughout his B’town career that his friend Juhi Chawla is a much better comedic actor than he is. In an industry which unblinkingly favours male comedians over near-nondescript female ones (unless they’re your fat, plaited stereotype, thank you very much), SRK famously said:

She’s the one actor I could never outdo. Among the greatest comic timing actors I’ve ever seen or ever worked with, (the best) would be Juhi Chawla. Even now when I have to do a comedy scene, she is my reference point. Can I do it like Juhi? How would she have done it?

Gay Jokes or Not

Sure, if you’re a tinsel town cardholder, gay jokes go with the territory, right? Right. But you could probably dismiss it with a “I’m flattered” baritone or the tried-and-tested-never-failed “There, there, we know you want me to be gay, but I’m not, bless the lord” kind of fail-safe. Never SRK. Not only has he played up, with delightful integrity the ‘gay dynamics’ of him and Karan Johar, him and Saif Ali Khan (Kanta Bai days, anyone?), he’s allowed the sexuality spotlight to rest on him most respectfully. He’s never made it a big deal, never made sexual orientation a PR horror. Even in movies like Happy New Year, he’s strutted his stuff with pride, playing both to the heterosexual and homosexual gaze.

In fact, when once asked at a media conference if he was bisexual, the Badshah dimpled and said: “I’m trisexual – I keep trying!”

Sure, in a world where one Queen emerges amidst many Cocktails, where the Bechdel Test is a laughable indulgence – like a fondly distant relative – Shah Rukh Khan’s many words, many acts might seem like an empty mass of nothingness. But I’m still going to give it to my favourite star – if for nothing else, then for starting the debate. For standing by it. Now could we have a town where feminism can roll without the benevolence of one superstar’s street cred? I’m sure b’day boy SRK would agree.