Big B and Shah Rukh are not comparable

Page

Hibernated

Posted: 18 years ago

Big B and Shah Rukh are not comparable

Humour is not compatible with seriousness. Shah Rukh Khan deliberately chose to be humourous and has made Kaun Banega Crorepati, an entertainment at the cost of seriousness of an inquisitive mind

You might have seen the advertisement on TV where Amitabh Bachchan wishes in his inimitable style and metallic voice that if reborn he would like to be born by the side of the Ganges. Then follows the message praising the UP Government without mentioning Mulayam Singh's name directly. This caught the attention of his critics in the backdrop of forthcoming UP Assembly elections.

Some Congress leaders drew attention of the EC and the Income Tax department towards it. In fact I too did not like this campaign. The message became all the more dangerous because Bachchan's voice carries a ring of sincerity and lends credibility to the message.

The Congress at the Centre harassed Big B using IT department time and again. There is a long history of relationship between the Gandhis and the Bachchans. Amitabh's mother Teji Bachchan kept teaching Hindi to Sonia Gandhi for long. The children of both the families have been childhood friends.

In 1984 the Congress felt a great need to defeat 'betrayer' H Bahuguna. Big B stood against him and won. Then surfaced the Bofors and opponents of the Congress, alongwith Rajiv Gandhi, tried to involve Amitabh Bachchan and his younger brother. Though later on both of them were absolved of the allegations. Amitabh, however, got fed up with party politics and resigned from his Lok Sabha seat. Yet his graph in Bollywood kept rising during this period also.

Then he went through a bad patch. His company's beauty contest flopped. He suffered heavy losses and was on the verge of bankruptcy. Congress bosses behaved rudely. Had Amar Singh not come to his rescue, Big B's career may have finished. Amar Singh lent help and support to Bachchan in his worst time. It was the time when the talks about auctions of Amitabh's Mumbai house were very much in the air. Despite pressure from Amar Singh, Amitabh Bachchan did not join Samajwadi Party and restricted his role to helping Mulayam Singh in winning elections. Big B stuck to his belief of not joining politics but remained grateful to Amar Singh all along.

It is a well-known fact that Sonia Gandhi's siblings have developed close ties with Shah Rukh. The turn of events brought a situation when Shah Rukh was chosen as anchor of KBC-3. A role that was played by Big B in KBC 1 and 2. Naturally, the media started speculating whether Shah Rukh would be able to maintain TRP level.

Under stewardship of Big B KBC brought revolutionary changes in the mindset of the people in general and classes in particular, firstly because the KBC idea was conceived brilliantly by the BBC. Secondly, in scheme of things curiosity of viewers rises to crescendo step by step. In many programmes it is not possible to maintain tempo of the theme all along. Star TV brought this phenomenon to India and they chose the best available anchor - Big B and enjoyed roaring success whereas other imitations flopped. Thirdly, the presentation by Bachchan was so impressive and realisation dawned to crores of viewers that information is power, money and supremacy competence. To know is one thing and to realise is quite different. Crores of viewers saw for themselves the ascendancy of confidence level of occupant of the hotseat. KBC-1 and KBC-2 era viewership was pre-occupied by craze of acquiring information. During the entire periods of KBC-1 and KBC-2, people saw for themselves how Big B stimulated search for the right answer from the hotseat occupant without in any way helping him. He maintained the climate of seriousness and suspense, which was essential for reaching to the right answer. It is here that Shah Rukh lacks the talent. There is a book, Seven Habits of the most Influential Leader. One of the habits was of understanding the mindset of the person sitting before you. This is highly intellectual quality of a person. Big B focused on this particular point. It is here that Shah Rukh is failing. He is trying to add humour to it. Humour is not compatible to seriousness. Shah Rukh deliberately chose to be humourous and has made KBC-3, an entertainment at the cost of seriousness of an inquisitive mind.

Adding to the present controversy, Shah Rukh's provocative posers that Bachchan's time was over and he is now old. Look at Amitabh's response who said that what Shah Rukh said is correct. He is smart and sexy. Amitabh too was sexy when he was called Sexy Sam. Shah Rukh claimed, that was Bachchan's century and this is his. Amitabh response was let this comparison be made after 30 years. Amitabh's responses are dignified.

Now I see a full-fledged campaign against Big B, especially by a section of media, which supports Sonia Gandhi at any cost. This is not a co-incidence. Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan are not comparable.