Finally! A juicy story involving family connections and possible repercussions through out the industry! I mean, most likely it will all blow over in a couple of days, but at least it is exciting while it lasts!
In an interview with the Hindustan Times, Naseeruddin Shah said that Indian film declined with the arrival of Rajesh Khanna. Which is kind of an accepted fact, that Rajesh was the first major superstar, and once you had a superstar, the script and co-stars and everything else kind of went by the wayside. But then I read the article, and yeah, he’s not just saying “Rajesh Khanna was the first superstar”, he is getting suuuuuuuper personal about it. Specifically saying,
“In fact, it was the 70’s when mediocrity came in Hindi films. That’s when the actor called Rajesh Khanna joined the industry. For all his success, I think Mr Khanna was a very limited actor. In fact, he was a poor actor. Intellectually, he wasn’t the most alert person I have ever met. His taste ruled the industry,”
Well, MAN! Don’t hold back, why don’t you tell us how you really feel? I mean, I don’t actually disagree with him, based on everything I have read and seen, Kaka wasn’t the most intellectual guy, and he wasn’t very interested in challenging himself or challenging the industry. But, even the Hindustan Times felt this was a little harsh and sweeping, and followed the quote with “says Shah about Khanna, who gave hits such as Aradhana (1969), Haathi Mere Saathi (1971) and Anand (1971).” Neatly reminding us of 3 movies in completely different genres and styles, which are also all time classics, and all featured Rajesh Khanna. Because, yes, while Rajesh was mostly limited and not very intellectual, he was also a fantastic actor when he pushed himself, and he was part of some all time classics.
What is super over the line is that Naseerji is making this such a personal attack! He could have so easily just acknowledged that Rajesh Khanna was a different kind of star, and lead to changes in the industry, without making this about Rajesh being stupid and tasteless. And what is really really over the line is that Naseerji knows Rajesh’s family personally and just publically insulted their dead father/husband!
Twinkle leaped up immediately to tweet a defense,
And,
What makes me really curious, is what effect this might have on the families moving forward. Naseerji has a firm position in the industry, but what about his son Vivaan? Or his niece Sanah Kapoor? What did he just do to their career? Are they going to have to either repudiate his comments or take it in the chin and lose their contracts? Especially now that Karan Johar, one of the most powerful men in the industry, has lined up in support of Twinkle?
https://twitter.com/karanjohar/status/756882069159088128
Or, most likely, it is all going to blow over, there will be a nice photo or tweet explaining, and everyone will pretend to like each other again.
Speaking of Karan Johar, teaser for the first song trailer for BaarBaarDekho! Karan really is the master of promotions, giving first looks and teasers for a trailer, not even the movie itself! I hadn’t even thought about this film in months and months, and now I am all excited just based on a few shiny pictures!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igaL2KOHZAs
Speaking of teasers, there have been all kinds of songs and stuff coming out about Dishoom, and none of it makes any sense to me! The latest news is a comment that, despite the promos making it look like Jacqueline’s character is in a relationship with Varun’s, she is actually a “stalker” who is going after John Abraham. Wait, what now?
See, what puzzles me is, this is supposed to be a legitimate remake of Mumbai Police. Like, they bought the rights and everything! And, assuming that John Abraham=Prithviraj, there is no similar character for Jacqueline! Unless they dramatically change the plot. The only woman in his life is his sister. I mean, this gets back to my whole puzzle over how they heck they are making Mumbai Police in the Hindi industry to begin with. Unless it’s a very meta-statement on how cop movies usually look and under all the glitz and glamour it will keep the same grounded human story. By the way, DO NOT click that link if you haven’t seen Mumbai Police and are planning to see Dishoom! This is one of those times when the movie is actually ruined if you know the plot in advance.
