Summary
- Shah Rukh Khan’s movies have reached global audiences, making him a household name and one of the richest actors in the world.
-
Main Hoon Na, Don 2,
and
Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi
are considered some of the best Shah Rukh Khan movies, blending genres and showcasing his versatility as an actor. - Khan’s performances in movies like V
eer-Zaara, Dear Zindagi,
and
Dil Se..
have been highly praised, earning critical acclaim and recognition for his acting skills.
Shah Rukh Khan, or Shahrukh Khan, is a Bollywood name that is famous not just within the national borders of India, but far and wide, globally, with some of the best SRK movies to watch being known internationally. It is Khan who took commercial Bollywood cinema to audiences worldwide in the early 1990s and became a household name with his boy-next-door image and innate charisma and flamboyance.
Although typecast as the quintessential romantic hero, Khan started his career as an anti-hero, and a few of his earlier movies that gained him acclaim were those where he played a protagonist. It was the movie Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge that kicked off his journey as a romantic hero, earning the Bollywood star tags such as “The King of Romance,” making him one of the richest actors in the world, bigger than some of his Hollywood counterparts, and undoubtedly the biggest Indian superstar of his generation. Here are the best SRK movies to watch.
Related The 15 Best Bollywood Movies On Netflix
Netflix has a great selection of Bollywood movies and for anyone who is looking for a new one to watch, here are some great picks.
30 Maya Memsaab (1993)
Based On The Novel Madame Bovary
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Released in 1993, the Shah Rukh Khan movie Maya Memsaab is based on the classic Gustave Flaubert novel Madame Bovary. The original source material was an 1857 French novel about Madame Bovery, a woman who lives beyond her means as a coping mechanism to get through her boring and empty provincial life. Much like the novel, the character of Maya marries the doctor Charu, but ends up cheating on him and trying to find satisfaction in her life.
The movie follows mostly Maya and not Charu, as the novel focuses on both. Shah Rukh Khan portrays Lalit Kumat, the young man with whom Maya has an affair, but he deserts when her reckless spending catches up with her. While the novel is a drama with a tragic ending, the film plays out more like a mystery drama, with the investigators looking into her death. It was successful when released, winning the National Film Award—Special Mention in India.
29 Don: The Chase Begins Again (2006)
The First Movie In SRK’s Don Saga
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Released in 2006, Shah Rukh Khan found himself with a franchise on his hands thanks to Don: The Chase Begins Again (also known as just Don). This movie is a remake of a 1978 film with the same name and has SRK star as Vijay Pal, a lookalike to the criminal mastermind known as Don. When the original Don is injured in a chase, the lookalike is sent to gather information about Don’s mafia family.
Created as an homage to the original film, the new version brought new sensibilities and a modern outlook to the story, and it ended up as a massive hit. The film more than tripled its budget and received high praise from critics as well. It received nine nominations at the 52nd Filmfare Awards, including Best Film and Best Actor (Khan), but didn’t win any. It also picked up a sequel (Don 2) five years later, sparking the franchise.
28 Dil To Pagal Hai (1997)
A Love Triangle In A Musical Troupe
Released in 1997, Dil To Pagal Hai is a romantic musical movie about a musical troupe where two dancers get involved in a love triangle with their choreographer. Madhuri Dixit (Pooja) and Karisma Kapoor (Nisha) star as the dancers, and Shah Rukh Khan is Rahul, the choreographer. Nisha is best friends with Rahul but secretly loves him. However, when Ruhul meets Pooja, he falls for her, but she is already engaged to someone else. This conflict leads to the moment where reality meets fiction as Rahul begins to rethink his musical’s happy ending.
The film was a huge success, making $19.55 million on a $2.48 million budget – the highest-grossing Indian movie of the year. Dil To Pagal Hai won several awards, with five wins at the Filmfare Awards, including Best Film and Best Actor for Shah Rukh Khan. It also earned an incredible 24 Zee Cine Awards nominations, including winning Best Music Director for Utlam Singh (with lyrics written by Anand Bakshi.
27 Baadshah (1999)
SRK In A Detective-Based Action Comedy
Shah Rukh Khan and Twinkle Khanna star in the 1999 Indian movie, Baadshah. Unlike many of SRK’s releases of the 90s, this is an action comedy and is a loose remake of 1995’s Nick of Time (starring Johnny Depp). SRK stars as Raj, who also calls himself Baadshah, a man who runs a detective agency in Mumbai and often relies on gadgets to help him solve cases.
The film sees Baadshah mistaken for a CBI agent, and he ends up involved in a mission to save the Chief Minister from an assassination attempt. Baadshah is one of SRK’s biggest pure comedies and it was a critical and box office success. Khan earned a Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Comic Role nomination, while Amrish Puri earned the Best Villain nomination at the same ceremony.
