Khan receives a considerable amount of media coverage in India, and is often referred to as “King Khan”, “The Baadshah of Bollywood”, or “The King of Bollywood”.^[b] Anupama Chopra cites him as an “ever present celebrity”, with two or three films a year, constantly running television ads, print ads, and gigantic billboards lining the streets of Indian cities.^[261] He is the object of a sometimes fanatical following, with a fan base estimated to exceed one billion.^[262] Newsweek named Khan as one of their fifty most powerful people globally in 2008 and called him “the world’s biggest movie star”.^[263][264] In 2011 he was described as “the biggest movie star you’ve never heard of…perhaps the world’s biggest movie star, period” by Steven Zeitchik of the Los Angeles Times^[g][266] and has been called the world’s biggest movie star in other international media outlets.^[c] According to a popularity survey, 3.2 billion people around the world know Khan, more than who know Tom Cruise.^[270] In a 2022 readers’ poll by Empire magazine, Khan was listed as one of the 50 greatest actors of all time. The magazine attributed his success to the “outrageous amounts of [his] charisma and absolute mastery of [his] craft. Comfortable in almost every genre going, there’s pretty much nothing he can’t do.”^[271] In 2023, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world,^[272] and he topped the list per a readers poll.^[273]

Khan is one of the wealthiest celebrities in India, topping the Forbes India’s “Celebrity 100 list” in 2012, 2013 and 2015.^{[274][275][276]} His wealth has been estimated at US$400–600 million.^[277][278] Khan owns several properties in India and abroad, including a £20 million apartment in London,^[279] and a villa on the Palm Jumeirah in Dubai.^[280] From 2023–2024, Khan ranked as the highest tax payer in India.^[281]

Khan frequently appears on listings of the most popular, stylish and influential people in India. He has regularly featured among the top ten on The Times of India‘s list of the 50 most desirable men in India,^[282][283] and in a 2007 poll by the magazine Eastern Eye he was named the sexiest man in Asia.^[284] Khan is often referred to as “Brand SRK” by media organisations because of his many brand endorsement and entrepreneurship ventures.^[285][286] He is one of the highest paid Bollywood endorsers and one of the most visible celebrities in television advertising, with up to a six per cent share of the television advertisement market.^[287][288] Khan has endorsed brands including Pepsi, Nokia, Hyundai, Dish TV, D’decor, LUX and TAG Heuer.^[288][289] Books have been published about him,^[290][291] and his popularity has been documented in several non-fiction films, including the two-part documentary The Inner and Outer World of Shah Rukh Khan (2005),^[292] and the Discovery Travel & Living channel’s ten-part miniseries Living with a Superstar—Shah Rukh Khan (2010).^[287] In 2007, Khan became the third Indian actor to have his wax statue installed at London’s Madame Tussauds museum, after Aishwarya Rai and Amitabh Bachchan.^[293][294] Additional versions of the statue were installed at Madame Tussauds’ museums in Los Angeles, Hong Kong, New York and Washington.^[295]

Khan has been brand ambassador of various governmental campaigns, including Pulse Polio and the National AIDS Control Organisation.^[289] He is a member of the board of directors of the Make-A-Wish Foundation in India,^[296] and in 2011 he was appointed by UNOPS as the first global ambassador of the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council.^[297] He has recorded a series of public service announcements championing good health and proper nutrition, and joined India’s Health Ministry and UNICEF in a nationwide child immunisation campaign.^[298] In 2011, he received UNESCO‘s Pyramide con Marni award for his charitable commitment to provide education for children, becoming the first Indian to win the accolade.^[299] In 2014, Khan became the ambassador for Interpol’s campaign “Turn Back Crime”.^[300] In 2015, Khan received a privileged degree from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.^[301] In 2018, Khan was honoured by the World Economic Forum with their annual Crystal Award for his leadership in championing children’s and women’s rights in India.^[302][303]

In October 2019, Khan featured in a video launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary. The preview of the video, which took place on 20 October 2019 at PMO, was attended by Khan, along with Aamir Khan, Kangana Ranaut, Rajkumar Hirani, Jacqueline Fernandez, Sonam Kapoor, Ekta Kapoor, Varun Sharma, Jackie Shroff, Imtiaz Ali, Sonu Nigam, Kapil Sharma, and many other dignitaries.^{[304][305][306]} Khan’s distinctive voice and mannerisms have inspired many imitators and voice actors.^[307] In the Hindi-dubbed version of the cartoon series Oggy and the Cockroaches, Saurav Chakrabarti emulates Khan’s voice for the character Oggy.^[308]

In April 2020, Khan announced a series of initiatives to help the government of India and the state governments of Maharashtra, West Bengal and Delhi mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic as well as relief measures for thousands of underprivileged people and daily wage labourers affected by the lockdown.^[309][310] He offered his 4-storey personal office space to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to be used as a quarantine centre for coronavirus patients.^[311]