dontcallitbollywood 
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Naseeruddin Shah, Irfan Khan, and others of their ilk — what they really want is the success and adulation of people like Rajesh Khanna or Salman Khan. I don’t know if you were ever aware of a site called Passion for Cinema? It was started by Anurag Kashyap as a place for independent film makers in India to vent a little, exchange tips, and generally indulge in their “passion for cinema”, as opposed to filthy lucre. In fact, it started out as Anurag’s personal blog, then other industry stalwarts were added (though most never blogged more than a few times, if that). As Anurag got too busy to blog, and others were doing the posting, it became a place where people basically complained that nobody wanted to fund/release/watch their films, which were so clearly superior to the “****” that was mainstream Bollywood. I found it utterly fascinating how on the one hand they would dismiss/denigrate all the major players of the industry as sellouts with no artistic soul, and on the other, crave the exact same material rewards for their own films, which were of course masterpieces of the cinematic art. One time someone connected to either Dharma or YRF posted that it’s because of the blockbuster films of people like Salman and SRK that the studios could afford to take a risk on investing on some of their films — by this time the multiplexes were well established, Bollywood had gotten official industry status from the government, thus enabling big corporations to invest, and several “alternate” type of films like “Aamir” or “A Wednesday” were released to moderate success (they recovered their money, anyway), and yes, even some of Anurag’s films. This person was shot down so quickly and so foully by howls of protest from the “artistic” ones it wasn’t even funny.
And what does it even mean to say people like Rajesh Khanna, Salman, or SRK can’t act? (Yes, even your beloved SRK regularly used to get this comment). At the heart of being a good actor is projecting your emotions in such a way that the audience can experience the same, and identify with the character’s emotions. Which is exactly what all three of the people I mentioned, as well as many other successful stars, do extremely well. There is a reason why these people are so popular, and it is foolish to ignore that. Yes, they all are/were charismatic, but what is charisma, after all? It is nothing more than the ability to connect to other people in a big way.
As for your comment on Rajesh Khanna not “challenging” himself — pray, why should he? As soon as you start charging people to watch films, you have made the film a product or commodity, and so the paying customer has a right to expect an assured quality. This is what is called “branding”, and if these people provide it consistently, what’s wrong with that? It is also not true that these actors do not “challenge” themselves, it is that when they do, the audience rejects them in such roles (I’m speaking mainly of Salman and SRK here). They want the product that they expected when they paid for it. Do you have favorite authors? Especially “best-selling” ones? Why do you think authors like Agatha Christie or Danielle Steele or so popular? It’s because readers know what they’re getting when they buy books by these authors, and that includes a guarantee of a certain competency level to their writing. They are not indulging their personal whims, but are providing a service to the readers, in terms of providing them an expected reading experience. The same is true of these stars, or someone like Rajnikanth. So what happens when an actor of undoubted ability does “challenge himself?” What happened when Kamal Haasan played ten roles in Dasavatharam, or only one in Viswaroopam? He was accused of self-indulgence! (And actually, as you yourself noted, Rajesh Khanna did succeed in a wide variety of roles and genres.)
If either Naseer or Irfan could be guaranteed that their films would be blockbusters, they, too, would happily churn out the same “****” film after film with no second thought. That’s why comments like this disgust me.
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And sorry about the length of my “comment.” 🙂
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Anurag Kashyap is just the most irritating guy, isn’t he? Never happy, and everything is always someone else’s fault.
I think what I find most bothersome is that there is an assumption that stars like Shahrukh and Salman (and Rajesh Khanna), and popular directors like Karan Johar and Aditya Chopra and Farah Khan, are less talented than the more “artistic” types because they can “only” make popular movies. But in fact, I believe, it is much harder to make something popular. All popular actors and directors also have the ability to be artistic stars if they want, because every popular film also includes those little moments that would fit in an art film. But not every artistic director or actor has the ability to be a popular.
Although, I don’t know if I would agree that EVERY artistic person secretly dreams of just being popular and making a profit. I do think that is true of Anurag Kashyap, which is why he is always saying things that boil down to “why don’t you LIKE me?!?!?” But there are other, more humble, directors and actors who know that what they make will never be that popular, but they are just happy to have a chance to work. Only we never hear about them, because they are too nice to make comments like this and get into the news.
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Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply every artistic person longs for popularity, but simply the “artistic” types like Naseer and Irfan. The interesting thing about them is that they actually work in commercial cinema (there is no “parallel” cinema now), and yet keep whining about not getting the same acclaim as the popular stars. You never hear Rahul Bose, say, complain in a similar fashion. And of course, true artistic directors like Shyam Benegal just keep doing their thing and getting their kind of acclaim in international circles, and don’t worry about BO. Both Naseer and Irfan are acknowledged to be excellent actors, so what are they complaining about? From several interviews of Naseer, I can only conclude that he’s bitter at not becoming a star like Amitabh, or, now, Rajesh Khanna. And Irfan with his Salman comment has betrayed the same bitterness (he’s also given several interviews which showcase his ego more than anything else).
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