Shah Rukh Khan starred in Dil Se (1998) — Mani Ratnam's most politically charged Hindi film, a love story set against insurgency in northeast India. Khan played a radio journalist consumed by an obsession he can't explain and a woman he can't save. It was a rare performance in Khan's filmography: stripped of charm, driven by compulsion rather than romance. The film underperformed commercially but became one of the most critically discussed Hindi films of the 1990s, and its A. R. Rahman soundtrack — especially "Chaiyya Chaiyya" — entered permanent cultural memory.
Shared Works
Themes explored through this collaboration