Musings of an erstwhile King Khan fan. Much ado about… nothing… that's the phrase right… Well Shakespeare is rarely wrong, and after all I love Shakespeare 😉
Hehe, great beginning, I too love Shakespeare Priya..
Before I begin my ramblings, I must say, for a disheartened SRK fan, I did quite enjoy his over the top complete imitation of the Big B in KBC3 and the hang over continues in all his pursuits these days.😊
Yes, but doesn't SRK have his own personality, his own originality? Afterall, he has been the King of Bollywood, thanks to his great mannerisms, his smile , his sensuous acting , his loverboy image, the screen persona he holds and bcos of his billions of fans, which included me too… So why imitate Big B and lose his own originality? Does he need Big B's mannerisms to make this show a hit?
So what did he do? Enacted a script – Right. Isnt he an actor, Isnt that what he ought to be doing, or rather, what he is paid for? Since when has professionalism in executing your job to perfection come under the scanner for "less than worthy" behaviour? 😃
Yes, he probably enacted a script.. But the script was tailor made for him.. I believe that he had a say in the way the script looked. Or if, he did not have any say in the way the script looked, I pity that script writer who based the whole Theme of the show taking a dig at other wellknown and famous actors… All said and done, it was a pathetic script, might look funny to a certain set of people, but definitely not for all. If comedy means sarcasm, then I do not know where Bollywood is headed to…. I would only say that we have lost good old times..
Sarcastic, sardonic, witty, off the cuff humour, potshots, taking digs, these are all "accepted" forms of humour. Whether the person at the receiving end likes it or not, one cannot find fault with the "humour" per se. Humour can be of any kind and it is not necessary that all must share the same "brand of humour". A Jay Leno brand is as much a form of humour as is Johny Walker/ Mehmood/ Shekhar Sumar, now Sidhu/ Raju Srivatsava/ Johny Lever and the list continues. 😛
Instances which were unsavoury – public perception –
a) Dig at Aamir Khan – I adore the guy and my first reaction to SRK's humour was that it is in bad taste. I continue to feel so, but that's not the unbiased mind, that's a rather biased mind which feels that SRK ought not to have taken such digs, particularly it was SRK who was kinda responsible for Aamir staying away from Award functions. But as a form of humour by the FILMFARE guys on Aamir who refuses to attend their functions – acceptable. They are entitled to do a spoof on him, that's creative liberty and nothing wrong in it. Remember, more than SRK who was merely the host, the show was that of Filmfare.
Yes, this was the most disgusting thing thing he could do. I agree that Aamir never ever bothers about the Awards function that is organized in Bollywood, but that is his take on things… But it is highly rude and cheap for Filmfare to have allowed such kind of a spoof to be done on a great actor like Aamir. No doubt, Aamir decides not to attend these functions, bcos he realizes what he can expect here.
b) Calling himself a desperate actor – One way of looking at it is – he is being honest to himself. He never did act, he always hammed and it is pure chance that he is what he is today. His greatest virtues were his mesmerizing eyes, his dialogue delivery and his persona. A true actor is one who depicts the character and not himself and SRK has never been an actor. So why are we finding fault with honest? Two – Despairing remarks on oneself is also a form of humour, for they say, if you can laugh on yourself, you can laugh at the world. Perfectly acceptable kind of humour, so whats the fuss about, is it as usual, about nothing?
Priya, you do feel that he is not a good actor. But many , billions of viewers and his fans believe that he is.. I too agree that he is awesome with the lover boy tag. He has given us great memorable films like DDLJ which will remain etched in our hearts forever.. Though I believe that he is not as versatile as Aamir is, I certainly have to take my hats off to SRK, bcos he has managed to live upto his lover boy image for more than 10 years now.. He has been doing the same kind of cinema, but has managed to get success almost everytime. The failures he suffered, are only when he tried to break away from his lover boy image and attempt something different. The only time he succeeded in doing this was long time back, in Baazigar and Darr. And yes, he really holds a big respect in show business, so he should try to be dignified and not make a mockery of himself by mocking at others…
c) Taking digs at other actors – if Sajid Khan, who is a nobody can do it, why cant SRK. At least he has achieved more success than Sajid Khan or Suresh Menon or any other mimicry artiste. In any case, what do we want? A compere who comes on stage, reads out the names of nominees and then the awardees, without any life or humour? How can we limit on the sense of humour and why should we? Cant we accept humour in every form that we see it.
Yes, we can accept it.. But I believe that if it comes from a person like Sajid Khan, we can say that he always does this and we cannot expect anything other than this from him.. It is the job of a mimicry artiste to mimick another person.. We have had loads of shows where the comperes have given essence and meaning to the show by being dignified and nice, at the same time, comic and funny. There should always be a balance between comedy , wit and the way we go about doing it…
d) Abhishek was polite?😲. He is called to accept an award from his fiance and he makes a afterthought, well deliberated pause later "and you of course" comment, to which that lady in question only seemed to giggle incessantly, as is her wont, and that is being polite. As a lady, I found it insulting that he would look down on his future wife on stage, but then, when the lady doth not protest, who are we to comment. Maybe that is what she would prefer, to be an after thought.
