27
(Khalid Mohamed)
In a month-long poll conducted by a website to determine the main youth icon among movie heroes, the votes have been pretty much loaded in favour of Shahid Kapur, with Ranbir Kapoor yapping at his heels.
A fortnight is still left for the poll to end, with the Kaminey hero at this very moment polling 37 per cent of the votes, and the Saawariya boy at 35 per cent. At the third rung, there’s Abhay Deol, a favourite with discriminating viewers, essentially for his choice of unusually gritty roles, the most notable one being in Dev D.
Hrithik Roshan, being over 30 and a decade-old actor since Kaho Na Pyaar Hai, doesn’t figure in the poll. Surprisingly, though, both Neil Nitin Mukesh and Imraan Khan have attracted negligible votes. Shahid Kapur has been at the forefront perhaps because of the intense publicity surrounding Kaminey, while Ranbir Kapoor will soon be all over the newspapers, TV channels and websites on the eve of the October release of Wake Up, Sid which is being produced by Karan Johar.
Of the two, Kapur has certain unmatched skills. No one can dance quite like him (not even Hritihik Roshan). He is endowed with a boyish face and demeanour and has always been in the news for his alliances (or the lack of them) with Kareena Kapoor, Sania Mirza, Amrita Rao, Vidya Balan and Priyanka Chopra.
On the other hand, Kapoor is serviceable at dancing and excellent when it comes to the light-hearted RK-brand of humour. If there is anything common between Kapur and Kapoor, it is the volume of their gossip buzz. Kapoor once lost his heart to an unnamed girl who stayed in Bandra, an upscale locality of Bombay.
After that, he has been spoken of in the same champagne breath as socialite Nandita Mahtani, Katrina Kaif and Deepika Padukone. Their private lives aside, for sure Kapur and Kapoor are among the most exciting young actors on the Bollywood scene today.
Yet you cannot resist the gnawing feeling that tinsel town still doesn’t have an actor-star of super-A-grade calibre. We’re still waiting for that new young talent to rewrite the rules the way Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan did.
The trouble is that no one can be bred, trained and piloted towards this course of overwhelming popularity. Take Abhishek Bachchan’s case. Despite scores of films and support, needless to say of all those close to the B-clan, he still doesn’t figure among the roster of top five heroes.
In every sphere of life — be it entertainment, media or finance — the accent is on the youth.
No wonder the search is on in showbusiness to detect young stars who will appeal primarily to the age group of 15 to 25 years old.
Mumbai’s Versova neighbourhood is jam-packed with ‘strugglers’ who hope to be discovered, given their big break and hey presto, they’ll be the next big things.
Seasoned actors Danny Denzongpa, Jackie Shroff and Ranjit and Shakti Kapoor are hoping to introduce their sons in dream debut projects. Sunny Deol is keeping his teenage sons under wraps, but it is more than likely that they will take to acting. Like it or not, the movie trade belief is that pedigree does matter. Poonam Dhillon is sending her children to film education classes, but will let them decide on their specific careers eventually.
Of the new crop of upcoming heroines, Shatrughan Sinha’s daughter, Sonakshi Sinha, is already scalding hot news.
She will be yoked to Salman and Arbaaz in one of the Khan brothers’ film productions. Meanwhile, Sonakshi’s twin brothers, Luv and Kush, wait in the proverbial wings. I don’t know why, but you sense that the next superstar may well be a surprise packet.
Audience tastes are altering and with the growth of the multiplex chain culture, the conventional does not always ensure the sale of a bushel of tickets. Witness the disasters of Akshay Kumar’s Tashan and Kambakt Ishk or Salman Khan’s Yuvraaj.
Currently, the belief is that any actor — ageing or brand-new — only needs their marketing hype to click into gear and they’ll touch skyscraper heights.
That may be a cynical view, but there is a grain of truth in it. Today, the production of movies — despite the much-quoted recession — is booming. And somewhere out there is a new personality, a new attitude in the works. It’s a gut feeling maybe, but it’s out there.
