"He was outstanding as Devdas."
In his career, Shah Rukh Khan has given the audience some great performances.
Devdas is one of India’s most classic and beloved stories. It originated as a 1917 novel by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay.
It tells the saga of the titular character, who is in love with a girl named Paro.
After Paro gets engaged to someone else, Devdas finds comfort in a courtesan named Chandramukhi. He also descends into alcoholism.
Devdas has been adapted for the Indian screen several times. One of these adaptations was the 1955 classic directed by Bimal Roy.
Roy’s version featured the acting legend Dilip Kumar in the lead role.
Even the newer audience admires the film for Kumar’s sublime performance and memorable dialogue delivery.
Decades later, Sanjay Leela Bhansali remade the story in 2002. His film starred Shah Rukh Khan as Devdas, Aishwarya Rai as Paro, and Madhuri Dixit as Chandramukhi.
While Dilip Kumar is often considered the greatest Bollywood actor ever, a netizen wrote on X that Shah Rukh Khan was better than him as Devdas.
Posting a clip of Shah Rukh in Sanjay’s 2002 film, the user said:
“I might get cooked for this, but SRK delivered a better performance in Devdas than Dilip Kumar Sahab.”
I might get cooked for this but SRK delivered better performance in devdas than Dilip Kumar saab. pic.twitter.com/xj64Y0ZLTN
— Vedant.. (@copeofgod) February 8, 2025
The post garnered mixed reactions from other users.
One agreed with the opinion and said: “SRK was unarguably better.
“With due respect, Dilip Kumar was master in dialogue delivery and body language but not too much of facial expressions.
“And his roles were uni-tone. SRK aced across dynamics of all shades.”
Another added: “Agreed. He was outstanding as Devdas.”
However, some people did not take this idea.
One person said: “SRK is overacting. Dilip Kumar is a legend. SRK is not even worth his finger.”
Another wrote: “This means you haven’t seen the original. SRK has over-acted. Dilip Sahab defined acting in Devdas.”
Dilip Kumar and Shah Rukh Khan both won Filmfare ‘Best Actor’ awards for their performances as Devdas in 1957 and 2003, respectively.
In 2012, Shah Rukh Khan admitted his regret about playing a character Kumar had already done.
SRK said: “You can’t imitate Mr Dilip Kumar. Whoever copies Dilip Kumar, they are idiots like me.
“I am not someone who would like to do something which has been so beautifully crafted.
“I have a very deep regard for the fact that my parents loved Devdas.”
“I was very young and stupid that I said yes and did it, but as I am getting mature, hopefully more intelligent, and perhaps would not be able to do it this time.
“Had we seen the film before making it, we would never had the guts to make it.
“Sanjay, Aishwarya and Madhuri – we all felt that first we should finish the film then we should watch it.”
Meanwhile, on the work front, Shah Rukh Khan will next be seen in King.
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