In the entertainment business it doesn’t take long to go from high to hai hai.
So many of the mighty have fallen in one blow. Like Kumar Gaurav. He was the first of many star sons to be launched in style. Gaurav started with a bang in Love Story. I still remember the serpentine queues.
In college we had to return thrice from the theatre before getting tickets. Side by side Gaurav’s dad Rajendra Kumar’s colleague Sunil Dutt launched his beta in Rocky. And, that didn’t do so well. But, Sanjay Dutt emerged as one of the hottest stars of the post-Bachchan era. His brother-in-law Gaurav got left behind. Sad.
Sadder still is the way talent in our industry is equated with pedigree. Admittedly not all star-sons become overnight successes. Raj Babbar’s Arya, producers Raj Kumar Kohli and Keshu Ramsay’s Armaan and Aryaman (please don’t miss the similarity in the names) never got beyond the ‘chuck’-post. But, if you are from a film family, opportunities are created for you repeatedly. Take Hrithik Roshan, for instance. He made a splendid start with a made-to-order double role. Then the struggle began. Thank God, he was extraordinarily talented. Otherwise, imagine where Hrithik would be!
Today, another star-son Ranbir Kapoor finds himself in the same position as Hrithik. Saawariya got him tremendous notice. Saawariya spawned many ‘towel’ jokes. And, they continue. Last week, Ranbir showed his fans how to dance in a towel without letting it slip off. That is what I call a really worthy social cause. It is strange that a film which didn’t do well created so much renewable interest. In his second film Ranbir and his childhood friend, director Siddharth Anand, sat down to work out a character as far removed from Saawariya as possible.
If Ranbir was a poodle following his object of adoration around so faithfully in Saawariya, he’s a wolf in ‘chic’ clothing, in his second movie If he was an angel earlier, he is a devil now. Women worship wickedness in their partners. That’s the thought that holds Ranbir’s new character together. The more slippery, unreliable and dangerous the man, the more women fall for him.
I can almost see the two friends plotting it out together. And, that’s where the talented actor’s second film goes wrong. You can’t design a film around the actor’s personality to tap his potential. The character must always come first. The star must play the character. Not the other way around. His recently released movie gives Ranbir the chance to do everything that today’s actors are required to. He sings, flirts, frolics, waltzes, gambols. He woos and wows the women and then leaves them. He gets to kiss all his three heroines — a first for lip thirst. Can’t remember when was the last time a hero kissed all his heroines. And, all three kisses are done differently. Maybe Emraan Hashmi should take lessons in lip-locking from Ranbir.
Throughout the marketing of the movie, we had the three sporting ladies cooing, fighting and arguing over Ranbir who just sat in the midst of all the feminine attention like a modern-day Krishna with a trio of gorgeous gopiyan commodifying him as a sex object right in front of Ranbir. Such naked adulation is bound to backfire.
Audiences can take the heroism only up to a point. After that they begin to feel like participants at a paid jamboree to promote wildlife tourism. Ranbir will survive the excess hype and expectations generated by his second film. He’s a supremely skilled actor who knows how to press all the right buttons. But, like a young filmmaker told me, Ranbir needs to be told when to stop. He must realise every shot is not a matter of life and death. His amazing dad Rishi Kapoor did.
But, the good news for Ranbir is that his leading lady and ladylove Deepika Padukone emerges far more strongly in her second film than her first. Ranbir and Deepika started their respective careers on the same Friday. She was sketchily portrayed in her first film. She displays tremendous grace confidence and inner strength in the movie. Deepika is the superstar of tomorrow. So is Ranbir. Acting is not only about glory. It’s also about a graph.
Source-timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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