Earlier on our Bollywood actors had a very limited time span of their professional career. By the time they had crossed the 35 summers of their lives they either had to quit or switch to characters roles. And unconventional heroes in Bollywood firmament was a strict no – no. Only good looking so called chocolate heroes stood a chance to survive in the rat race to Stardom.
But since the last 1 decade this scenario of Bollywood has done a total & complete volte face. Let’s first take the example of Bollywood’s one & only midget hero Aamir Khan, who has just stepped into the 50th summer of his life. But much before that Aamir Khan had already started chartering his success route stardom with hard work and above all his sheer grit & determined resolve. And his repertoire of runaway successful films include ‘Taare Zammen Par’, ‘3 Idiots’ & ‘PK’ to name just 3 and his steady policy of doing only 1 film at a time also stood him in good stead. At this rate he is all set for a still longer innings at the box office turnstiles with his next upcoming project namely ‘Dangal’.
Apart from Aamir Khan it is Big B who is the classic example of this trend of 50 plus heroes ruling the roost. At 70 plus, Big B is still calling the shots on the big screen with his hit films like the sequel of ‘Bhootnath’ to name just one, on the small screen with all the Seasons of ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ (KBC) and mini series of ‘Yudh’ and he is still going strong with many upcoming films in his kitty like ‘Piku’, ‘Wazir’, ‘Ghoomketu’, ‘Hasmukh Pigal Gaya’ et al. Not to forget the public issue short films and all the endorsements he keeps doing left, right & centre. All this is enough to give the younger breed of actors a run for their money.
Next in line is the ultra energetic actor like Akshay Kumar aka Akki. When he had made his debut eons ago in ‘Saugandh’, he had gone on record saying that he would be most happy if he could survive in tinsel town even for a decade. And look where he has reached now & how?. His successful films include ‘Boss’, ‘Rowdy Rathore’ & ‘Baby’ to name just 3. So even Akshay Kumar is all set to romance with lady luck for a long. Long time to come. Among the many upcoming films that he has lined up is ‘Airlift’ to name just 1.
The same is the case with Ajay Devgn who was ridiculed for his unconventional dark look since his ‘Phool Aur Kaante’ days. But he changed the entire conception in his stride. With his recent successful films like ‘Son Of Sardar’ and the ‘Singham’ series and upcoming films like his own directorial venture ‘Shivaay’ and many more. So now even he is set for a longer dalliance with the Goddess of box office.
And last but not least is undoubtedly our very own Sallu miyan nay Salman Khan who has created his own success history in spite of all the upheavals & roadblocks in his personal life as well as his professional career. Indeed this ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ has given a real ‘Kick’ to all his detractors.
So here is a cautionary piece de resistance advice to all the younger heroes to take a leaf out of the above mentioned REAL HEROES or be prepared to quit, hang their boots or worst still get blown away with the wind. Period!