Mumbai, India —

The ritual begins, as it always does, with a pilgrimage.

People pour in from the dense warrens of India’s financial capital and from dusty villages thousands of kilometers away, all flowing towards the fortified, sea-facing Mumbai home of actor Shah Rukh Khan.

The crowd is a mix of teenagers angling for a glimpse of the icon inside; middle-aged women for whom he was a first love; grown men who see their own aspirations mirrored in his trajectory.

Known as “SRK” by millions, and “King Khan” to his fans, he turned 60 last week, and the chaotic display of devotion outside his home is a testament to a level of stardom rarely seen elsewhere.

The air is thick with chants celebrating his milestone. Some have waited overnight. They don masks or T-shirts with his face on, or clutch posters of his movies. All are here for the same sacrament: to get a glimpse of the superstar and be included in the sweep of his signature open-armed embrace.

“I have loved him for a long time so I have come here to wish him happy birthday,” one fan told a local news agency. “Happy, happy birthday Shah Rukh brother. Happy birthday to you.”

Another said he comes here every year. “I’ve been a fan of him since I was born… I have watched all his films,” they said.

This bond was forged in a bygone era. As India opened its economy to the world in the 1990s, Khan opened its heart. He was an outsider who stormed the dynastic gates of Bollywood with little more than wit, ambition, and dimples that could disarm a subcontinent.

And while the adoring thousands gather outside his home to worship a film deity, they may also be witnessing the twilight of India’s cinematic gods.

“As stars become more relatable and fandom less devotional, the star-fan contract is less sacrosanct today,” said a recent IMDb report analyzing the last 25 years of Indian cinema.

In today’s fractured attention economy of streaming, the barbed wire of polarizing politics, and the cacophony of social media, winning adoration on this scale isn’t just difficult; it might be impossible.