In Praise of ... Shah Rukh Khan

Shah Rukh Khan may be the most famous actor you have never heard of. He barely registers in Hollywood, but wherever Bollywood is big - the subcontinent and other places with a large south Asian community, from Slough to New Jersey - "King Khan" is huge. Om Shanti Om is his latest film and it has just had the biggest opening week in Indian history, with cinemas putting on showings as early as 7.45am. Khan is the most popular actor in Bollywood - and, since Hindi cinema's global audience is larger than Hollywood's, that must make him the biggest actor in the world. It is a tribute to the tolerance of the world's biggest Hindu population that it should crown a Muslim actor king.

India's Tom Cruise, he is called, although, since he hosts that country's version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, Khan could also be the Hindustani Chris Tarrant; as if the world needed another. His success is all the more remarkable for being so unlikely. For all its talk of being cinema for the ordinary man, Bollywood is a dynastic business. SRK was not born into it, but worked his way there. His very ordinariness has won over his audience, who see him almost like them, as has his on-screen cheekiness. It often seems as if he is winking at film goers, admitting his latest vehicle is no masterwork. That is certainly true of Om Shanti Om. No ordinary romance, it can best be described as boy-meets-girl-both-die-only-to-be-reincarnated-decades-later-and-get-together. Phew!

By: Guardian Unlimited | Guardian Newspapers