26 Yes Boss (1997)
A Romantic Comedy About A Man Whose Boss Pays Him To Keep Secrets
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Shah Rukh Khan and Aziz Mirza star in the 1997 romantic comedy Yes Boss. The Hindi-language movie is based on 1993’s For Love or Money (starring Michael J. Fox). SRK plays Rahul, a man who wants to be wealthy, and he finds a job that helps him with that goal. Rahul finds he can make extra money from his boss if he helps keep his affairs a secret. However, when his boss wants him to help him win over another woman (Juhi Chawla) that Rahul also likes, it causes problems.
While it was based on the American movie with Fox, it also spawned remakes of its own, with the Malayalam film Junior Senior (2005) and the Tamil release Guru En Aalu (2009). Yes Boss made $14 million on a $3.1 budget, and it picked up six Filmfare Award nominations, winning one for Best Male Playback Singer (Abhijeet Bhattacharya).
25 Om Shanti Om (2007)
A Bollywood Movie About Movies
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Stream now on Netflix
Om Shanti Om is a 2007 movie with Shah Rukh Khan playing two different roles in the film. He plays Om Prakash Makhija, also known as Om, and he plays Om Kapoor, also known as O.K. The movie then follows two parallel timelines, one with Om dying in an on-set fire while working as an obscure 1970s actor. The other is when he is reincarnated in the present day as O.K., a major superstar actor, and he sets out to get revenge against the person responsible for his death in his previous life.
Om Shanti Om was a critical and commercial success, and it remains one of the best SRK movies to watch thanks to its joyful portrayal of the movie-making journey, with some elaborate song-and-dance numbers throughout. It went on to pick up 13 nominations at the 53rd Filmfare Awards and won Best Special Effects and Best Female Debut (Deepika Padukone), both well-deserved awards. It was also nominated for Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actor for Khan.
24 Paheli (2005)
A Ghost Impersonates A Woman’s Husband
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The best SRK movies to watch include Paheli, which is a supernatural romantic drama that is itself the reinterpretation of Mani Kaul’s haunting 1973 classic Duvidha. In this story, Khan plays a man named Kishan who marries a woman named Lachchi (Rani Mukerji) but is told that he has to leave for a five-year business trip the next day, leaving his bride home alone. However, a ghost falls in love with Lachchi after seeing her and takes the form of Kishan after he leaves. The ghost and Lachchi live and love for the next four years.
The movie is part supernatural folktale and part feminist fable, all set against the backdrop of Rajasthan. The film goes a long way in giving Lachchi more female agency in this movie, so she isn’t just taken advantage of by a ghost when it reveals the truth to her and allows her to make her own decision about how to proceed. The movie earned two nominations at the 51st Filmfare Awards and nine at the 2006 Zee Cine Awards.
23 Asoka (2001)
A Historical Epic About The Emperor Asoka
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In 2001, Shah Rukh Khan took on the role as Emperor Asoka in the historical epic Asoka. The movie was made on a moderate budget, so don’t expect to see any massively huge scenes, but expect a great-looking movie from award-winning cinematographer Santosh Sivan (Dil Se..). The movie follows Emperor Asoka, who ruled the Maurya Empire in the 3rd century BC and later embraced Buddhism, renouncing violence. Khan was fantastic in his role, and the film bore a strong similarity to the films by Akira Kurosawa.
Asoka
was also a critical success, picking up five nominations at the 47th Filmfare Awards.
Asoka saw success in the United States and the United Kingdom and screened at two of the most prestigious film festivals — the Venice Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival. Asoka was also a critical success, picking up five nominations at the 47th Filmfare Awards. Its only win at the Filmfare Awards was for Sivan’s cinematography (he also served as the director and received a nomination for that and for Best Film). Khan won the Best Actor Award at the Sansui Awards for this performance.
22 Pathaan (2023)
A Super Spy Is Called Back Into Action
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Stream now on Prime Video
Shah Rukh Khan stars in Pathaan as the titular hero of the movie. He is a super spy who was presumed dead but was called back into action to stop an event that would possibly start a major military event between India and Pakistan. The action-packed espionage thriller also stars an incredible cast that includes Deepika Padukone, Dimple Kapadia, and John Abraham. This is the closest SRK has come to starring in a movie with action sequencesand scenes similar to a Hollywood blockbuster.
This movie is also part of a new “Spy Universe,” that includes movies with the spies Tiger and Kabir.
This is also the first movie that Khan made after taking four years off from acting. As a highly-anticipated movie for his fans, it didn’t disappoint and provided a globe-trotting adventure that not only thrilled fans of big action movies but also impressed critics who praised Khan’s performance in his big return. This movie is also part of a new “Spy Universe,” that includes movies with the spies Tiger and Kabir, played by Salman Khan and Hrithik Roshan. Khan appeared in Tiger 3 as Pathaan as well.
