Why The Khans Can

A Bollywood quiz with these clues would be the easiest sweepstake in the world: Shah Rukh Khan. Salman Khan. Aamir Khan. Deewana. Maine Pyar Kiya. Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak.

Yes,they were likeable. Yes,they had a connect. Yes,all those films were hits. But could anyone say they were going to be the three who were heading towards the kind of stratospheric superstardom all new entrants dream of,but only very few achieve?

Those who claim such prescience are lying through their teeth. Because no one can predict anything in showbiz,whose treacherous waters run deep,and dark.

And yet here they are 20 years on,these three,who have nothing in common other than their surnames,ruling Bollywood. There is no other word for it: they have the one ring that rules us all,the one ring whose lustre warms both those in close proximity and distant edges,whose warmth we are willing to bask in,time and again. We are willing to do much more actually: get into life-threatening arguments,lose life-enhancing liquid. Those girls who wrote letters to their favourite stars in their blood? They are still out there,busy scribbling,as we speak.

It’s not like there haven’t been others,some who have held their own,some who have retired hurt but only temporarily,some who are coming up so fast that they could be serious challengers to the Khandom. Kyonki har ek star zaroori hota hai. Amitabh Bachchan is the formidable carryover from the era before theirs,but is clearly a senior statesman. Saif Ali Khan has charm,and the rare ability to be both star and actor. Akshay Kumar is biding his time,to forget his bad run,and to get into a fresh sprint to the top. Hrithik Roshan is clear superstar material,whose presence in a pretty road movie makes it top drawer. Ajay Devgn has all three crucial sectors — comedy-drama-action — under his belt. And Ranbir Kapoor is fast reaching that stage where he’s slated to become the stickiest youth magnet.

So what is it about the Khans that sets them on top of the A-list? In the last five years,the Salman-Shah Rukh-Aamir trio has battered all opposition into submission. They no longer just act. They produce. They control almost every aspect of their films. When they come to the table,and that in itself is a prize they bestow like visiting deity upon waiting masses,they bring with them the triple-barrelled power of influential star,all-pervasive brand,and industry maven. They are to the left of you,to the right of you,all around you. There is no escape. As a young SRK once sang: jaata hai tu kahaan?

A true-blue industry maven himself,with his 42 years in the trenches as lyricist and filmmaker,now chairman of Reliance Entertainment,Amit Khanna has a calming yet definitive perspective. “We’ve always had superstars,” he says,“right from Ashok Kumar to Dev-Dilip-Raj,Rajesh,Amitabh,and now the three Khans — they all have had the ability to endear and endure.”

Endearing. Enduring. The twin qualities,practically joined at the hip,that help differentiate a star who inhabits his time from a long-lived superstar. Present in large quantities in Shah Rukh who’s out this Diwali with Ra.One,arguably the most expensive Bollywood film yet made. In Salman who has,after the massive success of Wanted,Dabangg and Bodyguard,turned into a universal Bhaijaan. And in Aamir who has been so often anointed with that phrase,gamechanger,that there seems to be no other game left in Bollywood.

“Actually,we shouldn’t even use their names together because each has unique qualities,” says Siddharth Roy Kapur,CEO,UTV Motion Pictures,who’s worked closely with all three. “Salman lives his life as we expect our stars to do: large-hearted,impulsive,mercurial,a friend’s friend,and enemy’s enemy,which translates into his screen presence as well. Aamir’s pursued a slow and steady route to stardom,and now his mere presence is like an ISO stamp on a film. And Shah Rukh is something indefinable. He’s like magic.” At which Kapur pauses,and reels off a list of superlatives.

But let’s pause at magic. This man,who has often poked fun at his stardom while very carefully keeping it in full sight,is the proverbial outsider who one day decided to come to Bombay and own it. I remember watching him in a play much before he began his Bombay stint (by which time he was already a TV darling,and making no bones about his movie ambitions),and there wasn’t much that met the eye,except that one thing that makes sure that the spotlight is always on you,even when it is not. The wattage you transmit.

“The three Khans are ever evolving brands,” says Vikram Malhotra,COO,Viacom 18 Motion Pictures,the studio behind a few interesting films this year (Tanu Weds Manu,Pyaar Ka Punchnama,Shaitan),“and they haven’t really got the credit they deserve. We remember them from when they came in — the 20-year-old who saw Aamir in QSQT is the same 40-year-old who goes to watch Ghajini. Look at how both Shah Rukh and Salman had tearaway successes when they started,and kept building on them. They have been consistently relevant across genres,across propositions,and across the eight-to-80 age band”.

That energy,which fizzes across the screen,is what has kept Shah Rukh in focus,even in his worst films. That energy is an SRK hallmark,even when he is doing exactly what he has done a hundred times before. Or,and this is the tough part,standing still.

The ability to talk to the average Joe as if he is his best friend is Salman’s most potent weapon,on display when he is hosting the kind of game shows where your IQ can safely take a backseat to Lady Luck. All the bad things that a person standing in front of Salman has heard about Bhaijaan — dead bucks,dead pavement dwellers — all vanish: the embrace of Bhaijaan’s warm gaze and off-key accent is all that that person can experience at that moment.