I expressed that Abhy was polite enough when he tried to answer to the silly questions of SRK about his character in Dhoom.. Tell me one thing, when SRK asked about Dhoom and Guru, why did he not mention a single word about Abhy's work in KANK? Is it bcos Abhy overshadowed SRK and today, if anyone remembers a character played in KANK, it is Sexy Sam and Abhy's character… ?? Is it the case?
e) And in response, a quip that a husband should possibly remember to thank his wife on the next year was a reasonable dig, considering that he was engaged to Karishma and never reached the alter with her and with so many controversies dodging their footsteps, who knows what would happen the year later.😊
Hmm, again a mockery into someone's personal life, was it required??
f) Vidhu Vinod Chopra, sensitive film maker, but a fragile ego, a man who recently made a show of gifting a Phantom to buy publicity front page space, just to promote a movie. If this person does not understand humour or that taking digs is acceptable in public life, well, can one blame the Compere of the show? Where does insecurity creep in here? For crying out loud, wasn't he enacting a script? And a good script at that, I must say, considering we have gone over 25 pages of discussions on the script alone….. I don't think any other filmfare ceremony has attracted so many eyeballs as this, and the majority publicity was always hogged by the Rekha Amitabh meet my eyes, meet my nose profiles.
The script was good , believe me, if the same script was donr against SRK, then he would have not been able to digest it one bit.. hehe This is a fact..
g) A dig at Amar Singh - Why not? Is he god? Don't we remember the Dubai fracas when Amar Singh and AB threatened to walk out when they were not given front row seats. One understands AB's importance at a film function, but Amar Singh, a wanna be politician of a party which is completely regional. Isn't he what they call "hanging on". So why not a dig at him? Sarcasm as a form of humour is so so so acceptable in society, Why do we have to be polite and nice all the time. Oh, being wicked is sometimes so liberating. Being sarcastic is not being impolite, its being funny.
Oh wow!!! Now you feel SRK was right in taking a revenge for what happened many years back?? That too, like this… So you probably accept here that SRK was really rude when he said this to Amar Singh…. I ask the same thing, Is SRK God to take a dig at one and all? Yes, he might be the supreme when it comes to Bollywood, but he is just not God…
h) His comment to Big B that he wont remake another film of Big B – Now that's a dig at Big B to show how small he can be if he cannot accept that another star can remake a movie in which he starred. It is a wonder that a true blue blood Bachchan fan did not quite get this dig.😆
Hehe, nice to know that you took it this way.. Yes, as u say, I am a blue blood Bachchan fan… I would not take it as a dig, bcos a dig is made when the person has something to prove or he has proved … I am sorry to say, but even SRK now knows that he can never step into Big B's shoes.. His Don was just a hit, thanks to the wonderful music of SEL, thanks to the publicity done for the movie, thanks to SRK's fan following.. But it still remains a fact that nobody in the film industry ever said that SRK did a great job as Don… Infact, SRK looked so unreal in the double role… Can we just remember the ease with whice Big B enacted the double role in don? SRK can never ever be at ease and this is a fact that is bitter, but we need to accept it..
i) The fact that he accepts that he is projecting a I ME MYSELF persona shows his accepting reality. How often do you find a star who talks of anything besides themselves or their own work. I don't really mean a tv interview or a radio show or a print interview. Take a walk down reality and take a peek into the lives of these stars and you will find how vulnerable they are to public opinion. So isn't that being a I ME MYSELF.
Not all are like that.. I have seen many stars who have their feet down on the ground even after tasting success day in and day out.. So I , me , myself looks good when you are really working hard to be what you are, not step into another person's shoes and still claim to be I am Best..
So, what did he do wrong? When he took potshots at other artistes during last years performance, that wasn't noteable but this year, it was AB, AB Jr., HR (albeit other), Vidhu Vinod Chopra, it becomes a chink of weakness in his armour?
I have watched the last two years awards function. The script was not this bad and cheap. There were spoofs written, but it stayed within limit.. It does not matter on whom the stick was shown this year, the concern here is that, why was such a script entertained???
I have to confess, I stopped being a fan long back. I still don't like the guy. I do like AB and AB Jr. and HR (other, of course) and Vidhu Vinod Chopra, but I still did not think that SRK's act was deprecating. It was a well written, tight, funny, sarcastic and good script and enactment….. something different after a long time, maybe our first step in coming to terms with humour, coming to terms with real humour instead of the fake "oh kiss in the air" variety or the laugh under your breath variety. Oh when will we come of proper age… dear Humour
I have been a SRK fan, until recently.. hehe… Oh well, so if sarcasm is the essence of today, so be it.. Maybe we are really in a new era where actors just do not respect other actors , no matter who they are and no matter what they have achieved..
And remains the issue that SRK is over the top these days in all walks of life😆😆😆 Wasnt he always, right from his Fauji days. While other heros or stars or actors concentrated on the character, he concentrated on himself. Raj of DDLJ was SRK, Kajol played Simran, therein lied the difference, which has been the case since then. Being loud, larger than life is no crime, and in fact, isnt that how Hollywood stars behave. Staying in Mannat is almost showing a thumb to everyone else that I know I can live in the most beautiful house and sought after house in Mumbai. Isnt that crying for attention? He cries for attention all the time, thats a part of the package that SRK is.
Hehe, he has been a sweetheart of millions, no denying that. What I am pissed off about is the way in which he is conducting himself, thereby losing his originality, that took him to great heights in bollywood…
And hence Shakespeare said, Oh my lady, tis much ado about nothing 😛
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