Posted:
I like this article. It's kind of parallel to the Ranbir topic and this explains clearly why I don't see Ranbir able to take over the Khans yet. It's really long though. 😆
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Shubhra Gupta
Posted: Sun Oct 23 2011, 03:57 hrs
New Delhi:
They have ruled Bollywood for over two decades. What makes the Three Khans — Shah Rukh, Aamir and Salman — the stars they are? How do some of their earliest directors remember them? And what makes us line up, Friday after Friday, to give them another chance?
Even the sharpest crystal-ball gazer would have baulked at predicting how these guys would turn out, given how they started out. One with a jitter-buggy stutter and the kind of moptop no girl should have taken seriously. Another who had to compete with cooing pigeons and a simpering sweetie for audience affection. And the third who danced on a table in the name of his papa, and sacrificed his life for his love.
A Bollywood quiz with these clues would be the easiest sweepstake in the world: Shah Rukh Khan. Salman Khan. Aamir Khan. Deewana. Maine Pyar Kiya. Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak.
Yes, they were likeable. Yes, they had a connect. Yes, all those films were hits. But could anyone say they were going to be the three who were heading towards the kind of stratospheric superstardom all new entrants dream of, but only very few achieve?
Those who claim such prescience are lying through their teeth. Because no one can predict anything in showbiz, whose treacherous waters run deep, and dark.
And yet here they are 20 years on, these three, who have nothing in common other than their surnames, ruling Bollywood. There is no other word for it: they have the one ring that rules us all, the one ring whose lustre warms both those in close proximity and distant edges, whose warmth we are willing to bask in, time and again. We are willing to do much more actually: get into life-threatening arguments, lose life-enhancing liquid. Those girls who wrote letters to their favourite stars in their blood? They are still out there, busy scribbling, as we speak.
It's not like there haven't been others, some who have held their own, some who have retired hurt but only temporarily, some who are coming up so fast that they could be serious challengers to the Khandom. Kyonki har ek star zaroori hota hai. Amitabh Bachchan is the formidable carryover from the era before theirs, but is clearly a senior statesman. Saif Ali Khan has charm, and the rare ability to be both star and actor. Akshay Kumar is biding his time, to forget his bad run, and to get into a fresh sprint to the top. Hrithik Roshan is clear superstar material, whose presence in a pretty road movie makes it top drawer. Ajay Devgn has all three crucial sectors — comedy-drama-action — under his belt. And Ranbir Kapoor is fast reaching that stage where he's slated to become the stickiest youth magnet.
So what is it about the Khans that sets them on top of the A-list? In the last five years, the Salman-Shah Rukh-Aamir trio has battered all opposition into submission. They no longer just act. They produce. They control almost every aspect of their films. When they come to the table, and that in itself is a prize they bestow like visiting deity upon waiting masses, they bring with them the triple-barrelled power of influential star, all-pervasive brand, and industry maven. They are to the left of you, to the right of you, all around you. There is no escape. As a young SRK once sang: jaata hai tu kahaan?
A true-blue industry maven himself, with his 42 years in the trenches as lyricist and filmmaker, now chairman of Reliance Entertainment, Amit Khanna has a calming yet definitive perspective. "We've always had superstars," he says, "right from Ashok Kumar to Dev-Dilip-Raj, Rajesh, Amitabh, and now the three Khans — they all have had the ability to endear and endure."
Endearing. Enduring. The twin qualities, practically joined at the hip, that help differentiate a star who inhabits his time from a long-lived superstar. Present in large quantities in Shah Rukh who's out this Diwali with Ra.One, arguably the most expensive Bollywood film yet made. In Salman who has, after the massive success of Wanted, Dabangg and Bodyguard, turned into a universal Bhaijaan. And in Aamir who has been so often anointed with that phrase, gamechanger, that there seems to be no other game left in Bollywood.
"Actually, we shouldn't even use their names together because each has unique qualities," says Siddharth Roy Kapur, CEO, UTV Motion Pictures, who's worked closely with all three. "Salman lives his life as we expect our stars to do: large-hearted, impulsive, mercurial, a friend's friend, and enemy's enemy, which translates into his screen presence as well. Aamir's pursued a slow and steady route to stardom, and now his mere presence is like an ISO stamp on a film. And Shah Rukh is something indefinable. He's like magic." At which Kapur pauses, and reels off a list of superlatives.
But let's pause at magic. This man, who has often poked fun at his stardom while very carefully keeping it in full sight, is the proverbial outsider who one day decided to come to Bombay and own it. I remember watching him in a play much before he began his Bombay stint (by which time he was already a TV darling, and making no bones about his movie ambitions), and there wasn't much that met the eye, except that one thing that makes sure that the spotlight is always on you, even when it is not. The wattage you transmit.
That energy, which fizzes across the screen, is what has kept Shah Rukh in focus, even in his worst films. That energy is an SRK hallmark, even when he is doing exactly what he has done a hundred times before. Or, and this is the tough part, standing still.
