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Stars-in-law:
a study in contrast
The once-next-to-god icon Rajesh Khanna and his rising son-in-law
Akshay Kumar personify the quirks of superstardom
By Naman
Ramachandran |
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It's
summer 2006. The grounds of a stately, quintessentially English home
in Buckinghamshire are a hubbub of activity. Bollywood is in the air
as director Vipul Amrutlal Shah discusses the next shot with cinematographer
Jonathan Bloom. Katrina Kaif, shivering in the sudden chilly breeze,
looks fetching in a wedding gown as she hovers near a Rolls Royce
limousine festooned in wedding bunting. We are at the location shoot
of Namastey London.
Some distance away, in the middle of a vast expanse of sward, a Mercedes
is parked, doors open. A besuited Akshay Kumar reclines in the driver's
seat, listening intently to a Producer Who Shall Not be Named, as
he narrates his dream project-about a stuntman.
Rajesh
Khanna's work has a lasting resonance that superstar Akshay cannot
take away.
Narration done, Akshay switches on the car's music system. The opening
strains of 'Shabad gurbani kirtan, Nirgun Raakh Liya, sung by Raghubir
Singh Diwana and Akshay himself, flood the English countryside. He
lies back, eyes closed, intoning the words of the hymn under his breath.
The superstar is at peace.
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Time
was when the term superstar wasn't bandied about as much as it is
today. Harking back to a simpler age before IPLs and iPhones, the
term simply did not exist. There were massively popular stars like
Prithviraj Kapoor, Ashok Kumar, Dev Anand, Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar,
Shammi Kapoor and others of their ilk, but they were merely that-popular
stars. The accolade superstar was coined after the 1969 release of
Aradhana. The mannered, pleasantly nodding, crinkly-eyed man sporting
a Nepali cap in a jeep wooing Sharmila Tagore as she pouted in the
Darjeeling Himalayan Railway train was Jatin Khanna, better known
by his on-screen moniker, Rajesh Khanna, or affectionately as 'kaka'.
Though
Khanna had made his debut in Chetan Anand's offbeat Aakhri Khat (1966)
after winning a talent contest and won favourable notices for films
such as Khamoshi, Doli and Bandhan, it was 'Mere sapnon ki rani' and
Aradhana that catapulted him to superstardom. The rise and rise of
the 'phenomenon'-as veteran film journalist Devyani Chaubal dubbed
him-is well documented, but worth recounting for a land where half
the population was not even born during the Khanna era. A nation,
then, was in thrall, not only to his innumerable hit films, where
he became synonymous with romance, but also to his colourful private
life. The country eagerly lapped up gossip morsels about his stormy
relationship with Anju Mahendru, swooned over his guru-kurta and sighed
over his fairytale romance and marriage with the young Dimple Kapadia.
Only Hrithik Roshan, for a brief spell post the Kaho Naa Pyar Hai
release, has tasted that intensity of adulation in recent times.
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Superstardom
can be accompanied by hubris and Khanna succumbed, famously saying
that the constant idolisation made him feel 'next to God'. Downfall
was imminent and the rise of a certain Amitabh Bachchan, coupled with
the Hindi film industry's tectonic shift from romantic dramas towards
more violent fare, exacerbated the process. Bachchan, who played an
ideal foil to Khanna in Anand (1971), turned in a showboating performance
that rivalled the superstars in Namak Haraam (1973). The Superstar
is dead. Long live the Superstar! to paraphrase Le Roi est mort. Vive
le Roi!
The fall was gradual rather than swift. There were indeed worthy films
in the early '80s like Thodisi Bewafaii, Dard, Kudrat, Avtaar and
Souten offering a glimpse of what once was. But the turkey count mounted
apace with the erstwhile superstar appearing in gems like Ashanti,
Rajput and even trying desperately to gatecrash Jeetendra's Padmalaya
honeymoon in the dire Maqsad.
Like his successor Bachchan, politics inevitably followed, with Khanna
serving as a New Delhi MP 1991-96.
Ironically,
the latest star saluted with the superstar honorific, after a stellar
box-office run over the last few years, is Khanna's son-in-law Akshay,
who's married to Twinkle Khanna. Like his father-in-law, he changed
his name-from Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia. India's young population is well
aware of his gradual rise through the ranks after stints as a chef
in Bangkok, martial arts instructor and the numerous successful Khiladi
films. Hera Pheri marked his transition from an action hero to a comic
one and Ek Rishtaa began the showcasing of his dramatic chops. The
year 2007 was Akshay's watershed as success followed humongous success,
with Namastey London, Heyy Babyy, Bhool Bhulaiyya and Welcome. Akshay
finally took his rightful place alongside the Khan triumvirate after
a decade where they dominated.
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Today,
Akshay is almost as ubiquitous as Shahrukh Khan. He's in the news
for demanding and receiving unbelievable amounts of money for his
forthcoming films such as Warner Bros' Chandni Chowk to China; being
Delhi's Daredevil at their inaugural IPL match; hospitalised for the
sake of a popular cola in a TV commercial; and deigning to appear
alongside the Bachchans at select venues on the upcoming Unforgettable
concert tour. As he basks in his hard-earned success, Akshay could
do well to look back at the decline and fall of his once-illustrious
father-in-law. In the immortal words of Marcus Aurelius, "All
is ephemeral-fame and the famous as well". After a lull, Khanna's
contemporary Bachchan managed his renaissance spectacularly. Though
Khanna has reportedly signed eight films on a comeback trail, his
last few years have been dismal. Roles in television serials like
Apne Paraye and Ittefaq and the abysmal Jaana: Let's Fall in Love
alongside Zeenat Aman scarcely does justice to his undeniable talent.
The television programme K For Kishore recently had a two-day celebration
of Khanna. What Akshay can't take away from Khanna is that in spite
of his decline, Khanna has created a lasting body of work-films and
songs that are heralded as classics in the annals of
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cinema.
For
all his success, Akshay has produced nothing that matches an Amar
Prem or an Avishkaar. To be fair, it can be argued that today's 'consume
today forget tomorrow' film culture reflects that hoary old chestnut-Bollywood's
creative bankruptcy. Still, given his pre-eminent status, Akshay could
greenlight projects that will stand the test of time. Somehow, 'Zindagi
kaisi hai paheli haaye, kabhi yeh hasaaye, kabhi yeh rulaaye' -poignantly
evocative of Khanna's own life-has more lasting resonance than, say,
a 'Churake dil mera'.
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Late April 2008.
Akshay's latest project Kambakkht Ishq goes into pre-production.
It's going to be the first Bollywood film to be shot at Hollywood's
Universal Studios. Curiously enough, Akshay plays a stuntman. Nary
a mention in the credits of the Producer Who Shall Not Be Named,
whose dream project this was supposed to be.
As T.S. Eliot said in The Waste Land, while quoting the Brihadaranyaka
Upanishad: "Shantih, Shantih, Shantih."
-- courtesy Outlook
India
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