Showing posts with label Salman Khan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Salman Khan. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

PERFECT INSECURITIES OF Mr. PERFECTIONIST AAMIR KHAN

For last 20 years plus,trio of three Khans ruling Bollywood box office.Shah Rukh,a middle class guy from Delhi,stormed the box office with one blockbuster after another and Salman Khan,son of famous script writer Salim Khan,churned money spinners at will in his illustrious career.But the third Khan,Aamir,tried his best to be different from the lot for last 15 years.He claimed many times that he is there with a mission charting his own path.Majority of fans following Aamir believed that he is perfectionist and way above others.
But is this a myth created by Aamir himself,PR agencies,media and his fans or there is some truth behind it,let's figure out.
First of all,have a look at start of his career.He started his career as main lead ('worked as child artist in 'Yaadon Ki Baraat' and 'Madhosh',in 'Holi' as supporting actor) with 'Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak' in 1988.Film was a surprise hit and it's success made Aamir Khan new heartthrob of the nation.But after that in next couple of years,he had 5-6 flops in a row('Raakh','Awwal Number','Love Love Love','Tum Mere Ho','Jawani Zindabad','Deewana Mujh Sa Nahin','Afsaana Pyaar Ka','Daulat Ki Jung','Issi Ka Naam Zindagi','Parmpara') with the exception of tow hits in 'Dil' and 'Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin'.But it was the success of 'Rangeela' and 'Raja Hindustani' which frustrated him deep inside.
Even after delivering such mega hits,Aamir failed to overshadow Salman and Shah Rukh as their movies like 'DDLJ','HAHAK','Baazigar' etc. found more universal appeal and SRK became the favorite of top banner Yash Raj (with whom Aamir worked in flop 'Parampara' and rejected their next two projects 'Darr' and 'DDLJ' but both were box office success with SRK) and unanimous King of overseas.This forced Aamir to take an alternative route which was to do few films at a time but that too didn' work commercially as he starred subsequently in minor hits like 'Ghulam' and 'Sarfarosh' but still gave miserable mediocre films '1947 Earth','Mann' and 'Mela'.On contrary,Shah Rukh continued to dominate box office.
So let's list down major contradictions in professional life of Aamir Khan-
- He can go and lobby for Oscar but didn' find awards in his country 'fair' enough as he was more than one on losing side.He can also praise any award given to him by any organization.It means-is he really a bad loser?
- Aamir belongs to the family of successful producer Naasir Hussain and Mansoor Khan but he started his own production house in 2001 exactly 2 years after Shah Rukh Khan,is he really different?
- Aamir appeared in few advertisements with brands like Pepsi in 90's but later announced that he is not into this 'showy' business as he is only an artist.But after Amitabh and SRK made mega bucks in endorsements,he jumped back in 2007 with umpteen brands.Is this not too fickle?
- Aamir said that he might never do Television but last month he announced Television show produced by his production house,exactly after 2 years SRK ventured in production of programmes for small screen.Is he really thinks out of the box?
- Aamir supposed to own the release dates of Christmas after his 3 back to back successes in 'Taare Zameen Par','Ghajini' and '3 Idiots'.He said that he might release his next  film 'Talaash'(which is currently under production) on Christmas 2011 but retracted after Christmas release announced for 'Don 2'.Aftewardshe stated that 'Talaash' will release in Jan-Feb 2012 but with humongous response for the trailer of Hrithik starrer 'Agneepath',he again backed out with further delay.Then announcement came that film will be released in June 2012 as Salman's 'Ek Tha Tiger' is postponed for Eid which was earlier scheduled for June.Then Aamir's next 'Dhoom 3' got postponed from 2012 Christmas to 2013 and now Salman's 'Dabangg 2' will release on Christmas 2012'.One wonders that Aamir is forced to do all this groupism with Salman as Salman is going through unbelievable high in his career and Aamir can not afford to spoil relationship with him or his crazy fans.Ironically this groupism is somewhat similar to what SRK was blamed for ages.
- Aamir launched his nephew Imran as actor and his wife Kiran as director furthering the nepotism in Bollywood( he never gave any newcomer a central role in any his production's big films unlike SRK's 'Always Kabhi Kabhi' and Salman's 'Chillar Party').Is this right?
- Aamir acted in 'Ghajini',third grade 'masala' remake of south indian blockbuster 'Ghajini' which was in itself was the poor remake of hollywood cult 'Memento',he took a great script from Amol Gupte(he wrote it after 5 years of research and wanted to direct it)and made 'TaareZameen Par' which made Amol so furious that he walked out of the film.Is this is called perfectionism?
- Now Aamir is doing a sequel too in 'Dhoom 3' and he said so many times that he will never do a remake or sequel when SRK's 'Don' released.Is this is not too typical of Mr. Perfectionist?
Aamir is a great actor and there is no two ways about it but his claims and counter claims show him in poor light.After all the struggle at box office, he found that elusive dominance with 'ghajini' and '3 Idiots' but Salman again took the limelight away with series of blockbusters.
Now it is up to audience to decide whether Aamir is the great actor or superstar or Salman is the real star at the moment as Shah Rukh was in 90's?But i know as a matter of fact that this debate is endless.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

BEST OF KHANS'