The ability to talk to the average Joe as if he is his best friend is Salman's most potent weapon, on display when he is hosting the kind of game shows where your IQ can safely take a backseat to Lady Luck. All the bad things that a person standing in front of Salman has heard about Bhaijaan — dead bucks, dead pavement dwellers — all vanish: the embrace of Bhaijaan's warm gaze and off-key accent is all that that person can experience at that moment.
Aamir has smartly broadbased his appeal: from the cerebral (shooting at "brainy" places like IIT and IIM, talking with considered pauses) to the visceral (his Mohawk quiff was the fastest to fly in moffusil hair-cutting saloons, and no one can beat him in the kind of passion he gets into kissing his on-screen lady loves).
They are now so entrenched that a few hits and flops don't really matter. "The three Khans have reached the stage where they can rewrite the rulebook," says Tanuj Garg, CEO, Balaji Motion Pictures, who has had first-hand experience of the stars' massive NRI connection, in an earlier stint as an overseas Bollywood marketer. "Once they sit down with you, everything goes out of the window."
They've also reached the stage, though no one will admit it, where they've become past-masters at the time-stop technique: there is no real attempt to radically depart from their basic USP, or roles, or subjects. The fail-safe attempt is to pair the stars with established leading ladies (Katrina-Kareena-Priyanka): the choice may be down to the banner and the director and who likes whom at the casting point, but the final say-so is the star's. Acting out of the box is a risky proposition, and Bollywood is, and has always been, amongst the most risk-averse industries, especially for superstars who have to nurture that other part of their portfolio, far more lucrative than the movies they do: as salesmen of products which we never want to buy till a star endorses it. To market, to market, jiggety jig.
But here's where the split happens. Other stars have to ride the wave from one film to another: one flop means three steps back, or worse, oblivion. Superstars whom the market adores, are given such a long rope that it dangles out of your sight. You might cringe at SRK selling hair oil, and computers, and cars, and cellphone spiel, and himself in gush-gush interviews, but that's not going to stop you from catching his new film. You can dump on Salman as much as you want, but try preventing his fans from making his opening weekends monstrous: I'm just waiting for the time someone will come up with "Salman jokes" just the way there are Rajini ones, from those who liken these stars to each other.
Seriously, though, we know what it is, their secret, that keeps us from drifting away. When they switch it on, the love starts flowing again. We see their flaws, happily lap up all the awful things they are allegedly up to in their personal lives, side-step the sub-par performances they come up with, as well as their self-serving, self-serious splashes in the media. And we ignore it all. Because it's not Us vs Them. It is Us and Them. Because when it's time, it's time. To recharge that connection. Direct. Dil se.
Posted: Sun Oct 23 2011, 03:57 hrs
New Delhi:
They have ruled Bollywood for over two decades. What makes the Three Khans — Shah Rukh, Aamir and Salman — the stars they are? How do some of their earliest directors remember them? And what makes us line up, Friday after Friday, to give them another chance?
Even the sharpest crystal-ball gazer would have baulked at predicting how these guys would turn out, given how they started out. One with a jitter-buggy stutter and the kind of moptop no girl should have taken seriously. Another who had to compete with cooing pigeons and a simpering sweetie for audience affection. And the third who danced on a table in the name of his papa, and sacrificed his life for his love.
A Bollywood quiz with these clues would be the easiest sweepstake in the world: Shah Rukh Khan. Salman Khan. Aamir Khan. Deewana. Maine Pyar Kiya. Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak.
Yes, they were likeable. Yes, they had a connect. Yes, all those films were hits. But could anyone say they were going to be the three who were heading towards the kind of stratospheric superstardom all new entrants dream of, but only very few achieve?
Those who claim such prescience are lying through their teeth. Because no one can predict anything in showbiz, whose treacherous waters run deep, and dark.
And yet here they are 20 years on, these three, who have nothing in common other than their surnames, ruling Bollywood. There is no other word for it: they have the one ring that rules us all, the one ring whose lustre warms both those in close proximity and distant edges, whose warmth we are willing to bask in, time and again. We are willing to do much more actually: get into life-threatening arguments, lose life-enhancing liquid. Those girls who wrote letters to their favourite stars in their blood? They are still out there, busy scribbling, as we speak.
It's not like there haven't been others, some who have held their own, some who have retired hurt but only temporarily, some who are coming up so fast that they could be serious challengers to the Khandom. Kyonki har ek star zaroori hota hai. Amitabh Bachchan is the formidable carryover from the era before theirs, but is clearly a senior statesman. Saif Ali Khan has charm, and the rare ability to be both star and actor. Akshay Kumar is biding his time, to forget his bad run, and to get into a fresh sprint to the top. Hrithik Roshan is clear superstar material, whose presence in a pretty road movie makes it top drawer. Ajay Devgn has all three crucial sectors — comedy-drama-action — under his belt. And Ranbir Kapoor is fast reaching that stage where he's slated to become the stickiest youth magnet.
