Before Zero, here are 5 challenging Hollywood roles we’d like Shah Rukh Khan to play

With Zero, we have learnt one thing for sure: that actor Shah Rukh Khan is in his experimental phase right now. From Fan to Raees to Dear Zindagi, Shah Rukh has been trying his hand at surprisingly different and boldly courageous roles.

He played a maniacal celebrity worshipper in one, a gangster with a golden heart in another and a wise old guide to a lost young soul in the third. With Zero, he will play a cheerful, aging dwarf on the lookout for love. It would be safe to assume that Shah Rukh is not hunting for safe choices anymore. The only time he revisited his old and familiar trope of romance recently (Jab Harry Met Sejal), things didn’t really work out for him. It is, therefore, quite evident that the audience also wants to see him do something different and out of his comfort zone.

Therefore, we have jotted down a small list of Hollywood movies that released this year. These films have roles so starkly different from one another and yet so complimentary to Shah Rukh’s personality on screen, that we are sure he too would do justice to the roles created in a similar vein.

Here are 5 roles that make up our dream list for Shah Rukh in the years to come:

1. The Quiet Place

Now no one disagrees that even at 53, Shah Rukh commands an onscreen presence that would give many younger stars a run for their money. He can still play a 30 year old believably enough but according to us, when one plays roles closer to their own age, they appear more comfortable onscreen. In The Quiet Place, John Krasinski played a terrified yet courageous father of two kids, struggling to survive in a dangerous world. We believe Shah Rukh would essay such a role perfectly. It’s been years since we saw him in a thriller anyway and what’s more is that there is plenty of action and emotion in the film as well.

2. Christopher Robin

Shah Rukh has always been an actor for the masses. He makes family friendly movies that everyone can watch and enjoy. What’s better then than to add a bit of childlike innocence to the mix? In Christopher Robin, Ewan McGregor plays the popular character who has grown up all cynical about affection and love. However, his cold heart is thawed once again by the re-entry of an old friend in his life. Shah Rukh could play the stern man and a sweet one equally well.

3. A Star Is Born

This year’s breakthrough movie belongs to a genre that Shah Rukh is all too familiar with: the romantic musical. However, this one is soaked in the tragedy of a love that couldn’t be. Bradley Cooper plays an alcoholic whom even love could not save. Bollywood needs a love story once again with more layers and more heart. Maybe Shah Rukh will again be the one to bring it.

4. Searching

A thriller carried on the shoulder of just one man and who better for it than Shah Rukh himself? In Searching, a man’s daughter goes missing and the entire story is told on digital screens of laptops, mobile phones and televisions. This is as experimental as it could get.

5. First Man

This one make us most excited because we know something similar is indeed coming up.While Ryan Gosling played Neil Armstrong, the first man to touch the Moon in First Man, Shah Rukh will play Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian man in space in Saare Jahaan Se Accha. Damien Chazelle’s film was one of the best and most heart wrenching films of the year. We hope that while Saare will have great graphics and special effects, the focus of the film will still be on that one man’s very human story as he made a name for himself in history books.