Shah Rukh Khan Is No Actor.He Is Just A Star !
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Let's not commit the fatal blunder of treating Shah Rukh as an actor.A film star may or may not be an actor !Some are under the illusion that Shah Rukh is a star but I have kept myself at a safe distance from all such illusions. The survival of such stars who are icons of crude acting only proves that even idiots if sponsored by Lord have the ability to project them as men of wisdom. His presence makes you believe in the fact that a little talent backed up by strong marketing skills shall make anybody attain stardom in our Bollywood.The present age Bollywood is dominated by people who though are lesser actors but not devoid of talent to make huge money all by themselves.The people who proclaim that Shah Rukh is an actor are really ignorant of the fact that star is a different entity than an actor.
It's not necessary that all stars should be actors.At the same time,it's also not necessary that all actors emerge as great stars in the long run. Well,if you are an owner of well built body with awesome cute face the chances to emerge as star becomes certain if you own a calculative mind as well.The likes of Shah Rukh Khans have intercepted this formula of success quite well and hence managed to play a long inning in Bollywood.I am in no mood to honour the survival instincts of Shah Rukhs.For me the acting abilities and survival instincts of Charlie Chaplin,Ravi Baswani and Raghubir Yadav inspire me truly instead of being swayed by the success of Shah Rukh Khan.These men who depicted great acting abilities were not the ideal figures,being devoid of awesome face, to carve a niche for themselves in the glamour oriented world of cinema but then they struggled hard and came to attain great heights.I know quite well that it's impossible task for the present Khan Brigade to attain such glorious heights even if they desired to do so.
I have come to the opinion that in our times earning quick money via skin show has become the only desired aim of all human beings-the real Purushartha(aims of human life). That has made owners of real talent victims of psychological disorders. They have come to shun the race to glory in the very beginning as they know they would not be able to mould themselves as desired by lesser values. They would not be able to depict that life is name of compromises.That means they are out of the race to glory.It's quite evident that in our times the attributes to attain success have changed.
Sycophancy,bribery connections with influential people and other such short-cuts are the most wanted elements to emerge as successful person in modern world.Recently,I read in an news item that postings done in important institutions like Railways are now not decided merit wise but money wise.Isn't this a discouraging sign for candidates who burn the midnight oil to emerge successful in the competitive examinations. Needless to say that have we really bothered to honour real talented guys,the nation would have been on right track. At present,we have wrong people enjoying high profile posts while the right ones are languishing in some dark corner. They are involved in insignificant jobs.
It's really tragic that on one hand we have a large section of intellectuals on the verge of penury and on the other hand we have many souls playing in millions just by being part of insignificant gestures in Bollywood and elsewhere.As if trying to tell that serious pursuits would only spoil your life.It appears that the people who depict the superficial orientations have a greater chance to dictate the world. The lesser you use the brain ,the greater becomes the chance to become successful in our times !!! Let's come back to Shah Rukh.He is being hailed by some as a star that made a space for himself in the Bollywood even after coming from a non-filmi (movie) background.It's not a big deal in my eyes. Why ? There are many great actors and directors who carved a niche for themselves despite coming from a non-filmi background. BR Chopra,Amitabh Bachchan, Gurudutt, Lata Mangeshkar and many more such big names not only made significant contributions but they also set good precedents.The success of Shah Rukh Khan does not inspire us but on the contrary it demoralize us.
His survival story conveys a wrong message to upcoming actors that to be successful you have to be more body oriented than soul oriented. It needs to be remembered that our success story should give rise to better values.We have to remain conscious about the type of values we are promoting.The success of Shah Rukh makes us the worshiper of false beliefs. Like to draw a parallel. The Gen-Next cricket lovers might worship Yusuf Pathan and Misbah as stars on seeing them hitting six and fours with ease but the people who have seen likes of Ricahrds, Sandeep Patil, Boder,Bothem and Kapil Dev hitting sky high sixes on great deliveries would dare not trea pygmies as stars.Having watched the flicks of Ompuri and Naseeruddin Shah,it's indeed hard for me to watch the crass performance of Shah Rukh.He talks about 'method acting' but in reality is a poor performer. If one indeed is interested in seeing a superb performance one needs to watch Naseer's acting skills in Draupadi Cheerharan scene from Jaane Bhi Do Yaro.He has made the scene so hilarious via his dialogue delivery.It was his sheer presence that made the scene a classic one.
At this juncture,let us intercept the difference between art movies and commercial cinema.These are two different forms of movies and I am sure difference between the two forms shall always exist as they represent two different type of viewers. In my eyes any art medium intended at establishing a rapport with the viewers if loses sight of the fact that it's principal aim is to enlighten the viewers and not intellectual meandering then it's better to part ways with such an art medium.There is no need to get used to intellectual shit promoted in the name of art movies. It's time to accept the fact that Indian viewers are interested in meaningful entertainment.Amitabh Bachchan sometimes made a ridiculous observation that in Indian film landscape there is no scope for type of stuff made in Hollywood. I disagree with Mr Bachchan. We can definitely make better movies touching complex episodes that hit human life and ,in fact,new breed of modern directors are experimenting with interesting issues.
Mr. Bachchan seems to have forgotten his roles in "Nishabd' and "Cheeni Kum" !!!Let's not shed tears over the demise of art movies.Well,in my eyes,it's time to learn new tricks of film making that allows us to present serious themes in viewer friendly manner. One good example is The Exorcism Of Emily Rose.It's another thing charm of being hailed as art movie maker -maker of dark movies- makes some film makers deliver movies with strange themes.These are made to keep the chances of winning International awards bright!There are many film makers who are always eager to receive International acclaim and that's why their movies are poverty stricken!!
I am sure if a director is really interested in establishing a bond with the viewers via the message highlighted in the movie,then a director would have to be innovative enough to come up with proper cocktail of serious and lighter elements.The sixth sense of such a director should enable him to have fine balance of both type of elements apart from using better technique.The problem with Indian movie makers is that while making a movie they are involved in many vain equations dealing with the promotion of movies.That ultimately deviates them from primary task of shaping the theme of the movie.
We have all watched so many times Gandhi made by Richard Attenborough.It's a wonderful movie.I am sure had we made the same movie,we would have either stuffed it with melodramatic elements ,leading to death of historicity, or we would have turned the movie into a documentary in an attempt to be close to the reality !I am happy the directors like Shekhar Kapoor and Rajkumar Hirani have understood this truth quite well that a movie should be fine blend of serious and comic elements in a sensitive manner.They have shown us how to blend the elements borrowed from art and commercial movies in a perfect way that not only entertain the viewers but also enable them to get lost in deep introspection.We have to further refine the art of presenting serious themes in viewer friendly manner.
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Pic Credit:
Shah Rukh Khan
Naseer And Ravi Baswani
Raghubir Yadav
Ompuri in Tamas
Cheeni Kum
The Exorcism Of Emily Rose
Gandhi By Richard Attenborough
Videos:
Draupadi Cheerharan Scene From Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro
The Exorcism Of Emily Rose Trailer
Gandhi By Ricahrd Attenborough Trailer