For almost 20 years plus, trio of Khans have ruled the Hindi film industry.Shah Rukh is the King of overseas and urban audience, Aamir caters to 'desi' intelligent audience and Salman is 'aam admi's' superstar. Due to the baggage of stardom, these three great actors are often forced to shed their extraordinary acting skills that they displayed during initial years. Following are my choices of high points of their careers :

AAMIR KHAN
RAAKH
Genre                  Action/Drama
Release Date       1989
Director               Aditya Bhattacharya
Duration              153 minutes
Cast                    Aamir Khan,Pankaj Kapur,Supriya Pathak
Pluses                  Even a great actor Pankaj Kapur is overshadowed by sheer honest performance of Aamir,it was a bold and out of the box film in those days and so was Aamir's display,an intense Aamir with raw but powerful acting skills 
Verdict                 5/5 (watch it if you think Aamir Khan is doing great work these days and you will realize its really not about proving 'some' point)
Trivia                   It was released after the super success of QSQT and so audience rejected 'chocolate boy' in this tough role,it also marked the debut of celebrated cameraman Santosh Sivan and editor A. Sreekar Prasad plus director Aditya Bhattacharya becam first director to win national award on debut,Aamir failed to perform such an intense portrayal of action hero afterwards in his career repeatedly in 'Baazi','Aatank Hi Aatank' and recently in 'Ghajini',a loud poor remake of 'Momento'.

SHAH RUKH KHAN
SWADES
Genre                  Social/Drama
Release Date       17th December,2004
Director               Ashutosh Gowariker
Duration              194 minutes
Cast                    Shah Rukh Khan,Gayatri Joshi,Kishori Balal
Pluses                  Many will argue that 'Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa' or few will say 'Chak De India' but undoubtedly 'Swades' is his best work till date because he sheds all stardom,'masala' and antics to play 'Mohan Bhargava',one of the best moments and subtle performance of Indian cinema-when SRK's character buys water at station,still goosebumps!
Verdict                5/5 (watch it if you think Shah Rukh Khan is all about 'DDLJ','K2H2' or 'K3G')
Trivia                   It was not a great commercial success but his impeccable performance was praised by one and all,the critical success of this movie gave Shah Rukh belief to attempt brave cinema like 'Chak De India' in future,he is typecast by audience and makers in the role of 'King of Romance' but whenever he comes into his own he displays flashes of his brilliance in flicks like 'Darr','MNIK' or 'Devdas'.



SALMAN KHAN
MAINE PYAR KIYA
Genre                  Romance/Drama
Release Date       29th December,1989
Director               Sooraj R. Barjatya
Duration              193 minutes
Cast                    Salman Khan,Bhagyashree,Alok Nath,Reema Lagoo,Mohnish Behl
Pluses                  Salman was good in 'Love','Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam','Tere Naam' and 'Phir Milenge' but nothing can beat the original 'Prem' of 'Maine Pyaar Kiya',his innocent but handsome looks were killing and swept girls off their feet back then and new star was born overnight,he displayed his toned body even then(not distastefully as he does now days),it was his 'Friend' cap which became ultimate fashion symbol for youngsters and his deep eyed conveyed the romance just like that
Verdict                4.5/5 (watch it to believe that Salman used to look innocent once and used to emote with aplomb)
Trivia                  It was a huge commercial hit and Salman arrived big time but he delivered plenty flops barring few in following five years until Rajshri Productions' next 'Hum Aapke Hain Kaun' released in 1994 to revive his superstar status,he started drifting towards comedy in later years and now he is only into 'masala' action flicks,can you believe that he had not starred in a single solo romantic hit since his last successful romantic outing 'Tere Naam' 8 years back in 2003?

Friday, July 8, 2011

WEEKLY MOVIE GUIDE (what to watch and what to miss in Cinema)

MURDER 2
Genre                  Suspense/Thriller
Release Date       8th July
Director               Mohit Suri
Duration              130 minutes
Cast                    Emraan Hasmi,Jacquiline Feranadez,Prashant Narayan
Pluses                 Couple of good songs
Minuses               Idiotic screenplay,third rate performances from all
Verdict                1/5 (watch it if you still like those 80's brand of suspense and sleaze )


CHILLAR PARTY
Genre                  Drama-Comedy
Release Date       8th July
Director               Vikas Bahl and Nitesh Tiwari
Duration              130 minutes
Cast                    Irffan Khan.Sanath Menon,Rohan Grover,Aman Jain,Aarav Khanna,Vishesh Tiwari,Shreya Sharma,Ranbir Kapoor (guest appearance)
Pluses                  Good narrative,decent performances from kids
Minuses               Too basic at places in terms of treatment and direction
Verdict                3/5 (watch it as there are not good children films available so need to encourage this kind of cinema )



LARRY CROWNE
Genre                  Romance/Comedy/Drama
Release Date       8th July (India)
Director               Tom Hanks
Duration               98 minutes
Cast                    Tom Hanks,Juilia Roberts,Sarah Mahoney,George Takei
Pluses                  Chemistry of lead pair,George Takei as economy professor is hillarious
Minuses               Third class script,slow paced,neither romantic nor comic
Verdict                1.5/5 (watch it if you are 'big big big' Tom Hanks or Julia Roberts fan )