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SRK is the outsider- an excellent article
Father, son and the holy outsider
Sayandeb Chowdhury
Saturday, February 03, 2007 23:05 IST
After years of shepherding him through the pitiless jungle of Bollywood, and sustaining him through dud after dud, Amitabh Bachchan finally has a chance to bellow openly about his cub Abhishek's performance in Guru, which can be called Dhirubhai Ambani's 'unauthorised' biopic. It is hard to miss the full-page ads in the dailies, sponsored by the proud father who imperiously salutes his son for having finally matched his own greatness. He has the money, so he can afford the expenses of full-blown adverts of filial affection and tenderness.
But perhaps the true star of the film is the script, which, despite gaping flaws, explores, with some temerity, the infinite possibilities of unrepentant capitalism that is aided by resilient individualism. And the story has, unwittingly, maybe, a resonance far beyond the obvious one of being a rags-to-riches tale.
In the film, Gurukant Desai comes to Mumbai from a forlorn village, almost insolvent, but with great entrepreneurial aspirations. His initial troubles teach him that the entrenched elite and the moneyed, hand in glove with a phlegmatic bureaucracy, will not allow him to grow bigger than his boots. But he is a man who is destined to amass stupendous wealth. There is no other way as far as he is concerned.
So he discards every hierarchy, cuts every red tape, breaks every law and creates a parallel universe where he and his shareholders reside in holy harmony. In short, he disturbs the privileged order and yet makes it his own. He is initially assailed by a leftist newspaper editor (played to perfection by Mithun Chakraborty) who with critical affection, which then turns to unease, observes Gurukant's rise. Gurukant continues to march to glory and the editor fades away. In the film's 'exultant' finale, (by which time the law has caught up with him) Gurukant turns to the public and with a cunning mix of populism, heroism and mythology seeks to legitimise his aspirational and entrepreneurial triumphs. Needless to say, he emerges the winner. The outsider has finally breached the entrenched bastions.
Now shift the scene to the film industry, which this fictional work interestingly mirrors. If you look closely at Bollywood a similar tension between the insider and the outsider is being replayed and our own Abhishek Bachchan figures in it prominently.
Abhishek's father Amitabh Bachchan, the patriarch of our story, who was the undisputed king of his world and was sitting pretty on his throne for over two decades, started ceding and losing ground to a rank outsider, Shah Rukh Khan. Khan is from Delhi. Just like Gurukant in the film, SRK is the archetypal outsider. He had no one to guide him, no father, or even Godfather, no banner to pamper him and stand by him. Had he not shown results early on, he would have been wiped out like many other aspirants. He came, he struggled, he challenged and broke the established rules and roles and he came out a winner. His taking over from the erstwhile king was symbolically underlined when he replaced the senior Bachchan in a popular television game show.
Abhishek on the other hand grew up in the first family of Indian cinema, had the studios as his playground and the sets as his kindergarten. In other words he is your typical insider. He is what SRK and Gurukant are not. Ironically Abhishek apparently excels in a role that echoes SRK and what he stands for. Like Gurukant, SRK has stormed the existing bastions symbolised by, among others, the Bachchans.
To make this parallel is not to invoke malice towards any individual or family but to illustrate the perpetual clash between the established order and the arriviste maverick. Look at the reception of the film for example. It was not a liberalised India where Dhirubhai Ambani grew wealthy. But his fictional biopic is received in a 'new' India that is unabashedly and unequivocally positivist in its leaning. This is an India where the older order is constantly challenged. Millionaires are being made every day; family connections are not necessary. India itself is the quintessential outsider, trying to take on the world order. Trying to guard your world or your son will not succeed.
Guru teaches us that.
http://www.dnaindia.com/sunreport.asp?Newsid=1077852
Sayandeb Chowdhury
Saturday, February 03, 2007 23:05 IST
After years of shepherding him through the pitiless jungle of Bollywood, and sustaining him through dud after dud, Amitabh Bachchan finally has a chance to bellow openly about his cub Abhishek's performance in Guru, which can be called Dhirubhai Ambani's 'unauthorised' biopic. It is hard to miss the full-page ads in the dailies, sponsored by the proud father who imperiously salutes his son for having finally matched his own greatness. He has the money, so he can afford the expenses of full-blown adverts of filial affection and tenderness.
But perhaps the true star of the film is the script, which, despite gaping flaws, explores, with some temerity, the infinite possibilities of unrepentant capitalism that is aided by resilient individualism. And the story has, unwittingly, maybe, a resonance far beyond the obvious one of being a rags-to-riches tale.
In the film, Gurukant Desai comes to Mumbai from a forlorn village, almost insolvent, but with great entrepreneurial aspirations. His initial troubles teach him that the entrenched elite and the moneyed, hand in glove with a phlegmatic bureaucracy, will not allow him to grow bigger than his boots. But he is a man who is destined to amass stupendous wealth. There is no other way as far as he is concerned.
So he discards every hierarchy, cuts every red tape, breaks every law and creates a parallel universe where he and his shareholders reside in holy harmony. In short, he disturbs the privileged order and yet makes it his own. He is initially assailed by a leftist newspaper editor (played to perfection by Mithun Chakraborty) who with critical affection, which then turns to unease, observes Gurukant's rise. Gurukant continues to march to glory and the editor fades away. In the film's 'exultant' finale, (by which time the law has caught up with him) Gurukant turns to the public and with a cunning mix of populism, heroism and mythology seeks to legitimise his aspirational and entrepreneurial triumphs. Needless to say, he emerges the winner. The outsider has finally breached the entrenched bastions.
Now shift the scene to the film industry, which this fictional work interestingly mirrors. If you look closely at Bollywood a similar tension between the insider and the outsider is being replayed and our own Abhishek Bachchan figures in it prominently.
Abhishek's father Amitabh Bachchan, the patriarch of our story, who was the undisputed king of his world and was sitting pretty on his throne for over two decades, started ceding and losing ground to a rank outsider, Shah Rukh Khan. Khan is from Delhi. Just like Gurukant in the film, SRK is the archetypal outsider. He had no one to guide him, no father, or even Godfather, no banner to pamper him and stand by him. Had he not shown results early on, he would have been wiped out like many other aspirants. He came, he struggled, he challenged and broke the established rules and roles and he came out a winner. His taking over from the erstwhile king was symbolically underlined when he replaced the senior Bachchan in a popular television game show.
Abhishek on the other hand grew up in the first family of Indian cinema, had the studios as his playground and the sets as his kindergarten. In other words he is your typical insider. He is what SRK and Gurukant are not. Ironically Abhishek apparently excels in a role that echoes SRK and what he stands for. Like Gurukant, SRK has stormed the existing bastions symbolised by, among others, the Bachchans.
To make this parallel is not to invoke malice towards any individual or family but to illustrate the perpetual clash between the established order and the arriviste maverick. Look at the reception of the film for example. It was not a liberalised India where Dhirubhai Ambani grew wealthy. But his fictional biopic is received in a 'new' India that is unabashedly and unequivocally positivist in its leaning. This is an India where the older order is constantly challenged. Millionaires are being made every day; family connections are not necessary. India itself is the quintessential outsider, trying to take on the world order. Trying to guard your world or your son will not succeed.
Guru teaches us that.
http://www.dnaindia.com/sunreport.asp?Newsid=1077852
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