The BUZZ

THE KHANS: REINVENT OR RETIRE

The Khan triumvirate has religiously dedicated their sweat and soul to Bollywood and entertainment for over two decades now. Between them, Salman, Aamir and Shah Rukh Khan scaled unprecedented popularity by frequently rewriting the box-office record books with their blockbusters.

Notably, the Khans redefined mainstream concepts of success in Bollywood. With smart PR and marketing, entrepreneurship skills, and intelligent use of the media as well as social media, the trio set an important ground rule for new-age Bollywood: Scoring box-office hits was no longer enough, with the Khan trio arrived the era of brand power. To be truly successful in Hindi cinema's new age, one needs to be a unique brand and constantly adapt to changing trends.

King Khan, SRK who managed to stay at the top through the nineties and the 2000s, did so cashing in on NRI dreams of the average Indian, positioning himself as the chocolate-box lover-boy. By 2010, the nation's socio-political scenario was gradually changing, and Hindi cinema was looking inwards for inspiration. As thesmall-town Indian

SALMAN: BANKING ON SEQUEL FORMULA

So, Salman, while trying to move away from his alpha male image, released "Tubelight" on Eid 2017, which cast him as an imperfect, vulnerable protagonist. The film struggled after its opening weekend and barely managed a lifetime's domestic collection of around Rs 121.25 crore, which classifies it as an average grosser.

Only Indian Film On 100 Best Films List

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap’s cult film Gangs Of Wasseypur has become the only Indian film to feature in The Guardian’s list of 100 Best Films of the 21st century.

Kashyap took to Instagram to announce that his action drama has bagged the 59th position.

He wrote, “Proud to be here but this wouldn’t be my list. So many films which are my favourites can’t be below my film and The Dark Knight deserves to be way up.”

He added about his masterpiece, “This is also that film of mine that totally destroyed my film-making life by the expectations it sets from me as a filmmaker and has been continuously so, and I have forever been trying to break away from it. Hopefully someday that will happen.”

About the Number 1 film, There Will Be Blood (2007), Kashyap said, “That’s my absolute favourite of the 21st century.”

Critically acclaimed films as Persepolis, Waltz with Bashir and Capernaumare also on the list.

The two-film Gangs Of Wasseypur series was released in 2012, and narrated the saga of a coal mafia family in the town of Wasseypur in the Dhanbad district of Jharkhand.

Both films were loved by the masses for their drama and rawness, and acclaimed by the classes for cinematic aesthetics. Both became box-office hits.

The gang-war drama featured Manoj Bajpayee, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Piyush Mishra and Richa Chadha as part of an ensemble cast.

Salman's return to familiar image and spectacular action a few months later the same year with Tiger Zinda Hai worked, but the superstar struggled trying out the same formula in his Eid 2018 action thriller, "Race 3". The film managed only Rs 169 crore in the domestic market, and was again classified and average grosser.

This year on Eid, Salman was in no mood to take chances. Bharat, his Eid 2019 release, was formulaic social drama with scope of action, thrills, good music and romance, and the film cast him opposite his normally lucky mascot Katrina Kaif. Eid, however, was far from a blockbuster event. "Bharat" fared only marginally better than Salman's releases of past two Eids, scoring Rs 209.36 crore and being declared a Plus Earner.

Given the situation, Salman is now trying to stick to what worked once. He is banking on sequels, with Dabangg 3 and Kick 2 lined up. Inshallah, the romantic musical with Sanjay Leela persona became a rage, the magic of SRK's sophisticated romantic icon had started to wane. Salman Khan's Dabangg stereotype took over, the next decade. The Perfectionist aura of Brand Aamir Khan, on the other hand, created a very different niche. Refusing to stick to a particular image on screen unlike Salman or SRK, Aamir devised for himself the image of an actor who had perfected the trick of scoring record-busting blockbusters with content-driven fare such as 3Diots, PK and Dangal.

All this worked while it did. The trouble is, in showbiz, every image and strategy is only as good as it ensures returns. At a time when content has increasingly started dictating box-office tastes, image-driven cinema is increasingly losing importance. The Khans realise as much – Shah Rukh and Salman, especially, have lately tried every trick to rid themselves of the stereotypes that rule their image.

The trouble is both Salman and Shah Rukh have struggled to score blockbusters lately, irrespective of whether they adhere to tested image or move away from it.

Bhansali he had lined up for Eid 2020, has been pushed ahead for now. Instead, he sent out a cryptic tweet underlining his plans to release Kick 2 on that day. Clearly, the actor hopes the Kick sequel will repeat the success of the first film, which scored blockbuster returns on Eid 2014.

Considering Salman Khan has traditionally thrived on being himself on the screen, the sequel formula would perhaps seem the safest route for him.

Tiger Zinda Hai, after all, has been his biggest hit in recent years. It is a formula that will let him survive as a big star, but will it let him survive changing trends and younger competition? Time will tell.

SRK: HUNTING FOR A PLOT

For Salman's immediate rival Shah Rukh Khan, things have only been uphill over the past few years. SRK's last superhit was Happy New Year on Diwali 2014. If Salman appropriated Eid, SRK has had a long history with big wins on Diwali every year. Baazigar, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Dil Toh Pagal Hai, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Mohabbatein and Veer-Zaara have been among his biggest Diwali blockbusters.

When Ra.One did disappointing business on Diwali 2011, SRK was perhaps at a loss. This was film where he had drastically moved away from his loverboy image. An outlandish sci-fi plot for Bollywood fans was perhaps the reason, but the below-expectation show of Ra.One served a warning to SRK: His position as King Khan was no longer to be taken for granted.

The nine years since have only seen Shah Rukh slip. Except for his Republic Day 2017 release, Raees, which did surplus business, no other SRK film after Happy New Year has scored at the box-office.

In recent times, Shah Rukh's plight, in every way, has been the same as Salman's. He has mostly failed to leave an impact when he tried moving out of his comfort zone of playing the romantic hero in films such as Don 2, Fan, Dilwale and Zero. He has also not impressed lately when he tried to reinvent the romantic hero to suit his advancing age, in Jab Tak Hai Jaan and