SRK: A True Bollywood Hero.

Shah Rukh Khan. A.K.A. My boyfriend. He just doesn't know it. Yet.

 Those of you who know me from high school and college might not remember anything about me 20 years from now... nothing except for my intense love and admiration for Shah Rukh Khan. (Those of you who didn't know, I probably didn't want to let you into my crazy Bollywood mind -- I am slowly learning to reveal my insanity bit by bit.) To say that Shah Rukh Khan is a famous Indian movie star would be an understatement; he's quite possibly one of THE most famous movie star in India (fine, debate it). Yes, I have a huge crush on him. (My favorite SRK moment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOYN9qNXmAw ) I have celebrated his birthday for many years. I have memorized several of his dialogues and most of his dance moves. But my obsession isn't merely for physical reasons. Strangely enough, this person who barely knows of my existence has played a major role in my life without knowing it.

When I was young, my parents watched lots of Indian movies together and with their friends. I grew up around lots of old Bollywood "gems" -- in fact, I don't remember watching or listening to anything non-Indian (minus Sesame Street, Disney cartoons, and nursery rhymes) until I was around 9. After that, the cracks in my family began to show (for reasons I'd not like to discuss). We didn't spend much time together, and I didn't have too much to say to anyone in my family, especially my dad. Me being a teenage girl didn't help that bonding process, either. Then in 1996, I went to India.

"Let's go see an Indian movie!" my cousin exclaimed.
"Oh, gawwwwd," I whined. "They're so looooooooong. And I don't even understand Hindi!" Hmph.
"I'll translate, I promise -- the guy in this movie is SO cute."

I was 14... and because I am about 5 years behind everyone else, "cute boys" meant nothing to me yet.

20 minutes of dustybumpyrickshaw awesomeness later, we were purchasing COMPLETELY LEGAL tickets for a film named Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (What the whaaat?! I know. At the time, I had no idea what it meant, either. And I will now give you the teacher response to your question -- look it up. Hahahahahahahhahaha. =P )

3 hours later, I was in love.

So much so that I dragged my entire extended family back to the theater the next day to watch the same movie and bawled at the end when he was beaten up by One Who Shall Not Be Named. So much so that I made my dad go out and find a COMPLETELY LEGAL version of the film on VHS so that I could watch it everyday. So much so that "everyday" meant every.single.day.

Despite the fact that my cousin translated the movie for me, I wasn't satisfied. I got a transliterated Hindi dictionary (the Hindi words were spelled in English) and after memorizing all of the songs in the film, I looked up each word and translated them myself. Then I translated the movie. Then I made my mom's friend teach me how to conjugate verbs. Then I proceeded to bug every Indian person around me by asking them to translate anything I couldn't figure out. Guess which two people in my life are great with Hindi? My parents.

My mom is a Sanskrit sorceress of sorts, and my dad has a very creepy talent of picking up languages (he speaks about 4 of them fluently). I finally had something to talk to them about.

Obviously, ONE Shah Rukh Khan movie wouldn't be enough for me. After over 100 viewings of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, I needed to increase my SRK dosage. Guess who accompanied me on my quest to watch every single one of his movies? My parents. They had lost touch with Bollywood during the 1980s, thanks to some terrible, terrible movies and one very obnoxious child =) While I was in the throes of my first love, my parents were able to rekindle their old Bollywood dreams. Instead of sitting in separate rooms, or worse, the same room in silence, we gathered around the TV to watch and discuss movies and Bollywood gossip. It was kind of like we were a ... family.

My parents split up a few years after that. Bollywood could only do so much. But even today, if not for Bollywood, we would have a hard time filling the awkward silences. My dad lives in India, and for a long time, I wasn't able to have real conversations with him. But we always had one thing to talk about: Bollywood. My mom and I are very close, but when we start talking about important issues, we can't seem to see eye-to-eye. We fight with, yell at, and cry about each other, but we are in agreement when it comes to one fact: Shah Rukh Khan is the best. When arguments get too tense, we turn to Shah Rukh Khan. Even my brother and I bonded over his love of one particular SRK movie which I won't name here in case he gets all embarrassed. I won't say Shah Rukh single-handedly saved my relationships with my family members, but he certainly helped.

Also, he has the cutest dimples EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

*squeal!*