Then that’s cinema. Anything can happen here. A bewigged superstar can be reduced to a desperado, hanging on to his imagined crown. Won’t tell you who that is…but will tell you that one’s sixth sense says that there’s a nouvelle vague of talent rising, if not right away, then shortly, very shortly.
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@Ali
Ali, BOI.com were asked "Whether MNIK will cross 3 Idiots total in the overseas circuit" on 8th March, to which ...
Ihab, it is really strange and funny that you are quoting boi.com's figure of 8 march in reply of Taran's ...
MNIK will not gross more than 69 crores in India and 65 crores overseas.These are all fox numbers.MNIK is a ...
Was pleasantly surprised today morning. Saw some of them in heart of Chennai city. There was an old temple nearby.. 
The price and involvement of Fox itself made MNIK one of the most hyped movies ... there were fan expectations ...
MNIK made its collection on curiosity factor that did under perform at the box office for the so called 'huge' ...
MNIK was huge movie, made hugely, meant to do huge everywhere.
It was probably most hyped movie of last 20 years(since ...
Achilles... Blasting KANK and MNIK on their domestic gross is like blasting Gadar and D2's overseas gross..
These two movies ...
I am sure once Gayle and McCullum join,KKR batting will get some boost.Batting is their major worry. 
Link
It use to be fun site when Mom use to pick "dhaan" from rice and bunch of "Goraiya" would flock ...
Well, I will not get into this but Karan's film will end its run in India between 73-75 crore, ...
ACHILLES 27 August 2009
10:35:11 pm
There is a lot of optimism prevailing with Ranbir … he has 3-4 movies lined up in next 3-4 months, so shud get his first hit.
Shahid as i said is the best among the below 30 actors … while i seriously doubt if the likes of neil, harman or imran have any star charisma or aura.
ACHILLES 27 August 2009
10:39:32 pm
i like Khalid’s sense of humour:
“Anything can happen here. A bewigged superstar can be reduced to a desperado, hanging on to his imagined crown. Won’t tell you who that is…”
LOL … interestingly, a major chunk of the media is treating KI as a disaster like Yuvraj or Tashan … the scam from EROS/producers and hyper desperate blogging from Akshay is likely to be the cause for this outcome, even though KI has done average business at the box-office.
Som 27 August 2009
11:09:29 pm
“Anything can happen here. A bewigged superstar can be reduced to a desperado, hanging on to his imagined crown. Won’t tell you who that is…but will tell you that one’s sixth sense says that there’s a nouvelle vague of talent rising, if not right away, then shortly, very shortly”
Is he pointing Akshay here?
Gorilla 28 August 2009
12:38:23 am
Ever since Akshay/BigB refused to give an interview to this wierdo writer, Khalid has been after them. His sense of humor lacks the usual grace before he tried his hands at direction. After tasting failure, he has been writing with vengeance. what a loser!
pardesi 28 August 2009
12:41:54 am
Come on – Khalida has been invited for and supped with Big B, the man said it himself on his blog!
Gorilla 28 August 2009
12:52:46 am
pardesi…then it must be recent…khalid must have apologised.
pardesi 28 August 2009
12:54:49 am
No – it was not recent. Does the piece read like he apologized?
RAJ 28 August 2009
01:03:18 am
“”"Ever since Akshay/BigB refused to give an interview to this wierdo writer, Khalid has been after them. His sense of humor lacks the usual grace before he tried his hands at direction. After tasting failure, he has been writing with vengeance. what a loser”"
I agree..Even while reviewing a movie he is wicked and personal..I dont like revciewers who let their personal issues come in to their reveiews…
utkal 28 August 2009
05:37:58 am
The bewigged superstar refers to Salman. and he is bang on target there. He has become a caricature of himself , a la Dev Anand and Rajesh Khanna, and will fade away sooner than later.
