Bollywood looks for male hotty

2005-06-20 15:20

Mumbai - A hunt is on in Bollywood for a new leading man who can bring the crowds back to Indian movie theatres.

With no new big male star emerging in the past five years, veteran actors from the 1980s and 1990s are still ruling at the box office, where takings have dropped steadily by eight to 10% in the past three years.

Industry players believe it is time for a new "star of the masses" to rise in Bollywood, India's prolific Hindi-language film industry which produces more films than does Hollywood.

Once a heartthrob, now a fading star

The last actor to drive movie fans near to hysteria was Hrithik Roshan, who was blooded by his director father Rakesh Roshan in the 1999 hit film Kaho Na Pyar Hai (Say That You Love Me).

In his early 20s at the time, Roshan became an overnight sensation, with fans mobbing the handsome, athletically built actor almost everywhere he went.

But since then, no other actor or actress has managed to fire the collective imagination of the country's moviegoers.

Five years on and even Hrithik has lost a lot of his star appeal due to his inability to deliver enough blockbusters.

His last solo hit was the 2003 science-fiction flick Koi Mil Gaya (Someone Found), a take-off of Steven Spielberg's E.T..

Stars few and far between

Analysts said the industry, known for its candyfloss films and take-offs on Hollywood flicks, continues to be dominated by established male stars Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Ajay Devgan and Sanjay Dutt — most of them in the late 30s or early 40s.

"I feel Bollywood produces superstar once in 10 years," said Shah.

"In every decade there is a reign of a superstar, but it takes a lot of time for any actor to reach that status."

Kumar, still rated as Bollywood's greatest actor, saw his aura eclipsed to some extent when Rajesh Khanna was discovered in the late '60s. Khanna was idolised as a great romantic hero, with hundreds of fans carving his name in blood on their bodies.

Khanna's stardom was later overthrown by the blazing Amitabh Bachchan with his larger-than-life "angry young man image" when he burst onto the screen in the '70s in the hit film, Zanjeer (Chain).

The movie earned him a cult status and set him on a career in which he is now regarded as a legend.

Bachchan was rated as the greatest star of all time by a BBC online poll in 2000, beating Hollywood's Al Pacino and Sean Connery. At 63, he still continues to dominate the Hindi-language film industry and remains one of India's highest paid actors.

Super bad luck phase for Bollywood

Analysts said lack of strong scripts was also making search for the right face difficult.

"It is just a super bad luck phase that is on in Bollywood. While films are technically rich now, they lack good scripts," said film analyst Komal Nahta.

As far as heroines are concerned, the situation is not so bad.

A series of former beauty pageant winners such as Aishwarya Rai, Sushmita Sen, Priyanka Chopra and Lara Dutta are setting the screens on fire along with other big name actresses like Kareena Kapoor, Rani Mukherjee and Preity Zinta.

"There are enough heroines to bring the crowds, but let us not forget that Bollywood is still very much a male dominated industry where legends have always been men," said producer Bhagnani.

Experts feel the era of stardom is in any case ending due to the satellite television and communication revolution sweeping the country of one billion plus people.

Veteran director Mahesh Bhatt said: "I think in the future stardom will last only for 15 minutes. It is difficult to find or create a superstar anymore as we are living in a world of reality and not fantasy."

- AFP