“Pushpa: I Hate Tears”…”Kitne aadmi the?”… “Mere paas maa hai…” “Babumoshai…zindagi badi honi chahiye, lambi nahi”…”Mogambo khush hua”… For a regular person, these are nothing less than simple dialogues. However, for any Hindi movie buff who breathes cinema, these small and sweet lines have been creating an impact on a massive scale for generations after generations. The funny thing about Bollywood is that most of the dialogues that eventually resulted in being iconic were the ones that almost nobody expected. Also, another notable piece of observation is that the majority of the lines that we remember year after year are generally super sweet and short. Well, heard the concept of “less is more?”. That is the perfect validation point, indeed. Well, not just in terms of dialogues, ladies and gentlemen; even when it comes to ‘machoism’ and ‘heroism’, we have traditionally been satisfied with just one.
If we look closely at Hollywood, the most big-money projects and franchises that have had critical acclaim from global audiences have stars in multiple numbers. Examples are plenty and the most beautiful thing about it has to be that for them, the role and the impact of the part are what matters most ahead of how much ‘visibility’ they will have on-screen. However, in most cases, that unfortunately hasn’t been the case in India. Here, the concept of fan clubs is such that some toxic fans, if they support a particular actor, sometimes go overboard to prove that their hero is ahead and better than the other. History has it that in Bollywood, we have seen that happen for the longest time, in the case of Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan. After the alleged brawl at Katrina Kaif’s birthday party post which they weren’t on talking terms for a long time, their fan clubs got divided, and sometimes, the hate and abuse were way too toxic to handle. The good thing, however, was that both of them eventually decided to bury the hatchet and move ahead. This is because they are sensible humans and great visionaries who know how to foresee things.
While Shah Rukh Khan didn’t enjoy a super clean hit in Bollywood after Dilwale in 2015, Salman Khan didn’t want one after Tiger Zinda Hai in 2018. The period between 2015-2019 was a lean one for SRK, and after that, there was Covid-19 that delayed things further. But King Khan returned with a bang in Pathaan, which also had a cameo appearance from Salman Khan. Even films with Salman Khan in the middle had special cameo appearances from Shah Rukh Khan. While a 1-2 min cameo appearance might not make a massive difference to the box office collection, it still helps in collectively helping the industry grow in the right direction.
Well, given the box office debacle that Bollywood is dealing with now, this is of utmost importance. While modern-day actors always tend to talk nicely about their contemporaries in a friendly and positive way, somehow, there seems to be an apprehension the moment it boils down to the fact that limelight and attention will be shared by another ‘hero’ or ‘heroine’. Yes, actors do indeed need to be selfish, and they need to take these ‘PR-driven’ decisions nicely as well. But hey, what are we even talking about if the entertainment industry doesn’t grow and runs into losses?
Akshay Kumar is one person who’s always been very vocal about individuals and multi-starrer films. In several past group interactions with the media, Akshay Kumar has spoken about how he doesn’t understand why not many multi-starrer films are made today. He has always emphasized how he’s been part of many that has proven his mettle as an actor and his sense of security as a superstar. I was also at an informal meeting with Salman Khan sometime back before Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan was released in cinemas, and that’s where the same conversation cropped up. During the discussion, Salman Khan himself spoke about how people should go ahead and do it. To quote him precisely, I recall Bhaijaan saying,
“I remember very well that whenever I used to have a dull phase professionally, i used to always rely on Sanju (Sanjay Dutt). Me and Sanju have worked on so many projects in the past and we have managed to make them work. I don’t understand why today’s heroes aren’t doing that many multi-starrer movies. It should happen and it helps the industry financially as well”.
The year 2022 was the most significant testimony of the fact that the audience’s tastes and preferences have changed and significantly modified. Given their current exposure in terms of global content, no longer can you fool them about pseudo heroism and stardom in the name of ‘content’. Even the great Aamir Khan faced failure at the box office and is perhaps looking to revamp himself. However, suppose changes are seen in the box office pattern of the biggest stars like Aamir and Salman Khan. In that case, there’s no reason why today’s young guns shouldn’t focus on working together and growing collectively as artists to help the industry grow.
So folks, time to keep your ‘insecurity’ aside if you are an actor and encourage the proposal of working in two-hero or three-hero subjects more and more. While A might be a massive star today and B is doing well, their movies still have every chance of failing at the cinemas. But you never know what happens economically at the box office when A and B come together for a common cause. So come on B-Town, remove all filters, and work together. It’s high time we start witnessing audiences flock to cinemas in large numbers again instead of just playing the waiting game to watch the film on an OTT platform a few months back just because it’s not worth paying so much for the cinemas. Nothing, and absolutely nothing, can beat the 70mm screen. Enough of just starting in cinemas. It’s time to worship ” Cine’maa’ ” and help it grow in the right direction.