ACHILLES 28 August 2009
06:18:36 am
“A bewigged superstar can be reduced to a desperado, hanging on to his imagined crown.”
Dont think Salman is the reference here … he never had a crown in the last 10 years … it seems that Akshay is the subject … specially after his attempts to to give a perception hit out of a rejected movie through his blogs and interviews – hence the bit about “hanging on to his imagined crown”.
Bewigged – LOL … it must refer to his weird crew cut and the baldness exposed in some Blue pics.
Tango 28 August 2009
07:14:17 am
Idiot Khalida is refering to Big B, obviously.
Anna 28 August 2009
08:07:57 am
“In a month-long poll conducted by a website to determine the main youth icon among movie heroes, the votes have been pretty much loaded in favour of Shahid Kapur, with Ranbir Kapoor yapping at his heels.”
LMAO
Only 158 people have voted in this month-long poll
Poll link below
http://www.aslibaat.com/
rks 28 August 2009
08:29:24 am
“Lies, more lies and Statistics”
Doga 28 August 2009
08:30:20 am
Is khalida taking this 159 person poll that serious that he is writing a article on that.
Come on sir, khalida himself has become a bewigged reviewer to comment on others.
ACHILLES 28 August 2009
09:20:17 am
HAHAHA … if 20 members of NG can take each other’s opinions about stars so seriously, why cant Khalid take the 159 person poll seriously?
jokes aside, everyone seems to be assuming the ‘bewigged’ character to be the star they dislike!
Anna 28 August 2009
09:40:01 am
“A bewigged superstar can be reduced to a desperado, hanging on to his imagined crown.”
Must be SRK… He is referring to the crew cut hakla sports in MNIK
Anna 28 August 2009
09:41:25 am
“Tangoji : Khalida is refering to Big B, obviously.”
Ach: “everyone seems to be assuming the ‘bewigged’ character to be the star they dislike!”
Anna 28 August 2009
09:42:56 am
I am missing Sattu badly
Tango 28 August 2009
11:01:47 am
Anna – “Tangoji : Khalida is refering to Big B, obviously”
C’mon Anna coming from a mature person like you, its a surprise!
I got interested in cinema due to Amitabh Bachchan, but definately won’t like the Big B of RGV Ki AAG or Nishabd, but he can still pull an Ek Ajnabee, Cheeni Kum, Bhoothnath and the upcoming Aladdin with elan.
Why I’m saying this is because this is the second time during the last one year where Khalida mentioned Amitabh’s wig. May be you people missed it his Sahara article of last year.
Doga 28 August 2009
11:26:09 am
Yes, Khalid here is reffering to Bachchan himself.
They both have got themselves in a personal mess.(As it seems once they were on good personal terms)
Ravi 28 August 2009
11:33:11 am
You know Tango bhai that Shetty bhai is just pulling your leg.
By the way who the fuck cares about Khalida anyway, he is fkin irrelevant.
ACHILLES 28 August 2009
11:40:05 am
Anna == Leg-puller
Khalid == Wig-puller
ACHILLES 28 August 2009
11:44:12 am
btw, to cut a long story short – there are strong rumors in the industry that both Rakesh Roshan and Amitabh Bachchan used to wear wigs from the beginning of there acting careers.
Rakesh got rid of his wig after his retirement as an actor … Bachchan never retired – so had to change to a grey wig.
Wonder how Abhishek or Hrithik have any natural hair on their head!
Ravi 28 August 2009
12:07:50 pm
Hi Ach bhai, how are u?
Hope everything is going per your plan.
ACHILLES 28 August 2009
12:39:56 pm
I am doing well Ravi Bhai – sometimes i wonder if i do have a plan!
Hope everything is well at your end.
Ravi 28 August 2009
12:50:44 pm
Don’t worry Ach bhai, you don’t need to have a plan. Over the course of time , things tend to fall in place.
Good luck and everything will work out for you.
ACHILLES 28 August 2009
01:34:48 pm
thanks, ravi bhai.