So what is it about the Khans that sets them on top of the A-list? In the last five years, the Salman-Shah Rukh-Aamir trio has battered all opposition into submission. They no longer just act. They produce. They control almost every aspect of their films. When they come to the table, and that in itself is a prize they bestow like visiting deity upon waiting masses, they bring with them the triple-barrelled power of influential star, all-pervasive brand, and industry maven. They are to the left of you, to the right of you, all around you. There is no escape. As a young SRK once sang: jaata hai tu kahaan?
A true-blue industry maven himself, with his 42 years in the trenches as lyricist and filmmaker, now chairman of Reliance Entertainment, Amit Khanna has a calming yet definitive perspective. "We've always had superstars," he says, "right from Ashok Kumar to Dev-Dilip-Raj, Rajesh, Amitabh, and now the three Khans — they all have had the ability to endear and endure."
Endearing. Enduring. The twin qualities, practically joined at the hip, that help differentiate a star who inhabits his time from a long-lived superstar. Present in large quantities in Shah Rukh who's out this Diwali with Ra.One, arguably the most expensive Bollywood film yet made. In Salman who has, after the massive success of Wanted, Dabangg and Bodyguard, turned into a universal Bhaijaan. And in Aamir who has been so often anointed with that phrase, gamechanger, that there seems to be no other game left in Bollywood.
"Actually, we shouldn't even use their names together because each has unique qualities," says Siddharth Roy Kapur, CEO, UTV Motion Pictures, who's worked closely with all three. "Salman lives his life as we expect our stars to do: large-hearted, impulsive, mercurial, a friend's friend, and enemy's enemy, which translates into his screen presence as well. Aamir's pursued a slow and steady route to stardom, and now his mere presence is like an ISO stamp on a film. And Shah Rukh is something indefinable. He's like magic." At which Kapur pauses, and reels off a list of superlatives.
But let's pause at magic. This man, who has often poked fun at his stardom while very carefully keeping it in full sight, is the proverbial outsider who one day decided to come to Bombay and own it. I remember watching him in a play much before he began his Bombay stint (by which time he was already a TV darling, and making no bones about his movie ambitions), and there wasn't much that met the eye, except that one thing that makes sure that the spotlight is always on you, even when it is not. The wattage you transmit.
That energy, which fizzes across the screen, is what has kept Shah Rukh in focus, even in his worst films. That energy is an SRK hallmark, even when he is doing exactly what he has done a hundred times before. Or, and this is the tough part, standing still.
The ability to talk to the average Joe as if he is his best friend is Salman's most potent weapon, on display when he is hosting the kind of game shows where your IQ can safely take a backseat to Lady Luck. All the bad things that a person standing in front of Salman has heard about Bhaijaan — dead bucks, dead pavement dwellers — all vanish: the embrace of Bhaijaan's warm gaze and off-key accent is all that that person can experience at that moment.
Aamir has smartly broadbased his appeal: from the cerebral (shooting at "brainy" places like IIT and IIM, talking with considered pauses) to the visceral (his Mohawk quiff was the fastest to fly in moffusil hair-cutting saloons, and no one can beat him in the kind of passion he gets into kissing his on-screen lady loves).
They are now so entrenched that a few hits and flops don't really matter. "The three Khans have reached the stage where they can rewrite the rulebook," says Tanuj Garg, CEO, Balaji Motion Pictures, who has had first-hand experience of the stars' massive NRI connection, in an earlier stint as an overseas Bollywood marketer. "Once they sit down with you, everything goes out of the window."
They've also reached the stage, though no one will admit it, where they've become past-masters at the time-stop technique: there is no real attempt to radically depart from their basic USP, or roles, or subjects. The fail-safe attempt is to pair the stars with established leading ladies (Katrina-Kareena-Priyanka): the choice may be down to the banner and the director and who likes whom at the casting point, but the final say-so is the star's. Acting out of the box is a risky proposition, and Bollywood is, and has always been, amongst the most risk-averse industries, especially for superstars who have to nurture that other part of their portfolio, far more lucrative than the movies they do: as salesmen of products which we never want to buy till a star endorses it. To market, to market, jiggety jig.
But here's where the split happens. Other stars have to ride the wave from one film to another: one flop means three steps back, or worse, oblivion. Superstars whom the market adores, are given such a long rope that it dangles out of your sight. You might cringe at SRK selling hair oil, and computers, and cars, and cellphone spiel, and himself in gush-gush interviews, but that's not going to stop you from catching his new film. You can dump on Salman as much as you want, but try preventing his fans from making his opening weekends monstrous: I'm just waiting for the time someone will come up with "Salman jokes" just the way there are Rajini ones, from those who liken these stars to each other.
Seriously, though, we know what it is, their secret, that keeps us from drifting away. When they switch it on, the love starts flowing again. We see their flaws, happily lap up all the awful things they are allegedly up to in their personal lives, side-step the sub-par performances they come up with, as well as their self-serving, self-serious splashes in the media. And we ignore it all. Because it's not Us vs Them. It is Us and Them. Because when it's time, it's time. To recharge that connection. Direct. Dil se.
Mr And Mrs Parshuram
Cricket
6