Congrats Ranbir Fans - BIRA-DOM!! - Page 5

Racing ahead

CELEBRITY CIRCUSBharathi S. Pradhan Jun 24, 2018 00:00 IST

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Although those who invest in him financially manage to bag the big bucks however effete his film may turn out to be, it is a fact that Salman Khan's Race 3 was as big a disappointment as Tubelight, his Eid offering last year. In fact, Race franchise owner Ramesh Taurani's bid to infuse freshness into the brand by dropping one Khan (Saif) for a bigger one (Salman) and substituting thriller-makers Abbas-Mustan with dance choreographer Remo D'Souza, backfired. Race goers missed the stylish touch of the original director duo as well as the suave presence of Sharmila Tagore's son. Saif had the rakish charm and sophistication that was an integral part of the Race franchise that no unknown like Saqib Saleem could replicate.

Imagine how much more appealing Race 3 would have been if Salman and Saif had been cast together. But Salman, who'd rather godfather names like Daisy Shah, Sooraj Pancholi and Saqib than work with those who come with their own stardom and self-respect, has problems with too many colleagues. Saif is one of them. It dates back to their Hum Saath Saath Hain days that triggered off the black buck case. Who really pulled the trigger being the point in question.

Saif and Salman haven't done a full-fledged film together after Biwi No. 1 and Hum Saath, which were shot over two decades ago unless you count one-offs like Om Shanti Om where SRK and Farah had lined up half the film industry for cameo appearances.

But both actors make self-defeating moves: Saif in his personal life by being trigger-happy. Otherwise, his hunting spree in Bulgaria (wild boars this time) wouldn't have come under the Interpol scanner; and Salman in his professional life by avoiding working with colleagues who exude star charisma.

Ranbir seems poised for achchhe din at the box office... on his plate is very commercial fare

Anyway, with Race 3 not galloping like a winner, the Salman vs Ranbir Kapoor rivalry is steaming once again. Ranbir's quirky choices often left him behind in the box-office sweepstakes. In fact, at one of the many promotional events for Sanju, Vidhu Vinod Chopra had made an open reference to Ranbir's strange choices.

But the buzz around Sanju is that it heralds a new box-office innings for Ranbir. With the interest in Race 3 waning and Raju Hirani's reputation of delivering nothing less than a minimum collection of Rs 300 crore, Sanju has become the most awaited film of the season. For Ranbir, that's huge because his biggest commercial success so far has been Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani, which still fell short of the Rs 200-crore mark. Breasting the 300 figure and going beyond, the hallmark of Hirani's cinema, will be a new dizziness for Ranbir.

Salman added a bit of fuel to his competition with Ranbir by wondering aloud why another actor had to play Sanjay Dutt, especially his later years, when the original was still around. Ranbir retorted that the audience would watch it as an actor playing the part of Sanjay Dutt and that he knew of no film where an actor played himself in a biopic. These little swipes at each other make the countdown interesting.

Ranbir seems poised for achchhe din at the box office because on his plate is very commercial fare. The super hero trilogy Brahmastra (co-starring Alia, the current love of his life) comes from Karan Johar's Dharma banner and has Ayaan Mukerji as director. Add to it Shamshera, where he plays a dacoit, under the direction of Karan Malhotra who crossed over from Dharma to Yash Raj for this. Top it with a film co-starring Ajay Devgn to be made by Luv Ranjan who's basking in the success of Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, and you find Ranbir top-lining a slew of commercial films. All the makers are known to explore new ideas but within the framework of comprehensible commercial cinema. So, it seems to be goodbye to quirky movies for now.

Watch out for the commercially charged Ranbir, he's going to be quite a match for all the ruling emperors of the Hindi box office.

Bharathi S. Pradhan is a senior journalist and author