Can The Khan Clan Fight Back??

Ali Peter John

That the world of Hindi films even industry which spares no one and at times is even merciless and ruthless is a truth that cannot be denied by anyone who claims to know anything about it and how it works. It has taken unknown men and women to dizzy heights of success and then thrown and flung the same people to the streets and trampled on them. Success is mostly an illusion or passing phase and failure is a dark and stark reality, which everyone who has ambitions to be a part of it should better know...

These thoughts which are permanent temporarily come to my mind as I think of the three Khans, Salman, Aamir and Shah Rukh. Till the second half 2019, they were called invincible Khans, the indispensable Khans, the mighty Khans, the miraculous Khans and even the mesmerising Khans. But what was that something that happened that made the same people who adulated them and worshipped them have second and third thoughts about them? Was it because they had crossed fifty and were past their primes and had grown beyond the age of romancing girls half their age and fighting villains twice their heights and more and other villains who were physically and electronically controlled? Or was it because of the social media going overboard with inumerabable stories about their personal lives? At this stage I remember how some of the biggest heroes of the fifties, sixties and seventies tried their very best to keep their family lives away from the glare of the public and the limited media of those days, which was perhaps the reason why a Rajendra Kumar,a Pradeep Kumar,a Joy Mukherjee,a Dharamendra,a Jeetendra and even a Rajesh Khanna could be seen as students going to college or fresh out of the college and falling in love with beautiful young girls who were in most cases less than half their ages....

Coming back to the three mighty Khans. Salman was leading the race and had further established his position with “Dabanng 3", but one could clearly hear murmurs among no-alls in the industry, in the media and even among his large number of bhakts who asked how long he would carry on with his dabanng in it. And instead of finding answers to their anxious queries, he was doing “Big Boss", ad films and finding other ways of making more money for himself and for his “Being Human Trust". The first signs of good sense dawning on him were seen when he signed his friend Sanjay Leela Bhansali's “Inshahallah" with surprisingly Alia Bhatt as his heroine. It was good going and the film was even being planned for an Eid release, but everything fell flat when it came to talking money Salman was out of the film. SLB however did not wait. He had the dates of Alia and a subject he loved and the result is “Gangubai Kathaiwali" which has Alia playing a woman from the underworld, which leaves Salman with no assignments as of now. There is talk about the film called “Raadhe", but nothing much has been heard about it. So, will Salman's crowd of fans has an Eid without one of his releases to celebrate it? And who knows Salman, the mighty Khan may still spring a surprise? After all, he is the Sallu Bhai of the millions!

If there is one Khan for whom he stands seem to be willing wait till eternity, it is Shah Rukh Khan. He has not had a release after his last few films like “When Harry Met Sejal",“Dilwale" and “Zero" did not find the same fervour among his followers. The ‘thrist' of a new SRK film is so great that he has been receiving scripts by the dozens, mostly from his own fan. When last heard of, he was doing a film for Raju Hirani, then it was for a team of directors who have made some big films and now it is almost official that he will be doing the Hindi version of “Bigil", one of the biggest hits in Tamil in recent years, directed by Atlee. More details are being worked out and I as a well-wisher of SRK hope that it could be interesting. The wait has been too long, Badshah Khan!

What happened to a film like “Thugs of Hindostan" was neither expected nor imagined even by the worst critics and rivals of Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan who had teamed up for the first time. People are still groping in the dark to find out reasons why this ‘titanic' sank without a trace, but whether Aamir agrees or not, the drubbing the film received at the box-office certainly made a dent in his image which he had taken years of hard work to build. Aamir will now have to also fightback like the other two Khans. He is doing a superb job in his show “Satyamev Jayate" which I think is one of the best things happening in the non-feature films category in India. However, all eyes and minds are on his daring feature film,“Lal Singh Chadha" in which he has made all kinds of efforts and experiments to play a sardar. The film, they say like most of his other films is as good as being directed by him, although it is officially being directed by his associate Advait Chandan, who last directed “Secret Superstar". It seems to be a dicey film as even an unknown entity like me has been receiving calls from men who claim to be leaders of the Punjabi community who advised me to advise Aamir to either scrap the film or take their advice and make the necessary changes or take the consequences.

And what do I say about Saif Ali Khan? After doing a recent film like “Jawani Jaaneman", he has cleverly or by circumstances shifted to playing supporting or character roles, which was a safe thing to do for him now when he will better be known as the father of Sara Ali Khan than Saif Ali Khan. And finally, there is the Khan who many call ‘the Khan who is the best among all the Khans', Irrfan Khan. It was overwhelming and even very emotional to see the trailer of his film “Angrezi Medium". The actor par excellence who has been fighting a battle with a rare kind of Cancer seems to have been putting a performance as a father who goes to any extent to fulfill the ambition of his only daughter to get educated and in English University and seems to have played his role as if there would be no tomorrow for him. To add to the emotional value of the trailer, Irrfan speaks to his viewers and tells them how he would have wished to promote the film as it was a film very close to him and how he couldn't because of his having certain unwanted guests (the Cancer) within his body. He comes to a close on a highly emotional note which can bring tears to the most hardened rock burning in the hot sun in the Thar desert....

These are all the professional problems the Khans I have mentioned above are facing right now. And all this is besides the bashing and lashing they have been receiving from social activists, journalists, critics and some from their own community for being silent about the whole burning issue about the CAA,NPR and NRC and other issues facing the country.

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Tags: Bollywood, Bollywood News, Bollywood Updates, Television, Telly News, Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan