Jawan: From Dil Se to Billu, Shah Rukh Khan Had Bad Box Office Luck With Directors From South; Will Atlee Break The Jinx?

Can Jawan be Shah Rukh Khan's second back-to-back blockbuster after Pathaan's mega-success? The hype surrounding the film is incredible, and the 'prevue' has further boosted the anticipation for the film. Jawan marks the Hindi debut of director Atlee, who has an fantastic track record of delivering superhits, right from his debut Raja Rani to his blockbusters with Thalapathy Vijay in Theri, Mersal and Bigil. Jawan: Shah Rukh Khan Thanks ‘Bhai’ Salman Khan for ‘Booking the First Ticket Already’ of His Upcoming Action Thriller!

As he ventures into Bollywood, Atlee has two major tasks in hand. He not only has to deliver a major ATBB with Jawan (no pressure there, dude!), but also help Shah Rukh Khan break an undesirable box-office bad luck when it comes to working with certain directors. You see, King Khan may have delivered plentiful of big hits in his illustrious career, but he has struggled to do so when working with the directors who come from South.

Don't believe us? Let's go back in time through his filmography and see how his films fare when it is directed by a filmmaker from Down Under.

Dil Se.. (Mani Ratnam)

Even though Mani Ratnam was popular in Hindi belt thanks to the success of his dubbed versions of Roja and Bombay (and also for introducing AR Rahman), the legendary director had made his proper debut in Bollywood with Dil Se... Starring Shah Rukh Khan, Manisha Koirala and Preity Zinta in the lead, Dil Se.. gained major traction before release for AR Rahman's score, especially the iconic "Chaiyya Chaiyya". But the film didn't do well with the audience post release, who couldn't embrace its dark and tragic love story with controversial political tones. Dil Se.. has since been earning more cult love, with people claiming it was ahead of its time.

Hey Ram (Kamal Haasan)

Kamal Haasan's ambitious bilingual Hey Ram had the actor play the main lead and also its director. The film featured popular actors from Bollywood like Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukerji, Saurabh Shukla, Naseeruddin Shah and Atul Kulkarni (who won a National Award for his performance). Shah Rukh Khan plays a Pathan, an archeologist who is the friend of the protagonist Saket Ram in this revisionist take on the partition drama. Although his role was more of an extended cameo, SRK left quite an impact especially in the third act. However, like with Dil Se.., Hey Ram couldn't connect with the mainstream audience then with its dark and disturbing treatment.

One 2 Ka 4 (Shashilal K Nair)

Shashilal K Nair is not exactly a director from South, since all his films are in Hindi. He had only worked with SRK once in this action family entertainer that also starred Juhi Chawla and Jackie Shroff. The film resembled in some aspects with Juhi Chawla's own Hum Hai Rahi Pyaar Ke. Even though One 2 Ka 4 had a likeable SRK-Juhi jodi and a scintillating AR Rahman score, the film was one of Shah Rukh Khan's biggest flops in his career.

Aśoka (Santosh Sivan)

As a producer, Shah Rukh Khan has always been a risk-taker, which is evident with his maiden venture as producer - Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani - or his latest, Jawan. His sophomore production Asoka is another such risk taking venture, that sadly didn't work at the box office, as this revisionist period saga was not exactly the crowd-pleasing historical like Lagaan that the audiences expected. Asoka was directed by famed cinematographer Santosh Sivan and featured some fantastic visuals and songs by Anu Malik. The movie also starred Kareena Kapoor, Danny Denzongpa, Rahul Dev and Tamil superstar Ajith Kumar in his one and only Bollywood appearance.

Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam (KS Adhiyaman)

To be fair, Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam was an average success. But considering it had the combined starry might of Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Madhuri Dixit and Aishwarya Rai (surprise cameo), the film should have done much better. Having suffered delays in its production, this dated family entertainer came out in 2022, and was much criticised for the melodramatic treatment of the marital toxicity in a marriage. Hum Tumhare Hain Sanam is a remake of director's own Tamil hit, Thotta Chinungi, starring late Raghuvaran, Kartik and Revathi. Jawan: From Priyamani Raj to Sanya Malhotra, Meet 'Chief' Shah Rukh Khan's Band of 'Girls' in His Upcoming Atlee Film.

Shakti: The Power (Krishna Vamsi)

This remake of Not Without My Daughter was the debut production of late Sridevi and had starred Karisma Kapoor, Nana Patekar and Sanjay Kapoor. Shah Rukh Khan had an extended cameo of a happy-go-lucky drifter who helps the protagonist to escape with her daughter from her violent father-in-law and also dances with Aishwarya Rai to "Ishq Kameena" in a dream sequence. The film, however, didn't do well at the box office despite promoting mightily on SRK's cameo and the item song, though Karisma and Nana Patekar's performances received high praise.

Billu (Priyadarshan)

Priyadarshan, the popular filmmaker from Kerala, is known for remaking films, sometimes his own, sometimes others. In Bollywood, some of his remakes like Virasat, Hera Pheri, Hulchul, Hungama and Garam Masala were big hits. Billu was the director's first collaboration with Shah Rukh Khan, who also produced the film. The remake of Malayalam hit Katha Parayumbol, that starred Sreenivasan and Mammootty, Billu had the late Irrfan Khan in lead with Shah Rukh Khan playing a superstar who was once friends with Irrfan's humble barber. Deepika Padukone, Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra made special appearances in three songs. Billu, however, failed to impress at the box office, though it fared better on television reruns. Interestingly Katha Parayumbol's remakes in other languages also didn't fare well, including Tamil's Kuselan that had Rajinikanth play the superstar.

Rocketry: The Nambi Effect (R Madhavan)

After taking a four-year break with his big screen appearances since 2018's Zero, Shah Rukh Khan's first big screen outing post his work-break was a cameo in R Madhavan's directorial debut Rocketry: The Nambi Effect in 2022. The Tamil version of the film had Suriya Sivakumar do the same role. Rocketry was praised for Madhavan's lead performance and SRK's effective cameo, but the biopic on former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan hardly made an impact at the box office.

So will Atlee be the good luck charm from South and break this rotten luck for King Khan when it come this unusual box office trend for the superstar.? The answer awaits us when Jawan is hitting theatres on September 7, though we have to say the signs are all positive for now.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 12, 2023 04:45 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).