21 Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012)
Two People From Different Religions Fall In Love
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Released in 2012, the movie Jab Tak Hal Jean is a romantic drama that follows Samar (played by Shah Rukh Khan) as he falls in love with a woman named Meera (played by Katrina Kaif). However, the twist is that their romance ends because they have different religions. This sends Samar into a rage, as he is denied love, and he sets out to challenge his own God by taking a job as a bomb disposal expert, putting his life on the line every day, without caring whether he lives or dies.
As director Yash Chopra’s final film before he died in 2012, it was a huge hit. It ended up as the third-highest-grossing Bollywood movie of the year and was popular all over the world thanks to Khan’s appearance. The only films, at that time, that made more money overseas were 3 Idiots and My Name is Khan. The movie was also a critical success and went on to earn seven nominations at the 58th Filmfare Awards, including a nomination for Khan. Anushka Sharma won for Best Supporting Actress.
20 Main Hoon Na (2004)
A Military Man Is Sent Undercover As A University Student
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Main Hoon Na is a Masala film starring Shah Rukh Khan as Major Ram Sharma, a man sent on an undercover mission as a university student to protect a general’s daughter from a rogue soldier. What makes this movie stand out is that it has a little bit of everything, from a high-octane thriller to a high school comedy of errors, to a Bollywood musical.
Amazingly, despite the intense genre-bending throughout, 2004’s Main Hoon Na ended up as another success story for Khan. It was nominated for several awards in 2004, sweeping all six of its nominations at the Global Indian Film Awards. While it’s not the most well-known of his films outside of India, it is still considered by many to be one of the best Shah Rukh Khan movies thanks to the awards and critical acclaim.
19 Don 2 (2011)
The Sequel To The Successful Don
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Don 2 is a sequel to the 2006 movie Don, where Shah Rukh Khan played both the ruthless drug lord Don and his lookalike Vijay Pal, a man convinced by the DCP to pretend to be Don after the drug lord died in a battle with the police. However, that movie ended with the twist that Don was pretending to be Vijay the entire time and ended up more powerful than ever by the end.
The second movie in the Don franchise has Priyanka Chopra starring as Roma Bhagat, returning from the first movie by joining Interpol to hunt Don down. The movie was a monster success, making over $2 billion at the box office. The movie was a solid follow-up from Don and the two make a great double-feature of the best SRK movies to watch on any given day.
18 Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008)
A Man Creates An Alternate Personality To Save His Marriage
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Shah Rukh Khan starred in the romantic comedy Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi in 2008. In the movie, he plays Surinder Sahni, an office employee who marries Taani (Anushka Sharma). Taani and Surinder are nothing alike, but he agrees to the marriage after his former professor — Taani’s father — makes that his last wish on his deathbed.
The two marry, but never fall in love — her being carefree and quite rude, and him being shy and reserved. However, when Surinder creates an alter-ego named Raj Kapoor and cuts loose, they both start to see a new side of each other, giving SRK a fun chance to play two very different characters in the same movie. The Bollywood comedy Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi was a critical success, with praise going to Khan’s ability to transform himself on screen with an amazing performance.
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17 Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham… (2001)
A Wealthy Man Marries A Woman From A Lower Economic Class
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Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham has a wide ensemble cast, and is one of several Shah Rukh Khan movies that don’t solely focus on the Bollywood star. It is a family drama that follows a wealthy family who face troubles when their adopted son marries a woman from a lower economic class. Khan plays Rahul, the adopted son who falls in love with Anjali (Kajol), and the couple has to deal with the fact his family does not accept her thanks to their rigid traditional belief system.
The movie made over $1 billion at the box office and woneight awards at the International Indian Film Academy Awards. Its budget of almost $8.5 million dollars made it the most expensive Bollywood movie at that point. Its success ran outside of India too, and it remains one of the highest-grossing Indian movies today as well as one of the best Shah Rukh Khan movies.
16 Jawan (2023)
Khan Star As Father And Son Doppelgangers
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Shah Rukh Khan starred in the action thriller Jawan in 2023, and like most of the actor’s movies, it was a huge success. It grossed over $140 million as the highest-grossing Indian film of 2023 and received positive critical reviews. Khan has two roles in the movie — as father and son doppelgängers. The son, Azad, teams up to tackle corruption by becoming a vigilante and trying to clear his father’s name while also bringing justice to the oppressed by targeting corrupt bureaucrats.
The movie is based on a real-life event where a pediatrician was imprisoned after 60 children died, despite the government being to blame (via India Times). The 2023 Bollywood action movie was released in September 2023, and it’s unknown where and when it will be available for streaming in the US. Shah Rukh Khan’s performance has been a notable highlightamong many critical reviews for his performances as both Captain Vikram Rathore and his son Azad.
