On Tuesday, we reported about the makers of Shah Rukh Khan's upcoming film King, directed by Siddharth Anand, dropping a new poster for it. The King poster features the superstar standing in front of a fire background with a rose petal in his mouth and holding a gun. In the caption, Shah Rukh Khan wrote, "Aaj phir yaad aaya... Qaatil Nahi... Aashiq hoon." Notably, it is a callback to a line from his Baadshah (1999) title song.
While fans have mostly welcomed the new poster and Shah Rukh's striking appearance in it, there has also been some criticism for it. Many on social media level plagiarism accusations against the makers of the film, noting similarities between the latest image and the poster for Ranveer Singh's Dhurandhar: The Revenge. Both posters feature the protagonists with weapons in their hands and with fire in the background.
While most critics call out the makers of the film for allegedly plagiarising the core concept of the Dhurandhar poster, some also argue that both borrow heavily from the poster for 2021's Raging Fire 2, starring Donnie Yen. According to some, there is some level of artificial intelligence used to generate the King poster, and the screenplay for the Shah Rukh Khan starrer is copied from that of Leon: The Professional, starring Jean Reno and a young Natalie Portman.
Meanwhile, another user argued that even a previous image from the film is drawn heavily from an F1 poster, featuring Brad Pitt.
Recently, Shah Rukh revealed that he plays a grey-shaded character in the upcoming film and that he does not believe in mere 'hero-villain' categorisation. Previously, the superstar has played similar characters in films such as Darr, Baazigar, Anjaam, and Don.
Shah Rukh's wife Gauri Khan produces King through their Red Chillies Entertainment banner in association with Marflix Pictures. The film is slated for a December 24 release in theatres.
