The Negativity Index of SRK

I generally consider myself a fair man, and fair I am!. All of last year I kept saying Rang De Basanti was my favourite movie, I kept saying Aamir Khan deserves a National Award for this performance, forget the Filmfares and the IIFAs and what not. You can verify this from anybody who knows me. Not once did I say that KANK or DON were superb movies or that SRK was brilliant in them. Although, you'll be hard pressed to find a mega-star who would take up the role of such a loser(KANK) and not play to the gallery--everyone walked out of the theater hating!! SRK in that movie..didn't you too? But that's another story, and I'm not gonna bore you with that. But SRK haters have now even started to question his star power, some even say Aamir is a bigger star...man!!What I've realized in the last 4-5 years, is that this anti-SRK bandwagon is not fair at all!! And what's more irritating is the kind of silly arguments they come up with. It's like talking to a bunch of kids actually. I know, very rude of me...but my wife tells me that I get very aggressive during these kind of arguments, and sooner or later I might really hurt someone..so I choose to do it here. It happens with me a lot of times..be it Sachin Tendulkar or SRK or sometimes even Mahatma Gandhi!!, yeah some people think it's cool to call him names. Anyway, this is about SRK, and Gandhi would take another big!! post, so.. maybe later.



Now, as I was saying..the members of this anti-SRK bandwagon have to demean everything he does in the most disgraceful way. Bacchan fans, Aamir fans, Hritik fans..I dunno why..all jump to criticize SRK for whatever he does. If you ask me, or any other SRK fan for that matter, you will never hear us saying that SRK is the greatest ACTOR we have. Comparisons with Aamir crop up every now and then, and I that's so silly!, coz not only is SRK an inferior actor, he is very inconsistent too. Although, if you're one of those "fair" people and have seen the second half of Fanaa, you'll agree with me when I say Aamir has his limitations too, esp. the scene where Rishi Kapoor falls off the cliff..and that's another 'another' story:)



Another point of argument is that the SRK magic works only in Chopra/Johar romances and that he does not take risks. This tops!!! the list of the frivolous arguments. Do you guys forget that when your classy Aamir was doing his loud melodramas like Dil,Raja Hindustani,Andaz Apna Apna and doing all those utterly rubbish romances, SRK was doing the Baazigarr, Darr,Maya Memsaab and Kabhi Kaan Kabhi Naa??I'm sure you don't. And please, don't think of me as someone who hates Aamir, I love! the guy, and I truly believe he's the best actor we have, barring the Big B of course. Talking a little more about risks--tell me something Aamir has done which is even remotely as risky as a Paheli!!!,an Oh Darling Yeh Hai India, an Asoka, a Swades, a Hey Raam, a Gaja Gamini or for that matter even DON. Yeah, DON...don't tell me any other actor in bollywood would have dared to walk in Bacchan's shoes, against all the bourgeois confrontation, the resentment from the critics, and pulled the film to box office safety. Yes, DON grossed 50 crores and RDB grossed 51 crores. KANK grossed 47 crores and Fanaa grossed 53 crores. RDB grossed as much! as DON and a rejected film like KANK was also close(now please don't go nitpicking on the numbers here, I have my sources and I admit the possibility of small deviations, but the point is, the grosses of these movies were pretty close). RDB was loved by one and all, a classic truly, and Fanaa was generally liked and it even saw the comeback of Kajol while KANK was rejected by almost everyone and DON had a mixed response. Yet somehow, the two SRK starrers are termed underperformers!! while the other two are hailed as Aamir's double whammy claim to superstardom? I'm not saying you have to like KANK or DON, but atleast give the credit where it's due. The man must have done something right to have ruled bollywood for 14 years!!! But no, these morons even question that. Questioning his acting skills is one thing, but questioning his superior star power over Aamir or Salman or Hritik or even Abhishek(yeah, even this name crops up now) is either pure ignorance or the height of stupidity.



