Recently I read Kaveree Bamzai’s “The Three Khans And The Emergence Of New India”. I was skeptical about the book as I felt being one of the fans of the trio, I know everything about them. Huge volumes have been written about them and desperate fans have followed the Khans’ every move, so what remains unknown about them?
This book was a surprise to me. It is jam-packed with information. This book has a lot to offer from their debut projects to the ones that made or broke them. It provides an original perspective on the last three decades since the three Khans Salman, Aamir, and Shah Rukh, entered Bollywood. The Three Khans takes us through thirty years of Bollywood and the nation that kept changing in those times. It switches between their personal and professional lives. It occasionally zooms out from a social point of view. The author digs out every minute details about their lives and gives us a granular view of the lives of the trio. She covered some of the major industrial and national changes. Two important ones are the impact of multiplexes and the role of OTT in shaking the industry. It provides an intriguing look at how our changing nation and its people may have influenced the superstardom and career choices of these three Khans.
This book examines the phases of lives of Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, and Salman Khan through every aspect possible. It’s a difficult task but the author has woven a compelling narrative that keeps you interested. She gives us an idea how the trio has navigated through the terrain of socio political and religious sides. Not everything has been a smooth and consistent rise, both personally and professionally. Shah Rukh Khan is the romantic, the surreal one whereas Salman Khan is the common man’s bhaijaan, who sticks to a formula he knows works for him and his adoring fans and Aamir Khan is the ever-evolving intellectual one, the actor who strives for perfection. In contrast to Aamir and Salman, Shah Rukh was an outsider and a trained actor willing to take chances.
The book parallelly explores the new India. The author also discusses the country’s political situation and the social issues that were prevalent at the time. Bollywood has frequently found itself at odds with politics, the mafia, and the business world. These three Khans began making waves in the industry at a time when the country’s secular fabric was beginning to fray, paving the way for communalism. Three actors, so dissimilar yet so inextricably linked in the public imagination, drew and redrew the boundaries of Bollywood. The new millennium saw two of the three Khans Aamir and SRK looking to expand their reigns internationally. The third Khan continued to dominate his Indian market, albeit less successfully.
By saying they have degenerated into their weaker versions of themselves, the author gives the Khans’ side eye in the last chapter. The author believes that complacency was the major cause of the Khans’ downfall. Aamir may be the least complacent of the three, but the destiny of his next picture is critical. The same can be said regarding Salman, who has just had a major flop with Radhe: The Most Wanted Bhai and continues to give out films and roles that are clones of each other. The most difficult one is that of SRK, who is “caught between the changeless Khan and the ever-changing Khan.”
The style of writing this book is anecdotal yet analytic. The book is a common man’s insight into three Superstars’ lives and a must-read for all the cinema lovers either old or young. This book covers three decades, making it appealing to both new and elderly readers. The author’s narrative skill honed during her interviews with the Three Khans and extensive research makes the book a unique creation. She mentions a wide range of notable people, from critics to sociologists. This book is a well-rounded summary of who they are and what they symbolise.
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