SPOT THE SUPERSTAR

Forget the war of the superstars. This summer, all eyes will be on the new kids on the block. Don’t fret if their names don’t register as yet. A battery of seasoned image consultants, over-efficient PRs and anxious directors/producers is in an overdrive to make sure you get to know them. After all the stakes are pretty high. It’s about India getting a new heartthrob.
Sample the choice. If veteran producer-director Harry Baweja has lined up India’s first futuristic love story for his son Harman in Love Story 2050, Aamir Khan promises us a nostalgic glimpse of his Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak avatar in his nephew Imran Khan’s debut Jaane Tu. Not to be missed, Anupam and Kirron Kher’s brawny son Sikandar is all set to make a very Tom Cruise/ Days of Thunder-inspired smoke-and-bike debut in Woodstock Villa. And for the romantics who appreciate the good old-fashioned who-does-she-really-end-up-with- triangle, newbies Nakuul Mehta and Adhyayan Shekhar Suman are the worthy contenders in Haal-e-Dil.
When Shah Rukh Khan gears up to play the older man love interest of 19-year-old model Anushka Sharma in Aditya Chopra’s Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and Salman Khan readies to play the harrowed husband of Kareena Kapoor in Main aur Mrs Khanna, you sure know that the teenybopper lover slot is vacant. Bollywood has plenty of options in these young guns.

As trade expert Amod Mehra puts it: “Shah Rukh, Salman, Hrithik, Akshay and Aamir have learnt everything about love in their films. Shahid and Abhishek are halfway there. Ranbir has just started out. But one of these newcomers is ready to make a discovery.’’
All signs point that it’s going to be a blockbuster of a discovery. Especially in the case of 27-year-old Harman Baweja, who is already regarded as somewhat of a “superstar amongst the newcomers”.
There is a great buzz around his launch vehicle, Love Story 2050, that has been in the making for the past three years. Baweja, who co-stars with Priyanka Chopra in the film, is totally keyed up about his big launch, which in his own words has an “absurd” budget. He likens the genesis of his acting ambition to that of Spiderman. “Like Spidey didn’t know he was Spiderman, I was unaware that the acting bug had bit me until the moment really arrived,” he says.

Baweja has a degree in acting and filmmaking from the prestigious UCLA and feels his film will be the big breakthrough for Bollywood. “Dad and I wanted my launch to be in a film that will cut through the clutter. We wanted to take the road less travelled and that’s why Love Story 2050,” he says. The film has India’s first futuristic sci-fi set in Mumbai of 2050. Baweja’s constant companion in the film is a female robot called Quintessential Terrestrial (or QT) who has pink lips, eyelashes and even dances with him.
And while this industry kid is getting a snazzy launch, for 25-year-old Nakuul Mehta, the so-called ‘outsider’, it’s a case of slow but steady progress. Hailing from a defence background—dad is in the Navy while his forefathers served in the Rajputana regiment—Mehta has done commercials for top brands like Sprite and Kit Kat and also dabbled in theatre. What made him want to be an actor? Madhuri Dixit. “I used to practice Madhuri’s dance moves, especially that hand movement in the song, Tu shayar hai from Saajan. I knew I had to be in the movies,” says the Haal-e-Dil debutant.

Since he is the only non-filmi kid in the entire newcomer spectrum, does Mehta see that as an impediment? First comes the witty reply, “Yeah, I’m not a star kid but my son will be.” After the expected guffaw, he says, “Since I’m not a star kid, I had to work doubly hard to get my first break. But after two films we are on a level field. So no complaints,” he says.
But who says stardom comes on a platter even for star kids? Sikandar Kher and Adhyayan Suman didn’t have it easy. For starters, both had to fight a battle with the bulge. Adhyayan was a hefty 115kg and confesses “to literally living on a glass of water and hours of working out before I reached the 73kg mark.” Sikandar shed 54 kg in just five months thanks to walks on the beach, dieting and 600 crunches for more than an hour.
Both preferred to do the grind than ask their parents to launch them. Suman was spotted by Ajay Devgan at celebrity hairdresser Perry Patel’s parlour. Devgan promptly alerted his secretary Kumar Mangat, who is the producer of Haal-e-Dil. As for Kher, the whispers in Bollywood insist that he was promised a huge launch by Sanjay Leela Bhansali whom Kher had assisted during Devdas but the director opted for another star kid, Ranbir Kapoor in Saawariya. Kher plays the Bhansali angle down, “We did meet for a project but I don’t think it was for Saawariya. However, there is no bitterness between us,” he says. How did he get the role in Woodstock Villa? He met director Apoorva Lakhia through good friend Abhishek Bachchan and the former recommended him to Sanjay Gupta.

The last name can be a cross to bear but both Suman and Kher are taking the comparisons in their stride. Suman says the media has already been teasing him about getting a six-pack like his father, Shekhar Suman. “They don’t even want to give me a chance,” he says. Kher has a more pragmatic approach. “If you are not good at your work, then no matter whose son you are, you are not going to get work. If you are good, then even if you are nobody’s son, you will still get work,” he says.

Aamir Khan’s nephew, Imran Khan, falls somewhere in the middle. A chance meeting with screenwriter-turned-director, Abbas Tyrewala’s then girlfriend and now wife, Pakhi, got him the lead role of Jai Singh Rathore in this summer’s mint-fresh romance, Jaane Tu. Tyrewala whose writing credits include Maqbool, Main Hoon Na and Munnabhai MBBS was making Jaane Tu for producer Jhamu Sughand then. “I knew of Imran’s relationship with Aamir but that did not play any part in our decision to cast him. Jaane Tu wasn’t made with the intention of launching Imran,” says Tyrewala.

After Sughand got stuck in some financial problems, the film got stalled until Imran mentioned the project to uncle Aamir and voila, Jaane Tu was rebooted with Aamir as its producer.
Since Imran is not allowed to talk to the media before June, we have to rely on Tyrewala to give us a sense of the newcomer. And this is what we got to know about Imran: “He has a quirky sense of humour and the ability to do things seriously without taking himself seriously. He likes mathematical cartoons and would rather spend an evening at home with friends than party.” As to what do he and Aamir have in common, Tyrewala feels, “Like Aamir, Imran has the knack of playing a great character in a great film. He just wants to make every performance special.”

The stakes for all the newbies are high. And while all of them hope for the first hit, they are not taking any chances. All of them have signed multiple films, just in case. While Imran is playing pivotal roles in Sanjay Gadhvi’s Kidnap and Soham’s Luck, Baweja has been signed on for a cricket film Victory, an untitled Anees Bazmee film and a romantic comedy directed by Ashutosh Gowariker titled, What’s Your Raashee opposite ‘good friend’ Priyanka Chopra. Kher will next be seen in Summer 2007, Suman has been signed on for Mahesh Bhatt’s Raaz 2 and Satish Kaushik’s next. Mehta has another Kumar Mangat production in the offing.
So any last words for our newcomers? Tyrewala sums it up. “Unless you think like a star, you won’t be able to put it out. You’ve got to believe that a million people want to see you.”
We know we do.