Shah Rukh Khan recently wowed audiences with his latest movie Pathaan and is all set to do it again in Tamil director Atlee’s Jawan. The film will reportedly see the superstar play a dual role. The Tamil director is known for his action movies with charged sociopolitical themes and his characters often have doubles or aliases that they switch between.
The first time that SRK experimented with a dual role was in 1998’s Duplicate, which also featured Juhi Chawla and Sonali Bendre. Despite not performing well at the box office, this Mahesh Bhatt movie was appreciated for its idea and the way it juxtaposed two different roles. Similarly, in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi he played the shy introvert Surinder Suri and his flamboyant alter-ego Raj Kapoor. The contrast between the two roles worked perfectly on-screen.
In 2006, he aced another dual role in Paheli co-starring Rani Mukerji. This fantasy film revolved around a woman who is reborn as a ghost. Shah Rukh’s subtlety in portraying both the positive and negative characters was lauded by all.
The next year, he tried his hand at a different genre with Om Shanti Om. The film was a reincarnation story and had Shah Rukh alternating between his struggling junior artist character and the star himself. This was a successful attempt at a dual role and paved the way for other similar films in Bollywood. Lastly, in 2016’s Fan, he portrayed Aryan Khan and Gaurav aka Superstar Aryan’s lookalike and big fan.