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| June 12, 2000 | ||
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| CINEMA Generation Next
Like Tushar, Fardeen Khan, son of Firoz,
also has a business degree from an American university. Fardeen made a
Shivdasani-like debut in his father's disastrous Prem Aggan but got a new
lease of life when Varma signed him for his Veerappan story, Jungle. After
Varma's seal-of-approval, Fardeen has signed up for Venus films and
Vaastav director Mahesh Manjrekar. And no, he has no time either until
mid-next year. Heavyweight secretary-producer Rakesh Nath's son Karan is
taking a shot at stardom. As is, according to the grapevine, Bobby's first
cousin, Abhay Deol. Blood connections certainly open the
doors in Bollywood but a famous last name is not de rigueur. Shivdasani,
who comes from "a huge Sindhi business family", is the only one
in the clan to be an actor. He first faced the camera when he was 14
months old -- he modelled for Farex -- and he hasn't looked back since.
His family can't relate to his world but they are 100 per cent supportive. There are several other non-pedigree
entrants. Amisha Patel's family (she's Rajni Patel's grand-daughter),
watched shell-shocked as the business graduate opted for movies. Post-KNPH,
Amisha has signed an unbelievable 10 films. Keerthi Reddy, a 20-year-old
Bangalore girl, is making big waves. Reddy knew she wanted to be an
actress at 16. She did a Tamil and a Telugu film before Baghnani spotted
her. Four days after she met him, Keerthi was shooting with Abhishek for
Tera Jadoo. "The vibrations were good," says Baghnani, "I
knew she was the right girl." Rai saw some of Tera Jadoo and snapped
her up to play opposite three heroes -- Shivdasani, Arjun Rampal and Sunil
Shetty -- in Pyar, Ishq Aur Mohabbat. Rampal, a supermodel-turned-actor, is
generating a positive buzz as well. His launchpads -- Ashok Mehta's Moksh
and Shantanu Sheorey's Jadh -- ran into financial difficulties, making
Rampal a newcomer for the past three years. But Moksh, in which Rampal
plays an idealistic lawyer, has finally been completed and is slated for
release later this year. "I'm getting lots of offers," he says,
"especially films with two or three newcomers together." The
attitude is, "these guys might get big tomorrow so let's sign them
today". The other hot debutant is singer Sonu Nigam. Nigam so far had
resolutely refused acting offers, preferring the limelight of television's
Sa Re Ga Ma instead. Enter Taurani. The Tips Music owner convinced Nigam
to do more than just sing. When the news got out that Nigam has agreed to
act, he got 18 film offers. Currently, Taurani has him in seclusion
beefing up his body and his talent for stardom. Since many of the debutants are already
busy and famous, filmmakers are putting together projects with
"newer" newcomers. Director N. Chandra is making Ishytle -- an
upcountry, heavily stylised product about college youth with an all-new
starcast. Writer Anurag Kashyap has turned director with Paanch, a gritty
thriller about a group of struggling musicians who turn criminals.
"John Mathan waited four years for Aamir Khan to do Sarfarosh,"
says Kashyap, "I can't do that." So Kashyap cast Padmini
Kolhapure's sister, Tejaswini, actor Kay Kay and a host of theatre actors. Director Padam Kumar is also targeting
the youth market with Supari, a film about "urban kids and what they
have to go through". Kumar who has just completed his first Hindi
film Champion with Sunny, was so bogged down with juggling star dates that
he started Supari with Rampal, four new boys and three new girls. Venus'
Ratan Jain, who burnt his fingers with the big-budget bomb Mela is
starting "two films with new or one-film-old faces and two with
totally new faces". Even Yash Chopra, who has traditionally
worked only with star names, is launching newcomers in son Aditya's
Mohabbatein. Among others, the film will see the debut of Rajshri music
video girl, Preeti Jhangiani, Shilpa Shetty's younger sister Shamita and
Yash's younger son Uday. Of course, the Chopras aren't wholly depending on
the freshers. Mohabbatein also stars Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and
Aishwarya Rai. Attitudes toward starless projects have
changed dramatically. When Kumar launched Supari last year, people took
digs at him for roping in newcomers. But today they are much more
positive. Six months ago, when Rakesh Nath tried to put together a
newcomer film, he could not find financiers. Today, the same people are
pumping funds into fresh faces. What explains the change? Two words
actually. Hrithik Roshan. KNPH's phenomenal success and Hrithik's
instant stardom made Bollywood sit up. "The message is clear,"
says Film Information Editor Komal Nahata, "people want a change.