Talking a little more on box office--recently some people, no matter who their favourite actor is, bring up Hritik, since the man had the biggest blockbusters in 2006. Krrish made 65 crore and Dhoom 2 made 84 crores(note: I've only been giving the domestic grosses for all these films, if I include the international grosses as well, then you know!! what numbers will look like). And this annoys me even more, and let me add, I like Hritik too, I think he is a fabulous actor and a complete performer. Krrish and Dhoom are more like franchises, a la Spiderman, Die Hard etc and their blockbuster status is almost always a given even before the release. Not to take anything away from Hritik though, he did his job pretty well in both those movies, coz acting is not just emoting, it involves screen presence, mannerisms, body language and so so much more. And this is the reason I think why Aamir is just a tad overrated as an actor(please note the emphasis on JUST A TAD). SRK & Hritik could do almost any Aamir film there is, maybe not as well as Aamir does, bu they can..Aamir, on the other hand can never ever do a Dhoom2, Krrishh, DON or DDLJ, no..not even decently. But I'm sure you thin he can:) Anyway, going by their logic, even if I ignore everything SRK has done for the last 16 years with all his mega hits and even just look at 2006, I think they won't mind if I say that Tobey Maguire is a bigger star than Tom Cruise or Daniel Radcliffe is a bigger star than Brad pitt..huh? Such attitude I tell ya. Try and bring him down no matter what. Compare the acting with Aamir, compare box office with Hritik, compare the questionable legendary status with Big B..the list goes on and on and on.



Coming back to the Aamir comparison, why Aamir you may ask. Well, that's not my choice, Aamir's the name that most SRK haters fall back upon to bring him down, that's why. It's no surprise for me either; Hritik's still not generally accepted as serious actor, Abhishek has a long way to go in terms of box office and mass appeal and Big B, contrary to general opinion is really not the same force at the box office. So take up Aamir, huge star, great actor(possibly the best) and more or less a contemporary to SRK, if you include SRK's non filmy days of Fauji and Circus.

