The Indian film industry is one of the most competitive one, with its top stars in every genre demanding a fee commensurate with their standing in the industry. With the growth of the film industry in India, a new global market too developed for them, and film makers were soon targeting a global audience.
The costs of film making and that associated with box office hits soared to new heights, together with public frenzy. A new breed of super stars emerged, the icons of public passion. A film crazy India has indeed made several super stars of ordinary humble individuals. Amitabh Bachchan and Rajinikanth, are some of these super stars of today who set milestones for their industry.
Their successful films are no doubt a time of celebration and personal recognition for them. They call the world for attention when their films hit big; and the same world crashes on them when something goes wrong. Even as their film crazy fans go berserk with their box office hits each time and as these happy super stars celebrate their success each time, they are reminded of the time they cried in silence. DFC looks at few of such superstars, when they were alone and cried silently.
Raj Kapoor
Raj Kapoor and his iconic RK Films are still reverend in the Indian film industry. The producer, actor, director produced many films that were spectacular hits. He was the ‘Show man’ of India. His films portraying middle class struggle was a hit and many of his films had a big market in Soviet Russia.
His acting in Awaara was rated as one of the Top Ten performances for all time by the Time Magazine, at that time. He paired with Nargis to give major spectacular hits. He was rumored to be in a long time romantic relationship with the actress.
His films Barsaat in 1949, Awaaara in 1951, Shree 420 in 1955 and Chori Chori in 1956 put him as a figure modeling Charlie Chaplin. His Awaara song, ‘Mein Awaara Hoon’ was very popular in the East for several years.
Raj Kapoor’s portrayal of the working class and his popularity saw his name in the list of Russia’s great film makers.
When the world celebrated 100 years of cinema, Russia released picture books on film personalities who influenced Russian viewers. Among these were also Charlie Chaplin and Raj Kapoor. He had a huge fan base in Soviet Russia. In 1964 his first color film Sargam, was also the first film shot outside India. Sargam is today on of the classic film list of India.
It was against this backdrop that his semi-autobiographical film Mera Naam Joker (My name is Joker) was released in 1970. The film inspired by his own life was centered around a clown who makes people laugh while he is in grief. Six years in the making of Mera Naam Joker , Raj Kapoor invested much in the film and the film flopped at the box office.
The first Hindi film to have two intervals, had too many themes and characters. Faced with huge losses, Raj Kapoor was almost forced to sell off his R K Studios to clear debts. It is an irony that the same film has been doing well in contemporary times.
However in recent years, the film has been well received and has become a starship film for the RK banner. Raj Kapoor’s son Randhir Kapoor revealed at an international film festival in Toronto recently, that the film was closest to his father’s heart, as he made it with lots of love, passion and money. ‘But as of today, that film is the biggest profit point for R.K films’, he noted.
His next film Bobby staring his son Rishi Kapoor on youth love hit the box office with a huge success, setting the theme of youth love in Indian films. The film became the most successful film of the decade after Sholay. The rest of the Raj Kapoor’s story is a fairy tale. When the icon is remembered these days, no one can guess the days he suffered when something close to his heart, let him down.
Amitabh Bachchan
Amitabh Bachchan with his iconic face of the ‘angry young and righteous man’, was at one point of time called the ‘one man industry’. His height, voice and charisma dominated the Hindi film screens during the 1970s.
His seven films released in 1975 were all well received and hits. His subsequent film Dewar was a huge hit, followed by Sholay which was tagged as the best run film of India.
Taking to politics in 1984, he got a major setback with being associated in scandals, and his fortunes fell.
Amitabh’s comeback film Shahenshah in 1988 was a box office success but his subsequent films weren’t any remarkable.
There were awards for him, but was faced with a string of box office failures. In 1996 he started his own company Amitabh Bachchan Corporation, Ltd. (A.B.C.L.) in 1996 with big ambitions in films and television. The US $ 250 million company produced many films and was involved in production, promotion and distribution of films and events. All its films flopped and ABCL was accumulating huge losses and was sinking.