They are thirsting for a new face." In a dismal six months, the other
successes have also been films with little face value: Kundan Shah's Kya
Kehna which rode on an unconventional storyline, aggressive marketing and
Preity Zinta; and in some territories, Priyadarshan's comedy Hera Pheri,
in which the star was the script. Meanwhile, the high-gloss mega movies
have been tanking with alarming regularity. KNPH was sandwiched between
two Khan releases -- Aamir's Mela and Shah Rukh's Phir Bhi Dil Hai
Hindustani. Both bombed. As have Salman's Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge and Chal
Mere Bhai. Hrithik's success also comes at a time when Bollywood's love
affair with the Khans was souring. Aamir and Shah Rukh, now both producers
themselves, are doing selective work. Aamir has spent the first half of
the year on home production Lagaan. Shah Rukh has his preferred camp of
directors and technicians and rarely ventures outside. With 50 to 60
reputed producers vying for three superstars, the demand-supply imbalance
created havoc with prices, dates and schedules. Also, the Khans and Bollywood's other
saleable heroes -- Ajay Devgan, Anil Kapoor, Govinda, Sunny Deol, Sanjay
Dutt -- are clearly beyond the college-boy age. Says Ratan Jain: "If
I'm making a film with Shah Rukh Khan, I won't make him run around trees
anymore. The I-Love-You roles are going to a new generation of
actors." Naturally then producers are heaving a sigh of relief.
"The greatest thing for this industry has been the birth of Hrithik
Roshan," says producer Mukesh Bhatt. Newcomers automatically
translate into more affordable budgeting, quick completion and less
logistical snarls. But a new actor doesn't mean a cheap,
shoddy film. There is no market for B-grade products or for new faces with
unknown makers. Distributors and the audience want A-grade making. It's
all about love and locations. KNPH was shot extensively in Thailand and
New Zealand. Baghnani went to Monte Carlo and Paris for Tera Jadoo and Rai
is shooting his film in a start-to-finish schedule in Scotland. Presentation is especially important
since in the current business scenario, the bulk of a film's budget is
recovered from music, overseas and, lately, satellite sales. Says
distributor Ramesh Sippy: "A satellite channel will go for banner and
the maker, not so much for the star. These altered recovery patterns are
helping directors opt for new faces." Marketing is also critical.
Fresh faces need greater propping. So for his Esha Deol-starrer, Koi Mere
Dil Se Pooche, Boney Kapoor is planning to allocate one territory's
recovery to the promotion of the film. "I rate this parallel to the
arrival of Madhuri. There must be an intriguing quality in the
promos," he says. Of course, the work on launching stars
starts months before the film goes on the floors. There are the mandatory
acting, fighting, diction classes. Stylists like Manish Malhotra are
brought in to create looks -- he's designed Kareena's get-up in Refugee.
Photo-shoots with top-rated photographers are done. Pictures are released
to film magazines and sent to producers' offices. Secretaries aggressively
network while their wannabe stars maintain a demeanour of being hungry for
work but not starving. Signing one good project can start an avalanche of
roles. Bollywood's next generation is ambitious.
"I want to bring back the era of Nargis and Madhubala," says
Kareena, Unlike earlier generations, most of the wannabes are getting
college degrees before putting on the make-up. Karan Nath is finishing his
commerce degree through correspondence just in case stardom doesn't happen
and he needs a back-up. Fardeen says he won't just work for the sake of
it. And if acting doesn't work, he'll move on to production and direction. "All the new guys are welcome
additions," says Anil Kapoor. "More stars means more projects,
more turnover, more rotation of money." Absolutely. Bollywood's
millennium generation is smart and savvy and raring to go. Contrary to
current Bollywood bitching, the Khans with a decade of hits behind them,
are far from over. A few hits will tilt the balance again. But right now,
it is clearly Advantage: Newcomers. |
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Others
in the star siblings and sons brigade include Hema Malini's daughter Esha
Deol, who is being launched by Boney Kapoor, and Jeetendra's son Tushar
Kapoor, who has Baghnani launching him with Satish Kaushik as director and
Kareena as heroine. Tushar got a degree in business from the University of
Michigan before joining the movies. His father is a guide but, says Tushar,
"I've never taken advantage of his position. I want to make my own
identity."