Shah Rukh Khan In his interviews, he sometimes talks about his big work.
At one place, he was asked that ‘you are not afraid that another star will come in your place and you will lose your status.’
He replied with a dimpled smile on his face, ‘No, because I know I am the last star, now the era of stars is over.’
‘Star power’ works like an engine in the history of Bollywood film industry.
Be it the story, from Rajesh Khanna, the neck-shaking, eye-rolling song-singer to the dashing and dashing Shah Rukh, these were the stars who drew crowds in cinema halls.
Producers make films to sell tickets, tickets sell because they have stars.
You have never heard that a movie of Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor or Dev Anand is releasing and people are making beds outside the cinema.
There was a rush to break the window, but the crazy love or infatuation of the fans with the hero started with Rajesh Khanna. Before you give the example of ‘Mughal Azam’ let me talk about it myself.
‘Mughal-e-Azam’ was perhaps the first film for which long queues were formed outside cinema halls to buy tickets, people rolled up their beds and spent nights in queues, families spent three to four days washing food from morning to evening.
But this madness was not for any particular star. People were not going crazy for Dilip Kumar or Madhubala.
Believe me, if the lead roles had been played by other actors, people would have fought and bought the tickets in the same way. K Asif had prepared the package itself so brilliantly.
Dileep Sahib, Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand didn’t become stars in the blink of an eye, you can’t say about any of their films that ‘On’ or ‘Barsaat’ or ‘Baazi’ rose to fame overnight.
As you say about Rajesh Khanna’s ‘Aradhana’. Bollywood stars are known for their charm, screen presence and magical ability to connect with the audience and are considered icons or trendsetters in Indian culture.
Acting is an added advantage for him, a great actress like Amitabh Bachchan can be a star and an actor like Salman Khan can also be a star.
There is one thing more than star power and that is being a superstar. Does it happen that the light of a new star is so bright that the likes of Raj Kapoor, Shami Kapoor and Dilip Kumar are extinguished?
This is what Rajesh Khanna did and ruled the film industry for three years like never before or after. This was the birth of a superstar.
If you have seen Rajesh Khanna’s films, you will agree with me that his stories used to be rubbish at times, except for Anand, Amar Prem and Avishkar, all the overpowered type formula stories.
But the people were mad. For whom? For Rajesh Khanna.
15 consecutive super hit films from 1970 to 1973. The magic of Bollywood’s first superstar was speaking loudly. No subsequent hero could repeat this history.
Angry Young Man Amitabh Bachchan from ‘Zanjeer’ took the front seat, this was the birth of another star.
In the 70s and 80s, the story mattered less and the presence of Angry Young Men meant more.
People used to visit cinemas because Amitabh Bachchan’s name was on the screen.
This was the time when the star’s personality and charisma became more important than the depth and complexity of the story.
The era of Shah Rukh, Salman, and Aamir began in the 90s. Each Khan had a distinct identity: Shah Rukh’s romantic films, Salman’s action films, and Aamir’s versatility in playing roles and becoming intellectuals attracted people.
The immediate reaction to the entry of boxes into Bollywood was that the masses abandoned VCRs and turned to cinemas.
Then the future of cinema culture was being questioned that people will sit comfortably at home and watch movies on VCR, who will buy cinema tickets.
This triangle proved that these words were just words. The new generation was looking for the images of their dreams in new faces.
People flocked to cinemas and bought tickets like herds.
Now the themes of the film were also changing. Rather than the social language of the 90s hero Angry Young Man, he was talking about his own psychological turmoil and individual experiences with love.
In the first and second decade of this century, Khan remained in shadow. In the race of stardom, Shahrukh is standing far ahead of Salman and Aamir today.
Many names emerged in his presence but remained far away as stars, Ajay, Akshay, Hrithik Roshan etc. In the later generation, many ‘Mr. Handsome’ like Ranbir Kapoor and Ranveer Singh.
There are two main reasons why Star’s prospects are limited: the growing acceptance of middle-of-the-road cinema and the changing psyche of the new generation.
In the 70s there was a great distance between balanced and commercial cinema. Rather, they were the opposite of each other. Gradually commercial cinema ate up parallel cinema.
People of parallel cinema were abused that they started making commercial films when they got four paisas. Before the 90s, the old parallel cinema was on the way out.
‘Bendat Queen’ (1994) and ‘Satya’ (1999) were a fresh wave that broke the tradition of films with different themes and technical excellence that did not have big names in the star cast.
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It encouraged Vishal Bhardwaj, unique filmmakers like Raju, Shekhar Kapur, Anurag Kashyap continued to deliver successful but varied films.
These films gave rise to actors who had no place in the mainstream industry.
Now the films of Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sanjay Mishra, Tripathi and Khurana have their own audience. Without the star power, his films are both unique and successful.
Along with cinema, such filmmakers also got the option of OTT platforms. If the film doesn’t run in the cinema, then don’t run, sell the rights and get the money.
OTTI platforms gave people an opportunity to watch different and unique stories beyond traditional cinema. There are many such films that are getting great success, which would probably get busted if they were shown in the cinema.
Imtiaz Ali did not take the risk of playing ‘Amar Singh Chamkila’ in cinemas as biopics do not run much these days.
Online platforms have changed the measure of success of films, where it is no longer about who is in the film but what the film says.
Look at the popularity of web series like ‘Sacred Games’ and ‘Mirzapur’. One of the reasons for star power’s decline is fan exposure.
The future belongs to the new generation. They are looking around the world. Learn new languages and cultures. For them, the plots and masala stories of traditional films are not at all impressive.
How did Shah Rukh’s ‘Pathan’ and ‘Jawan’ become record holders?
First of all, Shahrukh is a star, people come to the cinema because of him. Secondly, it is old fans like us who will die after some time. Where will the new star come from?
#star #Bollywood
2024-08-22 14:21:23