Aamir has smartly broadbased his appeal: from the cerebral (shooting at “brainy” places like IIT and IIM,talking with considered pauses) to the visceral (his Mohawk quiff was the fastest to fly in moffusil hair-cutting saloons,and no one can beat him in the kind of passion he gets into kissing his on-screen lady loves).

They are now so entrenched that a few hits and flops don’t really matter. “The three Khans have reached the stage where they can rewrite the rulebook,” says Tanuj Garg,CEO,Balaji Motion Pictures,who has had first-hand experience of the stars’ massive NRI connection,in an earlier stint as an overseas Bollywood marketer. “Once they sit down with you,everything goes out of the window.”

They’ve also reached the stage,though no one will admit it,where they’ve become past-masters at the time-stop technique: there is no real attempt to radically depart from their basic USP,or roles,or subjects. The fail-safe attempt is to pair the stars with established leading ladies (Katrina-Kareena-Priyanka): the choice may be down to the banner and the director and who likes whom at the casting point,but the final say-so is the star’s. Acting out of the box is a risky proposition,and Bollywood is,and has always been,amongst the most risk-averse industries,especially for superstars who have to nurture that other part of their portfolio,far more lucrative than the movies they do: as salesmen of products which we never want to buy till a star endorses it. To market,to market,jiggety jig.

But here’s where the split happens. Other stars have to ride the wave from one film to another: one flop means three steps back,or worse,oblivion. Superstars whom the market adores,are given such a long rope that it dangles out of your sight. You might cringe at SRK selling hair oil,and computers,and cars,and cellphone spiel,and himself in gush-gush interviews,but that’s not going to stop you from catching his new film. You can dump on Salman as much as you want,but try preventing his fans from making his opening weekends monstrous: I’m just waiting for the time someone will come up with “Salman jokes” just the way there are Rajini ones,from those who liken these stars to each other.

Seriously,though,we know what it is,their secret,that keeps us from drifting away. When they switch it on,the love starts flowing again. We see their flaws,happily lap up all the awful things they are allegedly up to in their personal lives,side-step the sub-par performances they come up with,as well as their self-serving,self-serious splashes in the media. And we ignore it all. Because it’s not Us vs Them. It is Us and Them. Because when it’s time,it’s time. To recharge that connection. Direct. Dil se.

shubhra.gupta@expressindia.com

‘He is a different man now’

Aziz Mirza on Shah Rukh Khan

Shah Rukh Khan didn’t want to be a film actor. He wanted to focus on television. In fact,I remember him turning down a few big filmmakers. He always desired to do well,but was quite laid-back. He is a very different person now,” says filmmaker Aziz Mirza,reminiscing about the early days of the actor’s career. Much,of course,has since changed for Khan,the biggest name in Bollywood today. But Mirza says the spark was always there,and filmmakers like him merely became means for the talented actor to attain the success he deserved. “He had a presence and even when he was doing television,people liked watching him.”

The director first worked with Khan on Circus,the highly successful Doordarshan series,which was telecast in 1989 and pushed Khan towards a career in films. “He was young and I thought he could translate the character of an ambitious man from a small city well on screen,so I signed him on for Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman.”

On the sets,Mirza and Khan,along with Juhi Chawla,forged a strong bond. Not only did they team up again for Yes Boss (1997) and Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani (2000),they also launched a production house together,Dreamz Unlimited.

Mirza feels that Khan fit well into the character of a middle-class youngster and that helped him connect with the audience. “He didn’t quite look at the marketability of a film,but preferred the comfort zone of working with friends,which he continues to do.”

Having played a part in Khan’s rise to fame and having worked with him in several films,Mirza says the actor had always been wise. “I don’t say ‘clever’,but wise. He knows what he wants and also knows how to go about achieving it.”

Did he forsee that Khan would become the superstar that he is today? “Shah Rukh’s mother once asked me if her son would be a superstar some day. I told her,‘I can’t say whether or not he would,but your son will always have work. He is hard-working and talented.”

— Dipti Nagpaul-D’souza

‘He’s never chased an image’

Deepak Shivdasani on Salman Khan

THE germ of the idea came from Salman Khan,which made Baaghi a very personal film for him,” recollects director Deepak Shivdasani. The filmmaker had approached Khan — then fresh from the success of his debut Maine Pyar Kiya and in talks to sign his second film — for a remake of a south Indian film. Unimpressed,the young actor instead suggested three of his own ideas. Of these,they finally zeroed in on one,in which an urban youngster falls in love with a prostitute whom he then rescues from the sex trade. This went on to became Baaghi – A Rebel For Love,but not without hiccups. “We roped in Javed Siddiqui to work on the script along with Salman,but we didn’t have a producer.”

The actor-director duo went about B-town,approaching people to back the film. But the subject of prostitution was taboo and the industry was apprehensive. “We met more than a dozen people before finally getting Nitin Manmohan on board.”

What Shivdasani most remembers is the actor’s humility on the sets. “Even though the story came from him,Salman never interfered once the script was locked. He showed immense trust in the team and respected our space. Yet,I remember he was there right by my side when the film’s first hoarding was being put up in Juhu.”

The director feels that little has since changed about the man,except for his status in the film industry. “He was always aware of his strengths and weaknesses,and worked on a film keeping those in mind. This is why today,he is a hero of the masses. However,Salman’s biggest strength is that he never did,and never will,chase an image.”

— Dipti Nagpaul-D’souza