India, Feb. 13 -- "Even in action, Shah Rukh remains vulnerable," Mohar Basu writes in the first chapter of Shah Rukh Khan; Legend, Icon, Star, describing the Hindi film star's foray into the action genre with Siddharth Anand's Pathaan (2022). The author, who is the chief correspondent (entertainment), Mid-Day, is explaining how Khan did not promote "toxic masculinity" in the film. "Pathaan pops painkillers, fixes broken pottery with gold, gets saved by both Deepika's Rubai and Salman Khan's Tiger," she writes, as if the sign of a muscular action hero getting 'saved' by an actress is the ultimate blow to entrenched male chauvinism.

Is this an attempt to paint SRK as a man in touch with a softer, gentler side? Yes. Is it convincing? Not r...