Shah Rukh Khan turns 51: His remarkable journey through 20 photos

A few decades ago, a man stood on the pavement of Marine Drive and said he would one day rule the city. Little did he know that the universe was actually listening to him.

Today Shah Rukh Khan is ruling millions of hearts, not just in Mumbai but across the globe.

Beginning his career with TV shows, the confident young man slowly paved his way into Bollywood and soon took off in a grand manner that one couldn’t have even imagined.

Today the Baadshah of Bollywood turns 51, and we have rounded up a series of photos that traces his extraordinary journey to filmdom from Fauji to Dear Zindagi.

Take a look…

Yeah, SRK did look like this once upon a time when he was just an ordinary Delhi boy with some extraordinary dreams.

Way back in 1988, Shah Rukh Khan kick-started his acting career with a small role in a television series called Fauji. His portrayal of the young cadet Abhimanyu Rai was so good that it helped him get noticed and even opened the door to other opportunities.

Among the many opportunities was another TV series – Umeed. One can see that along with working on his skills, the young SRK had started working on his looks too. He looked absolutely endearing in this series, which also starred Deepti Naval and Joy Mukherjee.

Shah Rukh may have played the negative hero several times in his film career, but the first time the actor played a character with grey shades was way back in 1992 for a film titled Idiot.

Based on Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel, The Idiot, this film was directed by Mani Kaul and SRK played a negative character in the film. The film, which even won 'Best Film-Critics' Filmfare award, was released as four-part television mini-series on Doordarshan channel.

After doing a series of shows on television, Shah Rukh Khan got his first film break with Deewana, alongside Rishi Kapoor and Divya Bharti in 1992 and thus begun his iconic journey into the film world.

The dimpled darling soon won everyone’s heart through his endearing performances in films like Dil Aashna Hai, Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, Chamatkar etc., and carved a niche for himself in the Bollywood industry.

With Darr, Hindi cinema’s favorite screen boy ‘Rahul’ was born. The film also marked the beginning of this charming actor’s journey to stardom.

Two years after Darr, Shah Rukh did another film with Yash Raj Films - Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, and the rest, as they say, is history.

The quintessential romantic hero of Bollywood continued to rule the box-office and hearts alike through films like Pardes, Dil Toh Pagal Hai, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai etc.

By late 90s, it was almost impossible to ignore this charming man, who not only getting famous for his performances but for also his wittiness.

Gone was the awkward looking man of the 90s. With the arrival of Karan Johar in his life, Shah Rukh Khan started looking dapper and hotter with each film he did post Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.

In 2004, Shah Rukh Khan not only launched his production company — Red Chillies Entertainment but also launched dear friend Farah Khan as a director. Shah Rukh not only produced her film Main Hoon Na but also acted in it.

Swades was literally a game changer for SRK. His realistic portrayal of Mohan Bhargav is till date considered one of his best.

Chak De! India was another path-breaking film in Shah Rukh’s career. After playing the characteristic lover boy in several films, SRK got out of his comfort zone and won hearts as a hockey coach in this sports drama.

At the age of 42, Shah Rukh Khan entered the six packs zone and stunned everyone by his transformation for the item number ‘Dard-e-Disco’ from the film Om Shanti Om.

While he continued to rise as a star, his sexiness too was definitely on an upswing.

So after his six packs abs, the actor flaunted eight packs abs for his introduction scene in Happy New Year and made our jaws drop.

Well, we all have heard of the term - aging gracefully, however, our King Khan seems to be getting hotter with age.

The 50-year-old Shah Rukh Khan surprised us yet again when he played the 25-year-old Gaurav with aplomb in Fan.

And the witty actor is back to playing his age in the forthcoming films — Raees and Dear Zindagi. Needless to say, his rugged unkempt avatar is absolutely delicious.

Happy Birthday, King Khan!