It was at this time that Amitabh planned to make his comeback with the film Mrityudaata in 1997, produced by ABCL. He tried to retrieve his earlier image as an action hero after five years. The film was also hinged to the fortunes of ABCL.
The film that was to mark the return of Amitabh saw collections fall 50% on its second day. The film was a big flop and Amitabh was written off, and ABCL collapsed. His Prateeksha residence and two other flats were under court orders on behalf of Canara Bank.
Not much is known of Amitabh’s experiences during this time, in the public domain. But obviously these are traumatic experiences for a super star that defies solutions. The flop of Mrityudaata pained Amitabh. Today as Amitabh rides high, he would not forget those days when he was he was staring at uncertainty and saw no reasons to smile.
Amitabh eventually came out successfully despite no notable films, with his television appearance in Kaun Banega Crorepati. Today he is the biggest followed film star in India.
RajiniKanth
He is today India biggest film star and tagged by many as the costliest actor in Asia after Jackie Chan. His films set new industry landmarks each time. That is RajiniKanth, the biggest star in modern Indian film history, in terms of commercials and mass appeal.
His film Robot in Telugu and Hindi or Eindhiran in Tamil was a major hit globally. Riding on his styles, the actor with humble beginnings set a stage for himself and held on to it for over three decades. Rajinikanth has been named as one of the most influential persons of south India and India by the Asiaweek and by Forbes India, respectively.
His 1983 his Bollywood film Andha Kanoon with Amitabh and Hema Malini was one of the biggest grosser of the time. His film Muthu in 1995 grossed $1.6 million in Japan and laid the foundations for a fan base among the Japanese.
The film has been dubbed into Japanese as Mutu: Odoru Maharaj. Every film release was a commercial hit at a unique level, as his connections with the film viewers rose with time. His films Thalapathi with Mamooty in 1991, Annamalai in 1992, Baasha and Muthu in 1995 were major hits in the Tamil film industry.
At this point of time, Rajinikanth was speculated many as an aspirant for politics. The film Padayappa released in 1999 with 200 prints was the biggest opening. The film showcased his political aspirations with Rajini’s spirited camouflaged real time political warnings to his political opponents. The film ran for over 100 days in 86 cinema halls. The film rights were sold for $50,000 to distributors in Japan. The largest block buster of the time, Padayappa made a profit of over 25 crores in Chennai alone.
Convinced that films can anchor political aspirations, Rajini took some time off to release his next film. It was in 2002, three years later, Rajini released his film Baba amidst much fanfare. The film’s story was written by Rajini himself. The story revolved around atheism and philosophy. It is speculated by many that Rajini had an agenda of initiating a mass following for him, not just as an actor, but as a philosophical leader, through the film.
The film starred with Manisha Koirala showed his unique Baba mudra or gesture invoking mysticism. Coming after three years and that too on the heels of a record success, expectations of Baba were rife and propaganda kept building up the hype prior to release.
The film failed miserably in the box office, with the high distribution bids turning to catastrophic losses. The fights and dances sequences were too poor, and for many people, the film was unbearable. The film broke the myth that Rajini films were flop-proof.
Although financially, it didn’t have a big impact on the actor, it dented his image to an unbelievable extent and many film critics wrote him off. All his three year dreams and hopes crashed, also threatening his political ambitions. The biggest flop came just when the expectations were highest. Rajini however made good the loss of his distributors as was the habit of the actor, ensuring that no one complained.
Not much is known about the personal response of Rajini to the flop. He stayed away from the media tormented by the flop. Hopes of success, celebration and public frenzy had disappeared overnight. His later films Chandramukhi , Sivaji and Eindhiran might have rewrote film success history, but the actor would never forget the days when the world was totally different for him.
DFC wishes the super star and his fans every success for the forthcoming release Kabali.
