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| Edited By: Sarita A Tanwar |Source: DNA |Updated: May 16, 2016, 07:05 PM IST
None of the top stars of today — Amitabh Bachchan (Saat Hindustani), Salman Khan (Biwi Ho To Aisi), Shah Rukh Khan (Dil Aashna Hai), Akshay Kumar (Saugandh) — got stardom with their first film. It took them a few films to become stars and few more years to became superstars. Even the present generation of actors — Varun Dhawan, Arjun Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, Sidharth Malhotra, Ayushmann Khurrana — found fame and fans with their first film, but they didn’t generate mass hysteria. To achieve stardom with the first day-first show of one’s debut film is something most actors dream about, but few get to experience. It happens once every decade or so.
But it doesn’t really matter how long it takes you to get there. No one remembers whether it took you one film or 10 films to achieve stardom. Today, Akshay and Hrithik are both equally big stars. What matters is where you end up. The public doesn’t care about the journey. Actors hate talking about their early films and would prefer to forget their road to success, because it is paved with sh*t films. Every actor and actress has a list of films they wish they had not been associated with. Male actors are embarrassed by the quality of films they did back then. Not to mention, the ridiculous 90s fashion, the loud emoting, the silly scripts, the crotch-thrusting choreography.... Actresses had it worse. Early in their careers, they sign some films they spent the rest of their lives regretting. Sridevi did a lot B-grade, low-budget films, which she bought off when she had the moolah, and probably burned the prints. Katrina Kaif has been unsuccessfully trying to buy the rights of Boom, so that it never resurfaces in any theater or on any channel.
It’s hard to forget when you wrong yourself. Is it easier when you are wronged? Yes, when you are in the position to laugh at those who laughed at you. The smart- asses on social media who made memes and jokes on Tiger Shroff have been silenced by the roar of the applause and the cash registers ringing, post Baaghi. The lad’s popularity is growing with each day. Unlike his contemporaries who have the multiplex audiences, or the “classes”, Tiger has the masses or the single-screen audience on his side. That’s an advantage.
Let me explain the difference. The multiplex audience will go to a film, if the trailer, song or the story appeals to them, even if it stars his fav hero, because they have many other sources of entertainment from theater to clubbing and from fine dining to sports. The single screen audiences have one source of entertainment — cinema — and they worship their screen idol. So they will go to see a film, to see their hero. Doesn’t matter picture kaisi bhi ho! Jai ho! The masses are a more loyal audience. Salman Khan is a mass hero. The collections of his unsuccessful films have bigger collections than a hit film of other actors. His fans throng to the theatre when Bhai’s film releases. They don’t care about anything else. They love him and they will support him. It’s that simple.
An actor can’t pick the kind of audience he wants. The audience decides which hero they want to worship. And they’ve given a big thumbs-up to Tiger. What sets the Shroff lad apart from anyone else is that he can dance and fight better than all his contemporaries. So while he can do the kind of films that other actors do, they can’t do what he can. Sadly, Tiger’s biggest strengths can also quickly become his weakness. In how many films can he rely on dancing and fighting? Yes, the boy can act, but that’s not what his fans are mad about. There is the danger of being a one-trick pony. He will have to constantly push himself. And choose his films wisely. The unfortunate part is: The audience likes him fighting and dancing and they mightnot like it when he attempts anything different. If he doesn’t attempt different films, they will get bored of the same old stuff at some point. He has some hard choices to make. He has to play this right. To ensure he continues to keep burning bright….
