Thread:
I’m generally not the kind to remember celebrities on their birthdays but since I’m in a pop culture mood these days, let me talk about the phenomenon of Mr. SRK. I know a whole lot of people who find him an average & phoney actor, but I prefer to give credit where due.

SRK contributed to defining the notion of metrosexual masculinity for 1990’s - either as the man from a small town making it big in the city space purely by the virtues of wit and smooth-talk in Yes Boss or Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman...

...or as the boastful, manipulative, partially crooked guy from DDLJ or Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, or as OTT metrosexual in KKHH!
Explored the blur between hero & villain in the everyman in Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na & merged smooth-talk with cold manipulation & villainy in Baazigar.

In Rab Ne, he was our Everyman who wants to be a Bollywood hero in order to impress thereby satirising the very norms that he had established. While in Veer Zaara, he played a character out of a typical romance novel with just as much conviction - oh, he didn’t mind growing old.

Explored homosociality to the hilt in Kal Ho Na Ho.

In Swades, and Chak De, he redefined the category of nationhood in very different ways. Those two are my absolute favourite films of his!

I can go on and on about all that SRK has added to our popular culture post 1990. A whole lot to love, to hate, and yet to ponder over...
Problematic films of his? Yes, many. But, another thread for that, some other time.