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SWOT for Shah Rukh Khan: Identifying the Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats for SRK
Decoding Shah Rukh Khan Khan. The analysis of his superstardom, his probable shortfalls, the opportunity that looms in the market and the threats that can pull him down. Pinkvilla discusses
Over the years, SWOT analysis has been conventionally used to identify and analyze the Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats of an organization in the business world. It is among the most accepted principals, alongside PESTLE analysis, used in making a holistic business decision by the stakeholders. As a method, SWOT can be applied in all mediums of work, and in a first, we at Pinkvilla now bring this methodology to application for the top male and female stars of Bollywood. We take this segment forward with Shah Rukh Khan, and here’s decoding the factors that have worked in favour of, gone against as also, the opportunities waiting to be explored by bypassing the threats for the Badshah.
Strength
Getting even better with time
Over the last decade, Shah Rukh Khan – the actor – has always managed to deliver, with his present being better than the previous. Despite being around for over 25 years, he has something new and unique to offer on the acting front with all his films, and he manages to bring in his own charisma, winning over the audience. Shah Rukh Khan is like a wine, that is just getting better with age. While he is the king of romance, the last few years showcased the facet of him acing in the dramatic and slightly grey scenes. It’s as if, directors have always let down, Shah Rukh Khan, the actor, who is as honest, as committed and as passionate, as if it’s his first film. And despite all the experience, there still lies a lot unexplored in him as an actor.
Unmatched global fan following
Shah Rukh Khan is much above hits and flops now, as he has achieved stuff that’s a distant dream for 99% actors in Bollywood. While his films have underperformed at the box-office over the last few years, one can’t deny the fact that there is still a loyal audience who steps out to experience the magic of SRK on the big screen. His underperformers have opened better than the “excellent” openers of most in Bollywood. But well, high standards lead to high expectations, and why not, he has delivered more often than not all through his career. While there is a loyal fan base in India as well, what makes SRK unique is the fact that, his fan following expands across the globe. He is among those rare actors to have put the Indian film industry on the global map. There are countries who resonate Bollywood with Shah Rukh Khan. In the last 40 years, one hasn’t seen a bigger star than Shah Rukh Khan in the overseas market (excluding China). In-fact, with an exception of Mithun Chakraborty in Russia and Aamir Khan in China, Shah Rukh Khan is undoubtedly an all time great in the overseas belt, with popularity expanding even beyond the films and easily among the top 5 superstars of all time even in India alongside the likes of Amitabh Bachchan, Dilip Kumar, Dharmendra and Salman Khan. He also boasts of a terrific business acumen by probably being the only person in India who is associated with the two professions that the Indian’s worship - Cricket and Bollywood. The vision of making a studio out of Red Chillies with VFX, content creation and distribution segment, is just a glimpse into his entrepreneurship.
Shah Rukh Khan is undoubtedly an all time great in the overseas belt, with popularity expanding even beyond the films and easily among the top 5 superstars of all time even in India
Weakness
Script selection
Over the last decade years, his script selection has taken a dent and he need to mend his ways in this front. The poor script choice has also dented his goodwill in the market, as at one point of time, the SRK was the face of quality commercial cinema. And the dent in goodwill is also visible in slight downward slide in the opening day figures of his films, with the audience waiting for the reviews before buying the ticket. He is probably chasing “hit directors” over the “good scripts”, which is also visible in the filmography, as the “hit directors” have delivered “bad films” with him. The process should be the other way round, with directors approaching him with a script, as that’s when the writing flows organically, as compared to the actor approaching the director. In the latter, the director often gets trapped into writing as per image of the superstar, which is more of a dishonest process of writing.
At times, over ambitious
Shah Rukh Khan is an ambitious producer, no two ways on that. And it’s the ambition that has led him to doing films like Ra. One, Zero, and Fan. Some ambitions misfired by being over ambitious as what seemed to be exciting on paper, doesn’t really translate on the spectacle. The visual effects should complement a story and done as per the demand of the script, but there have been instances where a script has been written to showcase the brilliance of visual effects. A Ra. One certainly called for it, but Zero? We doubt.
The poor script choice has also dented his goodwill in the market, as at one point of time, the SRK was the face of quality commercial cinema, which is now diminishing.
Opportunity
Long gap, more curiosity
Despite the last few films not faring well at the box-office, Shah Rukh Khan is still among the biggest names of Bollywood, no two ways about that. And with a sabbatical post Zero, the curiosity around his next step is at an all time high. The feelers have been sent to the audience that SRK is reserving this phase of his career for some of the best films of his career, and hence being careful with script selection, and this should make up for the dent in goodwill too. And if he indeed comes up with exciting content, that justifies the sabbatical, it’s going to be one of the greatest comebacks of Bollywood. There is an audience hungry to watch SRK in a good film, and this sabbatical has been an opportunity for Shah Rukh Khan to reinvent, and deliver. And well, given the line up – Pathan with Sidharth Anand, and Rajkumar Hirani’s next and a potential collaboration with Atlee, we are sure, he is going to be back in the game with even the curiosity factor working in his favour.
The feelers have been sent to the audience that SRK is reserving this phase of his career for some of the best films of his career, and hence being careful with script selection
VFX
You may find a bad film in Shah Rukh Khan’s filmography, but never will you find a badly mounted film. With a world class VFX team on board, Shah Rukh Khan films have some of the best visuals in Hindi cinema, but they tend to get overshadowed and underappreciated due to the not so good content. The combination of a well mounted film and content with a superstar is lethal, and if there is an Indian studio who can do that, it’s Red Chillies. The VFX division gives him the platform to imagine and explore unchartered territories and bring it to the spectacle. It’s just a matter of right script. We hope, he strikes this balance soon.
Threat
Take it easy
When a person faces a setback, he tends to over analyse and over think on the probable reasons for failure and that puts him in an underconfident phase. Well, Shah Rukh Khan too took a sabbatical to re-strategize his game plan, walking out of some already committed projects. We just want him to now take things easy, go with the flow and enjoy this phase of his career. With so much being spoken about, he shouldn’t self-doubt the decisions that he is taking, and rather go ahead with the conviction and do stuff that he believes in rather than falling in the trap of what people say. The longer breaks and contemplation period should take a back seat, and he should back to the business, as too much of break can even back fire, due to lack of interest.
With so much being spoken about, he shouldn’t self-doubt the decisions that he is taking, and rather go ahead with the conviction
There is a curiosity for his next film right now, but frequent long gap can be harmful for his positioning, as one misfire on the content front and you are out of the race until you hit the bull’s eye. And well, he isn’t the young Shah Rukh Khan, who can afford to waste any more time. The age factor will come into play at some point of time and, the audience want to see a lot of Shah Rukh Khan.
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