Khan next appeared alongside Kajol, Varun Dhawan and Kriti Sanon in Rohit Shetty’s action comedy Dilwale (2015). The film garnered mixed reviews, though it was financially profitable with a gross of ₹3.7 billion (US$57.68 million).^[180] Namrata Joshi of The Hindu commented, “With Dilwale, Rohit Shetty goes hopelessly wrong despite much that he had at his disposal, including a power-packed cast and producer”, and felt that the attempt to repackage Khan and Kajol had backfired.^[181] He then took on dual parts of a superstar and his doppelgänger fan in Maneesh Sharma‘s action thriller Fan (2016). Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian considered the film to be “exhausting, bizarre yet watchable” and thought that Khan was aptly “creepy” as the obsessive admirer.^[182] The film underperformed at the box office, and trade journalists attributed this failure to the film’s non-conformity to mainstream formula.^[183] Later that year, Khan portrayed the supporting part of a therapist to an aspiring cinematographer (Alia Bhatt) in Gauri Shinde‘s coming-of-age film Dear Zindagi.^[184]

In Rahul Dholakia‘s action crime film Raees (2017), Khan took on the part of the titular anti-hero—a bootlegger turned mobster in 1980s Gujarat. In a typical mixed review, Pratim D. Gupta of The Telegraph thought Khan’s performance to be “inconsistent, intense and power-packed at times, but often slipping out of character into his usual mix of stock mannerisms”.^[185] Commercially, the film was a modest success, earning about ₹3.08 billion (US$47.3 million) worldwide.^[186][187] Khan returned to the romantic genre with the role of a tourist guide who falls in love with a traveller (Anushka Sharma) in Imtiaz Ali‘s Jab Harry Met Sejal (2017). In a review for Mint, Uday Bhatia criticised Khan’s pairing with Sharma, 22 years his junior, writing that Khan had performed “similar gestures of love decades ago to actors his own age”.^[188] He reunited with Sharma and Katrina Kaif in Aanand L Rai‘s romantic drama Zero (2018), in which he played Bauua Singh, a dwarf involved in a love triangle.^[189][190] The film received mixed reviews with praise directed to Khan’s performance.^[191][192] Writing for Hindustan Times, Raja Sen commended his “dominating performance and tremendous energy” and Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost called him an “excellent fit” for the role for allowing his “naturally energetic personality, comic timing and charm to take flight”.^[193][194] Both Jab Harry Met Sejal and Zero were box office flops.^[195][196]

According to a Box Office India report, Khan’s stardom was impacted by his films failing to do well.^[197] Following the release of Zero, Khan took a four-year break from full-time acting, which was partly caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in India. He took the time off to attempt a career comeback.^[198] During this period, he made extended special appearances in the 2022 films Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva and Rocketry: The Nambi Effect.^[199]