Flop films affect actors but not stars?
iView Author: Sridhar Mayur (Hyderabad, India)
Email: mayursridhar [at] gmail [dot] com
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‘Whose Flop is it anyway?
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Why some good actors had to struggle a lot to get into the mainstream, and after that struggle they would face Struggle-Phase 2. They’ve been a lot these days….Like the brilliant Irrfan Khan to the impeccable-comic-timer Rajpal Yadav. They all have started work from scrath working in Doordarshan(Our very own “Bapu TV”, which is still in 1980’s – torturing us to the core!!).
I hope most of us might remember watching these guys on Doordarshan(Who can forget Irrfan Khan as ‘Senapati’ in ‘Chanakya’). Not to forget Ashutosh Rana(in Shanti), wonderful actor! I am talking about them coz……critics come with brick-bats over them and it takes long time for these poor guys to come back to track after the movie flops….but, not in the case of Big Stars…I mean the media simply takes on the guys who are vulnerable or who do not have the right people in the industry to support them or to speak for them….
“Take 1:” Like in the case of Rajpal Yadav(who started with ‘Mast’), who played a ruthless rag-picker-turned-dacoit ‘Sippa’ in ‘Jungle’ wonderfully, and it went unnoticed. I also had read in a article that he was not fit for main stream and should look out for road shows(Derogatory and uncalled for…right?).. Why? because he was vulnerable…dint have the right people or connect…However, he went on to win the ‘Best Performance in a Negative Role for Jungle’ in 2001 after a year.
Now, “Take 2:” if ‘Tashan’ has flopped miserably…and even the trying-to-look-hot “bikini babe” Kareena could not save the movie( poor Akki had to believe in the director and Adi Chopra )…my point is, Kareena still bags good roles from Big Banners(3 Idiots by Rajkumar Hirani) even after a Big Flop!! Why? because she has the right people and the connect/access….Yash Raj banner would make more movies…Kareena would get more offers, but if Irrfan or Rajpal or Ashutosh were a part of it(even having established themselves)….the producers would ask them to reduce thier remuneration for the next movie or give them some ‘gyan’ on how to get connected to good commerical ventures and they would also be answerable to media for being a part of the failure…
Its a tough political line out there guys….Its a simple example that I’ve put forward…Strugglers will have to struggle….I mean good actors…most of them…till they become wise* enough to have God Father’s(most cases) and it only happens to good actors, good script writers, good technicians….It isnt shocking to know that Naseer saab had to struggle to get roles in main stream initially to get noticed and to had to re-work his passion towards cinema….
I know there could be umpteen examples where a Flop movie of a Big Star did not make any difference to his/her career graph…and hence I say ‘Whose Flop is it anyway??’ when it come to the Big Stars.
So, shall we make it ‘WE’ say…
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Hey, True dude!! They don’t get thier due quite oftennnnn
I think Irrfan was great in MMJ. Just superb.
You’re right.Just imagine the number of chances given to Abhishek Bachchan to ESTABLISH himself.Any other actor after giving the number of flops that he gave would have been thrown out of the industry.And what exactly is he doing NOW?Either acting in multistarrers or in films where there is Amitabh to support him.Or financing directors to make films with tailor made roles for him.Even then he is getting bad reviews with only his father defending him.Lucky people!!!
The only solution to this problem is to have more and more directors who believe in their script and themselves than on STARS.
Umm, sometimes you become successful enough that a flop will not matter. While you are becoming successful, you form right contacts and connections.
Case in point: SRK and Akshay Kumar, they don’t have filmy back ground, they did struggle to reach at the top.(the order and scale may vary). But yeah, when it comes to nepotism, you are absolutely right.
But for every Kareena Kapoor or Abhishek Bachhan, there is Kumar Gaurav, Kunal Goswami or Tanisha.
I don’t think even all actors are affected, Paresh Rawal or Irrfan Khan are struggling per se. They still get meaty roles, no?
In post 4:
I meant: Paresh Rawal or Irrfan Khan are not struggling per se.
Sorry about that.
Well there are two ways to look at it…yoi by comparing Akki/Kareena with Ashutosh or Rajpal, is a tad on different plains…Ashutosh and Rajpal are not the traditional ” hero” material…Ashutosh was praised a lot in Sanghursh so was Akki..and mind you, Akki’s first biig hit was his movie no.41, and no Not Khiladi…
Anyways..nice article, food for thought..
BTW Ashutosh was in Swabhiman and not in Shanti, i guess..
This nepotism argument is getting old now. If it held true, why is it that the Deols (Bobby, Esha, etc), Khans (Fardeen, Zayed, etc), Tanisha, Uday and other filmy connected actors/actresses are not more successful? They have family names and connections too.
The difference is a Kareena or Abhishek will throw out a critically acclaimed performance periodically to justify their exist. Else they too would be scrapping the bottom of the barrel.
Nepotism is unfair but it only takes you so far and it is not limited to BW. Check out all the filmy families in HW.
I’m glad that character actors like Irrfan and Rajpal Yadav are getting more work. There is room for everyone.
Ashutosh Rana acted in “Swabhiman” not in ” Shanti”
His character name was “Tyagi”.
@7 Carol,
Nepotism has nothing to do with success. Nepotism means they are still acting despite failures.
And it is still there, Imran Khan, Harman Baweja, That girl in Haal-e-Dil got such an early breaks because they have families in movie business.
It may be a different game that Imran Khan turned out to be competent himself.
What’s the big deal about nepotism ? Don’t kids inherit their family business or take up the family trade ? How many people do you know who became doctors or lawyers just coz their parents were in the same profession.
@OM – Yes, it was Swabhiman. I apologize & Thanks for apprecating my article.
@vishesh and Carol – You guys have a real* valid point but you got my point wrong I guess. The main point is a flop not affecting Stars(Seen from the expamle I’ve given). Yes, all Stars struggle to get noticed!! Some are good and some are really bad, finally a flop does not affect them. Wouldn’t Bobby Deol get a leading role after a disastrous Chamku? Din’t Uday Chopra get Dhoom2 after a disastrous ‘Neal n Nikki’? Thats my point!!
Sridhar:
Sorry if I digressed a bit.
But I still don’t think when a movie flops, the actors who are not stars (AWANS) get affected more than stars unless and until they really start making bad choices.
Manoj Bajpai came in many lousy movies to lose out on quality and now it may be possible that if his solo movie flops, he will have to struggle more.
On Bobby or Uday, they only come in their own productions otherwise they are struggling to get roles outside.
Also now Om puri has started making bad choices, though he may be in SIK ( a hit), his brand value is eroding.
p.s. funny thing is I came up with the acronym AWANS but never used it in my post :-(
a flop affects everybody alike. a case in point is vivek oberoi who just went bonkers bcos of his fantastic head start, and he made wrong choices. he was pulled down from the star pedestal and he is back to performing as an actor. see the kind of movies sanjay kapoor and arbaaz khan r doing, all two bit roles and crap appearances.
anyways, stars r nothing but actors who perform well consistently, and so they r forgiven a little more easily and faith is reposed in them bcos of past performances. but actors dont have tat flexibility, they need to perform every time till they reach star status.