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.

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?

JO CHHAKKA ZYADA UDATA HAI USE 'CHHAKKA' HI KEHTE HAIN, ARTIST NAHIN

Trying to be smart,cool and clever is the name of the game in bollywood now a days. Every second movie boasts of a script that is 'clever' or one can say too clever. I really liked few of them i.e.Bhindi Bazaar Inc.,Yeh Saali Zindagi, The Film-Emotional Atyachaar,Utt Patang.But all of these were either small successes or failed at box office due to B or C grade star cast.

Now one of the biggest name of industry Aamir Khan tries the same formula with  A grade cast in 'Delhi Belly',where plot is heavily borrowed from cult British films 'Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels' and its unofficial sequel 'Snatch'(the whole 'diamond' angle is photocopied from it) directed by Guy Ritchie.One should not have any problem with this as Aamir copied time and again (remember 'Ghajini',one of the worst remake of iconic Hollywood flick 'Memento' and who can forget disaster 'Mann', remake of another Hollywood classic 'An Affair To Remember') from Hollywood and he always prefers Oscar over any other mainstream Bollywood award so it is clearly known to everyone where his tastes and preferences lie. But then he also produced real gems like 'Taare Zameen Par' and 'Dhobi Ghaat' and not so bad 'Peepli Live' and without doubt he is a smart producer.

'Delhi Belly', one of those films where people frequently step out of character and say inexplicably silly things merely to give other characters in the frame room to react to this comedic full-toss, fire back a smartarsed preset quip, and win the moment. This convenient style -- that takes the challenge away from the character, and robs clever exchanges of their wit -- is however a minor niggle.

But i wonder that how 'Delhi Belly' connects with so called multiplex young urban audience on one level and at the same time many came out of the show in first 15 minutes or at the end of the show singing the number from the same film 'Bhaag Bhaag D.K.Bose' and most of them posted on Facebook that they want their money back which propelled me to write this piece.

As I already stated that anyone, who is watching latest flicks from new directors in last 2 years, is bound to find a sense of Deja Vu while watching 'Delhi Belly' where abusive language,casual kisses,vulgar sexual depiction, shooting and action on streets by college going urban youngsters (remember 'Shaitaan')on the name of 'reality' is a must. I make sure that I watch most of the movies in theaters in order to get pulse and real time reaction of audience. I remember either it was in the case of 'Yeh Saali Zindagi','Bhindi Bazaar Inc' or 'Delhi Belly', every time audience claps or whistles whenever there was any provocative language used or vulgar shots.It reminds one of sleazy songs and double meaning dialogues in Govinda's films in 90's or in Dada Kondke's films in 80's. The only difference in present scenario is that it is more driven by urban and educated crowd.

I was told that 'shit happens July 1' but I thought that the makers were kidding. But now anyone can wonder what is funny when a character is passing gas throughout the movie,when shit is lying on the table or the friends keep on using foul languages even if there is no comic sense in the situation. In 'Delhi Belly',characters petulantly insist on speaking the language even when sanity demands otherwise -- when a gangster is questioning them in Hindi while shoving a gun into the crotch of their pyjamas, for example. And even when English is the obvious choice, the delivery doesn't work. Some very good lines are flat-lined by the way they're delivered,It's actually quite fascinating to see that in the mostly-English version that I saw, all of the laughs came from the Hindi bits. 

The matter of fact is that majority of crowd who thinks that 'Delhi Belly' is a path breaking cinema (oh!its nerve cracking for sure) is either the one who is in teens in terms of exposure to cinema (10 or less than 10 years of movie watching experience), has great exposure to adult contents on web or can enjoy anything that is praised by media or peers. For God's sake I don't know a sane man who can listen to this,'She gave me bl*w j*b and I fu**ed' her' or can see a photojournalist casually pinching a woman in brothel.And if this is comedy and that too an intelligent one (as suggested by few leading critics!), I better be dumb.

And in the end, I just want to add that with power comes the great responsibility and that applies to Aamir. He is in a position where whatever he produces is bound to get eyeballs but he needs to be cautious because making adult film with A grade stars is a very commercially viable business (Hollywood has proven it time and again and in India too, bold content is here to stay) but to decide the limit is tough because 'JO CHHAKKA ZYADA UDATA HAI USE 'CHHAKKA'  HI KEHTE HAIN' ARTIST NAHIN' (dedicated to humor of 'Delhi Belly').

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

BBUDDAH HOGA TERA BAAP

Genre                  Action-Drama

Release Date       30th June

Director               Poori Jaganath

Duration              120 minutes

Cast                    Amitabh Bachchan,Hema Malini,Sonu Sood,Raveena Tandon,Sonal Chauhan,Prakash Raj

Pluses                  Its all about Big B and his magical persona,editing is superb,title song rocks,high points are Amitabh's entry and climax

Minuses               old script,too many unnecessary subplots,average music

Verdict                3/5 (watch it if you grown up on Amitabh's films and revisit his magic)

DELHI BELLY

Genre                  Comedy-Thriller

Release Date       30th June

Director               Abhinay Deo

Duration              103 minutes

Cast                    Imran Khan,Vir Das,Kunal Roy Kapur,Shehnaz Treasurywala

Pluses                  Imran and Vir are superb,awesome background score,tight script,smart comic moments

Minuses               too much of 'on face moments' and adult jokes plus language,at places film tries too hard to be like Hollywood's 'Snatch' or 'Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels',Aamir's song in climax is irritating

Verdict                3.5/5 (watch it if you love adult jokes and 'wannabe cool - young' movies)

TRANSFORMERS 3 - DARK OF THE MOON

Genre                  Action/Adventure

Release Date       29th June

Director               Michael Bay

Duration              155 minutes

Cast                    Shia LabBeouf,Josh Duhamel,John Turturro,Tyrese Gibson,Patrick Dempsey,Rosie Huntignton-Whiteley

Pluses                  Amazing thrills,even better storyline,top notch performances from lead cast

Minuses               too long in running time so needs editing at places,one can't help but miss Megan Fox(British model Rosie is no match!)

Verdict                3.5/5 (watch it to experience magic of 3D and great animation)