By TN Education Desk

Copyright timesnownews

Before he became one of the world’s most recognisable film stars, Shah Rukh Khan was a bookish Delhi boy who collected awards at school and spent long afternoons rehearsing plays. Education has always run alongside his acting career like a quiet but steady current. From St. Columba’s School to Delhi University and Jamia Millia Islamia, and on to honorary degrees from leading institutions abroad, SRK’s academic story is far richer than many people realise. Early Schooling: Sword of Honour and a Shoulder Injury Khan grew up in Delhi’s Rajendra Nagar neighbourhood, the son of a restaurant-running freedom fighter father and a magistrate mother. He attended St. Columba’s School in central Delhi, where he was an all-rounder—good at hockey and football as well as his studies. The school awarded him its highest accolade, the Sword of Honour. A shoulder injury ended his sports ambitions, but it nudged him toward the stage. Even as a teenager he was doing uncanny impressions of actors like Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan. Fun Fact: One of his childhood acting partners at school was Amrita Singh, who later became a Bollywood actress. In a 2000 BBC interview with Karan Thapar, Shah Rukh Khan talked about the tug-of-war between his own ambitions and his mother’s wishes. He had finished studying science at school but wanted to switch streams for college. “When I was choosing my career, my mum said, ‘I would like you to go into sciences’. I said, ‘Okay, I can take an exam but I would like to do Economics because I had finished my sciences from school’. She said, ‘Oh, you want to shift over to Economics but can you do the IIT entrance? Can you do this engineering entrance?’ I said, ‘I can’ and she said, ‘Okay, just show it to me’. So I did it and I passed it. And then she said, ‘You don’t need to take it, you now go and do your Economics’,” he recalled. Hansraj College: Economics and Theatre in Equal Measure From 1985 to 1988, Shah Rukh studied for a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in Economics at Hansraj College, University of Delhi. He graduated formally in 2016—28 years after leaving—because he wanted to collect the degree in person. While he dutifully attended lectures, he spent much of his time at Delhi’s Theatre Action Group under Barry John. Those theatre sessions gave him the craft and discipline he would later bring to film. Jamia Millia Islamia: A Master’s Left Midway After Hansraj, Khan cleared the entrance exam for engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology but chose instead to start a Master’s in Mass Communication at Jamia Millia Islamia. Here, future filmmaker Kabir Khan was his junior and used Shah Rukh’s notes. SRK never finished the degree; acting was calling too loudly. Yet he has often said that the training at Jamia helped shape his understanding of media and audiences. Honorary Doctorates: Global Recognition Shah Rukh Khan is now one of the most educated stars in Bollywood by honorary credentials. In 2009 he received a Doctorate in Arts and Culture from the University of Bedfordshire. In 2015 the University of Edinburgh awarded him a Doctor Honoris Causa, where his acceptance speech about failure and perseverance went viral. In April 2019 he received a Doctorate in Philanthropy from the University of Law for his charitable work. He has also been a Yale University Chubb Fellow, a prestigious invitation extended to influential figures worldwide. In Malaysia he was conferred the title of “Datuk”, roughly equivalent to a British knighthood—the first foreign actor to get it. A Lifelong Reader and a Writer Too Despite his fame, SRK is still a self-confessed book lover. He reportedly enjoys Dan Brown’s thrillers and in 2007 published his own collection of essays, Twenty Years of a Decade. Even at the height of his career he has kept up a habit of reading and researching for his roles, which may explain why his portrayals—from a NASA scientist in Swades to a hockey coach in Chak De! India—feel so convincing. The Bigger Picture: From Scholar to Superstar Born on 2 November 1965, Shah Rukh Khan’s journey mirrors the plots of some of his own films. He went from a middle-class boy in rented apartments to a global icon, but the academic discipline of his youth never left him. Whether it’s running his production company Red Chillies Entertainment, co-owning cricket teams, or speaking at world forums on education and children’s rights, his education is the spine behind the stardom. Why His Academic Story Matters Most film stars keep their school and college days in the background, but Shah Rukh Khan wears his on his sleeve. He has shown that even if you leave a degree unfinished, learning itself never ends. That message, delivered in speeches from Edinburgh to Yale, may be as lasting as his record-breaking box-office runs.