Shah Rukh Khan was first noticed on various television series, particularly when playing the character of `Abhimanyu` in Fauji (Soldier) in 1988. He also played a minor role in Circus in 1989, which represented the life of circus performers. The acting stretch of Shah Rukh Khan in Fauji caught the attention of the glamorous actress Hema Malini who is said to have recommended his name for his film debut, Dil Ashna Hai. He made his movie debut in 1992 with the film Deewana opposite the late actress Divya Bharti that was a big hit. In this film, he played the role of the second actor who falls in love with the heroine after the death of her husband. The same year Shah Rukh Khan appeared in the fantasy film Chamatkar, Hema Malini`s directorial debut Dil Aashna Hai and the controversial Ketan Mehta art film Maya Memsaab. However, it is with the introduction of Shah Rukh Khan as an antihero, he rose to the height of stardom In 1993, Shah Rukh Khan attracted a great deal of attention with two consecutive negative roles in Baazigar (as an anti-hero and murderer) and Darr (as an obsessed lover). The year of 1995 was a very successful one for Khan. In these films, he seemed like paranoid lover and made Shahrukh a star overnight.

Darr and Baazigar were made simultaneously and Shah Rukh played the bad man in both the films so perfectly that his audience fell in love with his negative shades too. Shah Rukh alternated between playing a psychotic lover and a deadly avenger. This was, according to conventional Bollywood wisdom, specialized suicide. If the audience did not accept these morally uncertain characters, Shah Rukh`s immaculate career would be over before it began. But each day Shah Rukh sharpened his skills at Hindi film stereotypes with a wholehearted conviction that the audience would be on his side. He had the confidence that he could make this work.

Casting-wise, Darr was made before Baazigar. No established hero was eager to play this psychotic lover, even with a director as reputed and experienced as Yash Chopra at the wheel. The situation was frantic when the name Shah Rukh Khan cropped up. Shah Rukh was selected as the stammering, unbalanced, brutal lover in Darr. And then Darr became a history bringing Shah Rukh lot of recognition.

In Baazigar, Shah Rukh`s character was quite difficult. Ajay was the name of his character that suggested his first girlfriend that since her father insists on marrying her to another man, they should commit suicide. After both have written identical suicide notes, he laughs and says that he was only joking. He suggests they would surely marry the following day. When they get to the registrar`s office, it is closed for lunch so Shah Rukh takes her up to the roof and declares that he wants her to be at the top of the world and perches her on the walls. He kneels down, apologizes, and throws her down the skyscraper building. He then casually walks past her blood clad dead body and mails the suicide note. In the next scene, he pays condolences to the bereaved family.

In Darr, Shah Rukh`s character, Rahul, is introduced playing a love game of "she loves me, she loves me not" while walking on the outcrop of a tall building. Later in the film he carves Kiran`s name on his chest with a knife, while blood drops down. After Sunil and Kiran are married, he destroys their new home with graffiti declaring his love. In the climax, after Sunil has punched him, Rahul holds his feet and begs for forgiveness. When Sunil hesitates, Rahul takes the opportunity and plunges a knife into Sunil`s stomach, then apologizes for his behavior but proceeds to kidnap his wife. Incredibly, both films were blockbusters and moreover Shah Rukh passed across any compliments. He was above the test of being a successful actor. As he murdered in the movies, the audience clapped - this was his capability to engross the viewers into acting so that they almost forgot the morality of real life. The whistling was especially loud when Shah Rukh delivered his famous signature dialogue meaning - sometimes to win something you must lose something, and he who wins by losing is called the Gambler in the film Baazigar.

Over the following decade, Shah Rukh became the permanent actor at Yash Raj Films. Both Yash and Aditya repeatedly cast Shah Rukh as the leading man in their projects. Yash, Aditya, and Karan re-imagined Shah Rukh as a yuppie romantic hero as well as in negative roles. They created a durable global persona for him that could blend with both the expressions.

Baazigar and Darr changed the rules for what made a Hindi film hero. It was no longer necessary to be a gentleman - Shah Rukh proved. In February 1994, Shah Rukh was nominated for three Filmfare Awards for Baazigar and Darr respectively. Anjaam (opposite Madhuri Dixit) and Ram Jaane (opposite Juhi Chawla) were his other two films with darker shades that received moderate success at the box office. Lately, he excelled as an actor in the remake of film Don (by Amitabh Bachchan), titled Don - The Chase Begins Again. This film was directed by Farhan Akhtar and released on October 20, 2006. It received an overwhelming response worldwide, and collected over Rs. 30 crores in India in its first week itself. Akhtar`s father, Javed Akhtar and Salim Khan (father of Salman Khan) wrote the script of the previous film.