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Overexposed star kids and their lucky mascots
Star kids have had an edge over the rest. It's a God-given lineage that can never be broken. The critics, audiences and the directors shamelessly give them another chance to prove their mettle without really caring if the mettle is worth it.
CJ: BK , 3 days ago Views:654 Comments:0
THE WORD 'it' for today's media industry is 'exposure'. Be it good or bad, the industry thrives on this very word. The media industry with an estimated Rs 50,000 crore business in the year 2008, will vouch for the term 'exposure' any time. With thousands of new faces being launched every year, the face which gets the maximum exposure and promotion is titled the next big thing. When Aamir Khan made a debut in Holi without the support of his illustrious film family, it went unnoticed. Any other newcomer (without any godfather would have been heartbroken and may have never seen a new dawn) but not for our perfectionist, who with the undying support of his uncle, Nasir Hussain and a little help from his producer brother, Mansoor Khan made a brand new debut with Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (QSQT). The movie was a hit and today you have Aamir promoting his nephew, Imran Khan.
Star kids have had the edge over the rest. It is a God-given lineage that can never be broken whether our 'modest stars' accept it wholeheartedly or not. Imran came into the limelight much before the promotion of his first film, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. The director of the film said that he incidentally spotted Imran at a caf, found his eyebrows, big eyes and fair body tone (that's what I think of him he can end up as the next 'it') very endearing and signed him for his film. Later, he found oh! he is Aamir's nephew.
Phew, now that's some story. Looks like all these star kids have very good luck and they just get spotted while drinking coffee. Our very averagely informed audience will find this silly story extremely believable and fascinating but the actor, director and the producer knows what is cooking behind the cameras. Nothing in this glamorous industry works without a little bit of help and 'connections'. No matter how many times an actor may deny getting a meaty role in a big banner film, all by his talent and potential, the director wouldn't care to see a spark in the actor if he is not related to an Amitabh Bachchan or an Aamir Khan. Well, so much furore is created when the Gujjars ask for reservations, what do you say about the reservations these star kids have?
From Ranbir Kapoor to Neil Nitin Mukesh, most of them have been provided with huge launch pads for their debut films. Sure there have been many sob stories like Esha Deol (why doesn't she change the spelling of her name, it might just fetch her some good role) and Tusshar Kapoor, who despite their superstar parents and a heavy bank balance are still struggling for that one blockbuster hit, and not to forget our very talented (well at least to Yash Chopra he is talented) Uday Chopra, who seems to be launched in every new film that he does as a debutante (now that calls for a loud applause).
Fame doesn't come easy at least for all those who are not born with a golden spoon in their mouths and a silver platter to serve them in. The Bollywood industry is bad, bitter, manipulative and very unforgiving. Why did I say unforgiving? Oh! that word doesn't quite figure in the dictionary of star-kids because they seem to be forgiven time and again by the critics, by the audiences and by the directors who shamelessly give them another chance to prove their mettle without really caring if the mettle is hollow or has got some substance in it. What's withAbhishek Bachchan repeatedly giving 13 back-to-back flops after which he struck gold with Mani Ratnam's Yuva. Had he not been Amitabh Bachchan's son, doing 13 films after the very first flop would have been a distant dream.
You see young talent being given a platform in reality TV shows like Indian Idol and Bollywood Club but then looking at the utter failure of the winners of these reality shows and the kind of faceless lives they are living you are forced to doubt the credibility of these shows.
Sudhir Mishra had once said while judging a reality show and I quote, "Agar tumme asli mein talent hain to koi tumhe yahaan se jaane nahin dega (if you really have the talent no one will let you go)." Now that's quite an ironical statement considering the fact that he has already given yet another film to Soha Ali Khan after her stint in the disastrous 'Khoya Khoya Chand', which sort of reinforced the fact that star kids can't really act. But yes, I would have to agree that not all star kids have turned out to be losers on screen.
Some like Hrithik Roshan, Abhishek Bachchan (even after 13 flops, he did get a hit) and a new league of actors like Ranbir and Imran are doing pretty well for themselves. But then as Akshay Kumar puts it , "There are thousands of people much more talented than us, but it's just that we are very lucky". Well in the star kids' case I would say born lucky. Cheers to hypocrisy, if the industry is happy with average talent then why should we scorn?
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