Mumbai, 1 Nov

Gen Z remixes him. Millennials grew up with him. Boomers watched him rise. Few global entertainers enjoy the kind of cross-generational, cross-cultural devotion that Shah Rukh Khan commands.

As the Hindi film icon turns 60 on 2 November, millions across India and the world are preparing to celebrate not just the actor, but the cultural phenomenon who has shaped their understanding of romance, heroism and aspiration for more than three decades.

This year alone, Khan recorded a string of viral moments that reaffirmed his enduring global relevance. In May, he became the first Indian male actor to walk the Met Gala red carpet. In June, he appeared in a cameo in Ed Sheeran’s music video ‘Sapphire’.

By October, a selfie he took in Riyadh with South Korean ‘Squid Game’ star Lee Jung-jae had fans declaring it the “collab of the century”. His Google Trends footprint stretches from Mauritius to Myanmar, evidence of a stardom that transcends languages, platforms and borders.

For fans, the celebrations are as much about the man as they are about the star. Claudia Calle and Manigret Aparicio, who have travelled from Peru to Mumbai, belong to a new wave of international admirers who discovered Khan through streaming, diaspora communities and global pop culture. Claudia, an artist who runs the SRK Peru fan club, recalls falling in love with Khan’s work through the 2004 hit ‘Veer Zaara’. “Afterwards, I watched all his past films on DVD, including ‘Karan Arjun’, ‘Baazigar’, ‘Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa’ and ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’,” she says.

Their devotion runs deep: their home in Peru is named ‘Mannat’, after Khan’s iconic Bandra residence. They have also crafted 26–27 handmade figurines of his famous screen characters from films such as ‘Ra.One’, ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham’ and ‘Jawan’ as a special birthday gift.

Khan’s journey, rooted in early television shows like ‘Fauji’ and ‘Circus’, transitioned to cinema with his 1992 debut in ‘Deewana’. He became Bollywood’s brooding anti-hero in ‘Baazigar’ and ‘Darr’, later earning the title of “King of Romance” with blockbusters such as ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’, ‘Dil Toh Pagal Hai’ and ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’. His versatility shone in socially resonant films like ‘Swades’ and ‘Chak De! India’. In 2023, he reaffirmed his box office supremacy with the action spectacles ‘Pathaan’ and ‘Jawan’.

Fan clubs are the backbone of SRK celebrations, and preparations this year have begun well ahead of time. One of the largest groups, SRK Universe, co-founded by Yash Paryani and boasting over 6,13,000 followers on X and 1,47,000 on Instagram, has turned the week into “SRK Week”. Instead of a single-day celebration, they have organised charity events and social initiatives in Khan’s name.

“We started with charity work for cancer patients, senior citizens and differently abled children. We’ve done blood donation drives, screened ‘Main Hoon Naa’ for underprivileged kids, and organised food distribution outside Nair Hospital,” Paryani says. For him, Khan is an inspiration “to follow our dreams and be a better person”.

In Chennai, fan club leader Sudhir Kothari says his group has planned a “special surprise”, including drones, banners and messages outside Mannat. “For us, 60 is just a number. We don’t think he is 60. For us he is young,” he says. Despite renovation work at Khan’s residence forcing the family, Gauri, Aryan, Suhana and Abram, to relocate temporarily, fans remain determined to gather outside the iconic gates. “Without his glimpse at Mannat on his birthday, the celebration will be incomplete,” Kothari says. On 1 November, the clubs will hold a pre-birthday bash, followed by a midnight rally to Mannat.

Khan traditionally meets his fans on his birthday, waving from the bungalow’s famous balcony. This year, he is expected to host a large party for fans on 2 November, with organisers hinting at “special plans”. Many are also hoping that the first look of his upcoming film ‘King’, directed by Siddharth Anand and starring Suhana Khan, Deepika Padukone, Abhishek Bachchan, Rani Mukerji and Arshad Warsi, will be released on the day.

Beyond India, his influence continues to soar among younger audiences. Gen Z, native to TikTok and global pop mashups, has embraced Khan’s signature moves, the outstretched arms, the expressive eyes, the lip-synched love songs, and transformed them into digital folklore. Canadian-Indian rapper Tesher’s 2020 track ‘Young Shahrukh’, sampling ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham’, has crossed 20 million views on YouTube and earned Khan’s own endorsement as he danced to it at public events. Dua Lipa’s mash-up of her hit ‘Levitating’ with ‘Wo Ladki Jo’ from Khan’s 1999 film ‘Baadshah’ went viral when she performed it in Mumbai last year — complete with the original choreography — to the delight of fans, including Suhana Khan.

Experts say Khan’s global appeal is almost self-sustaining. “With India being the most populous country in the world and a huge market, I don’t think Khan even needs to make efforts to extend his stardom,” says researcher Laila Wessel. His cameo in Ed Sheeran’s ‘Sapphire’ video, she argues, was “smart” not for Khan, but for Sheeran.

As his fans gather across continents, one thing is clear: Shah Rukh Khan’s magnetism has not dimmed with time; it has only evolved with new generations, new platforms and new cultural exchanges. At 60, the superstar remains not just a symbol of Indian cinema, but a global figure whose influence crosses borders as effortlessly as he crosses genres. For millions, he is not merely an actor — he is an emotion that endures, adapts and refuses to fade.