Shahrukh or Aamir??

Lately this question has been discussed on lots of channels & web sites. This made me feel like sharing my thoughts about these two very different but equally successful actors.

Shahrukh Khan coming from a non “Filmy” background did some theater & then started out his career appearing in several television serials in the late 1980s, most of his tele performances were well appreciated. Because of featuring in these popular serials he got noticed & began his foray into cinema with Deewana.

On the other hand Aamir was born into a family that was actively involved in the Indian film-industry. His father Tahir Hussein, Uncle Nasir Hussein & Cousin Tariq were well known names in the Film Industry. He did child appearance in Yaadon Ki Baraat & finally starred in his cousin Mansoor Khans film Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak.

Both had a very successful debut, with their movies being huge success at the box office. From then onwards Shahrukh started getting consistent with performances like Baazigar, Darr, Raju Ban gaya Gentle man & Kabhi Hann Kabhi Naa. Where as Aamir did some seriously forgettable movies during those years with notable exceptions in "jo jeeta wohi sikander".

But then came “Rangeela” in Mid 90’s after which Aamir gave consistent good performances & this time with exception of “Mela”. Pparallely Mid 90’s saw Shahrukh Khan catapulting from a successful star to Super Star with the Bull’s eye “Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge”.

Rangeela for Aamir & DDLJ for Shahrukh proved to be the turning point for booth these actors.

Post Rangeela Aamir’s acting showed leaps & bounds improvement & he gave some unforgettable performances like Ghulam, Sarfarosh & Earth. On the other hand Shahrukh decided to stick to the tried & tested formula of Romance & big banners (Chopra’s & Johar’s), which did succeed for him & he gave hits like kuch kuch hota hai, kabhi kushi kabhi gam. Probably this was the period when Shahrukh started to focus on being a big star & Aamir on a fine Actor.

Both these actors are passionate about films & so turned producers soon. Here again while Shahrukh has been producing movies like Main Hoon naa & Om Shaanti Om (Both being big Commercial Success), Aamir dared to work on projects like Lagaan & Taare Zameen par. Both are getting their share of success but one thing is very clear from above short analysis that Shahrukh might be a bigger star, Aamir is the better Actor.

If I have to say my favourite performance of Shahrukh I would say “Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa” & "Chak de India"….& for Aamir the list would be pretty long with “Dil Chahta hai" being my favorite & "Taare Zammen Pe" lately.

When you see Aamir’s films every time you see a different character – Sanju of JJWS, Amar of Andaaz Apna Apna, Munna of Rangeela, ACP Ajay Singh Rathod of Sarfarosh, Siddharth Marathe of Ghulam, Bhuwan of Lagaan, Akash Malhotra of DCH, Daljit Singh (DJ) of Rang de Basanti & Ram Shankar Nikumb of Taare…..all these characters were so distinct & all these characters stayed with us.

Shahrukh has many hit performances but some how the only image which comes to our mind is of a “RAHUL” or “RAJ”, although he still is the Badshah of bollywood but personally I would love to see some more performances like Sunil of Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa & Mohan Bhargava of Swades from him.


I would finally sum up this article by comparing our two very talented actors to 2 Tom’s from hollywood. Shahrukh is someone like Tom Cruse, he has some distinct mannerism, style & star power, he is a great entertainer & crowd puller. On the other hand Aamir is somewhat like Tom Hanks who dose lot of research for any role, he is a perfectionist.