Related Why Shah Rukh Khan Plays Both Father AND Son In Jawan
The Bollywood film Jawan has become a huge success, and it is unique in that it has Shah Rukh Khan playing two huge roles in it.
15 Veer-Zaara (2004)
An Air Force Officer Falls In Love With A Pakistani Girl
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Shah Rukh plays Major Veer Pratap Singh, an Indian Air Force officer who falls for a Pakistani girl, Zaara, in this epic romance, and one of the best Shah Rukh Khan movies, that does its bit to bridge the gulf between the two neighboring countries. Veer and Zaara agree to sacrifice their love, but then Veer is falsely detained as an Indian spy by the machinations of Zaara’s fianceé, which ends in him spending the next 22 years in a Pakistani jail.
Then along comes a young Pakistani lawyer, Samiya, the Amazon Prime Hindi drama, who is assigned Veer’s case and fights tooth and nail for his freedom, in the process uniting him with Zaara who, it turns out, was never married after all. This is probably the only movie that saw Khan playing a young man, as well as an elderly one. The Hindi film was a commercial success, topping the week’s highest-grossing films in India upon its release at the box office.
14 Dear Zindagi (2016)
A Cinematographer Meets A Psychiatrist Who Gives Her A New Perspective
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Dear Zindagi is a drama film, and one of the best Shah Rukh Khan movies. It focuses on Kaira (Alia Bhatt), a cinematographer who spirals out after finding that her ex has gotten engaged with another woman. Because of that, she moves back with her parents and lives an unhappy life. Shah Rukh Khan plays Dr. Jehangir “Jug” Khan in the film, a psychologist who tries to help Kaira.
While the actors in the film were received positively by critics, Shah Rukh’s performance as the soft-spoken and controlled psychologist stood out. All in all, the movie was nominated for 14 awards, including earning Best Actress for Bhatt and Best Lyricist for Kausar Munir (“Love You Zindagi”) at the 62nd Filmfare Awards ceremony. Though it didn’t win any awards despite the nominations, it still stands out as one of the best SRK movies to watch in his extensive filmography.
13 Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na (1994)
A Musician Falls In Love With His Bandmate
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One of the earlier best Shah Rukh Khan movies, Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na, sees a good-for-nothing young man, Sunil, in love with Anna (Suchitra Krishnamurthy), who performs with him in a musical band. However, Anna is in love with another friend of theirs, Chris (Deepak Tijori). When Sunil finds out, he leaves no stone unturned to draw Anna away from Chris, which ultimately puts him in Anna’s bad books.
The ’90s coming-of-age film
Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na
isn’t as well known as some of Khan’s other movies, but it remains a fan favorite nonetheless.
A romantic comedy in which Khan plays a boy with slightly questionable morals who wouldn’t shy away from lying through his teeth if it suited his purpose. The ’90s coming-of-age filmKabhi Haan Kabhi Na isn’t as well known as some of Khan’s other movies, but it remains a fan favorite nonetheless. In addition, the movie won Best Film and Best Actor at the 39th Filmfare Awards.
12 Darr (1993)
A Man Becomes Obsessed By His Former Lover
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The movie that was Shah Rukh Khan’s big break was Darr, and it remains one of the best SRK movies to watch. In the film, he plays an unstable and dangerous young man, Rahul, who becomes obsessed with a young woman, Kiran (Juhi Chawla), going to the extent of stalking her and trying to eliminate her fianceé so that he can have her for himself. Khan earned a lot of praise for his portrayal of the deplorable character, with some of his mannerisms as Rahul becoming as famous as the star himself.
A romantic psychological thriller ended up as one of the highest-grossing movies of 1993 and The Amazon Prime Hindi movie was nominated for nine awards, winning three at the National Film Awards and the Filmfare Awards. The movie won awards for Best Comedian (Anupam Kher) and Best Cinematography at the 39th Annual Filmfare Awards. Khan also earned a Best Villain nomination at the same awards ceremony.
11 Dil Se.. (1998)
A Romantic Thriller Set Against The Insurgency In Assam
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By far one of the best Shah Rukh Khan movies, the romantic thriller film Dil Se.. features the tragic love story of Amar, a news radio producer, and Meghna (Manisha Koirala), a mysterious woman he meets at a train station. After being left and rejected by Meghna, Amar meets and considers marrying another girl named Preeti (Preity Zinta). Dil Se.. has received international acclaim for touching on political events and featuring a sad ending.
Shah Rukh’s performance in the film has also been praised, as he was able to excellently portray a torn, but heroic, character. The movie was celebrated among critics, winning accolades at the 49th Berlinale, 46th National Film Awards, 44th Filmfare Awards, and Screen Awards. It is the final installment in Mani Ratnam’s trilogy of movies, that also includes Roja (1992) and Bombay (1995). It also had a massively popular soundtrack by A.R. Rahman that sold six million units (via CNN).