So what is it really that sets them apart? A typical SRK hater answer would read something like this "Aamir is a legend, he's the greatest actor of our times,he's got class. SRK is a monkey, only small girls like him, he is only good in romancing ladies in Yash Chopra movies" and so on and so forth. Now if you ask the same question to an SRK fan, you would hear "I think Aamir is a better actor, but my favourite is SRK"..now what's so bloody confusing about that?? Why can't you live with it? I talked about "fair" in my opening lines, so I'm gonna give you my opnion, and I truly believe it's a fair opnion. Yes, I believe Aamir is the better actor, a far better actor in fact. But, this is not because of the inherent acting skills!..no way. It's actually because of the fact that Aamir has a tremendous eye for scripts, and being a perfectionist helps too. Even while choosing the not so mainstream scripts, Aamir makes sure that he gets into that character and almost always gets the plum role. He was offered Akshaye's role in Dil Chahta Hai, but he refused. He's intelligent and we all know how long he takes to come out with one movie. All of this helps, it does. I'm not denying Aamir his credit, I do give him the credit for being so selective and doing such wonderful and classy cinema for the last 5-6 years. And yes, he's a great actor, better than SRK, no doubt. But let me ask you something, why does he shy away from multistarrers so much? And please o please don't say RDB now, if you think working in a movie with 4 newcomers falls in that category then you're just lame. Yes he did multistarrers earlier, but post Lagaan, when he really hit the big league, he hasn't been doing so. he almost always makes it a point to make the film his own. Coming on to SRK now--yes he's not a superb actor, but I don't believe he's a bad actor either. As I said earlier, he's higly inconsistent(in terms of acting), but when he gets it right, man it's good! You'll be hard pressed to find a performance which is as enjoyable as a DDLJ or as menacing as a Darr or as vulnerable as a Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa or as downplayed and realistic as a Swades. And he doesn't shy from multistarrers, he has dared to work with the Big B thrice already, and that too at a time when the media and his haters are trying to bring him down and compare him with Big B. In Mohabbatein both of them had equal footage, but he still stole the show, if you say otherwise then you're one of those "unfair" people I'm talking about. In K3G, he was stuck smack in between the legendary Big B and the biggest challenger to his throne, Hritik Roshan. Yet, K3G was SRK's movie, if you say otherwise again, then you're "unfair". I must insist again, I'm not saying SRK is a better actor than Big B, I'm also willing to say that maybe he's not even better than Hritik, but I judge things as I see them. Coming back to Aamir, I still believe Aamir is the better actor(you'll see this line in this post quite a lot, coz I don't wanna give these haters any excuses). For me the better actor is one who is more consistent, and Aamir is. Some people say Aamir is a natural actor..now that is a load of crap!! Aamir is a METHOD ACTOR, ask any of his directors or co-workers. He actually drinks when there's a drunken scene, he actually does not eat when he has to portray lethargy or depression. SRK, Govinda, Big B are natural actors, they simply go and do whatever they think will look good for the shot. SRK gives a 6 minute monologue in Veer Zaara in one take!!! while Aamir takes 7 shots for a scene of outburst. Yeah, that's the one thing he's really bad at, Aamir, he can't scream and yell...I'll be very interested if you can find me one scene where he's done it decently, please. All actors have strenghts and weaknesses, and to Aamir's credit, he plays to his strenghts more often that not, and I appreciate him for that. SRK on the other hand does 2-3 film a year and 9 out of 10 times pulls the film to box office safety, even mediocre/bad films;in 1994, Aamir's hit Andaz Apna Apna made 2.4 crores and SRK's flop Anjaam made 2.9 crores(he became such a power in only 2 years, and Aamir had already been around for 6 years and had the QSQTs,Dils,JJWS and DHKMN to his credit) in 1998, Aamir's hit Ghulam made 7 crores and SRK's average Josh made 14 crores and a flop Dil Se made 9.25 crores--in 1999, Aamir's hit Sarfarosh made 10.5 crores and SRK's flop Baadshah made 12.5 crores, I'm sure u're not getting what I mean..do you?Aamir is a bigger star my ass! He does this at the box office and every alternate year or so he comes up with one/two great performances and walks away with all the awards.. yeah..so give him a little!!!! credit for that. All of the things which I said are not to confirm SRK's superiority over Big B, Aamir or whoever, no way! If you believe Aamir is better, fine, I'm with you on that. But if I wanted to nitpick on every damn thing, I could bring him down too, I could even bring down the Big B, but I don't want to. So why do you have to?

So what is it that makes SRK's negativity index so high? The only valid explanation I can think of is pure jealousy. Mind you, I'm not talking about the people who don't like SRK, I'm talkin about those who can't help but speak,write,yell curses at him at every chance they get. I'm not talkin about the people who just say they don't think SRK is good actor or even a bad actor. I'm talkin about those who say he looks like a monkey and acts like a donkey, and that Arshad Warsi or Manoj Bajpai are bigger stars than him. These people are jealous; they cannot comprehend why this man, who does not have the looks, who cannot dance, who doesn't have a great physique, doesn't have a persona, doesn't have extraordinary acting talents can be so big, and can continue to be so big for 14 years. Another reason why I think so is because I still have to find a female who feels so strongly about SRK. Women generally tend to like SRK, even the ones who don't are not SRK haters as such. It's always the men; the ones who call him a monkey or sometimes even a paki!!!..this is just too much. I must say again, I'm not talking about all men who don't like SRK. I'm only talkin about the rabid lot which has to belittle everything he does. Did you notice I haven't even talked abut Chak De India here, and that was intentional. No, SRK does not require a Chak De India to be bigger than Aamir, or whoever you want to compare him with. He has been bigger than any actor/actress for the last 14 years and I don't see that changing in the near future(Hritik in form does pose serious challenge though, and he will take the mantle from SRK whenever he steps down) .

I can see I have rambled on for quite sometime now, for something so stupid. But hey!, it's my blog, what you gonna do, sue me?