(Aditya Chopra, India 2008, 167 min., 35mm, Hindi with English subtitles)
Shah Rukh Khan finds himself taking on two roles (sort of) in this romantic musical comedy. Surinder (Khan), an office worker at Punjab Power, visits his favorite teacher to honor him on the day of his daughter’s wedding. Surinder immediately falls in love with the bride, Taani (Anushka Sharma), cursing his luck. When the groom and his family are killed in a traffic accident, the bed-ridden professor (M.K. Rahni) asks Surinder to take Taani as his wife to care for her after he is gone. Surinder does so and takes her back to Amritsar, knowing that she will never love him. When he sees her responding to a film star, however, he comes up with an idea to change himself to someone she will love, using a dance class as the perfect opportunity to spend time with her. Khan’s highest-grossing film at the time, this screwball comedy cemented his status as a leading man.
