Salman Khans Sultan and Aamir Khans Dangal have to be wary and here is the reason why

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Salman Khans Sultan and Aamir Khans Dangal have to be wary and here is the reason why

Let's begin with the obvious – Audience can't be (and won't be) taken for granted. No, not anymore, when there is digital media available in all shapes and formats. Online streaming, internet based movie channels, awareness around Hollywood releases, entertainment available on mobiles, and then of course, the biggest problem of them all – the price of popcorn being higher than that of a movie ticket.

Naah, give me a good movie and I will step in.
Give me an average one and I will be very careful.
Give me a bad one and I will create a lot of noise.
Give me an uninteresting one and I will totally ignore.
It is as simple as that – audience hasn't been as brutally honest as it is today!
It lapped up South 'masala' entertainers from MRowdy Rathore to R… Rajkumar but gave up once Action Jackson came striking.
It accepted everything after Paheli in varying degree but gave up once Shah Rukh Khan came up with Fan.
It embraced Salman Khan in a humane drama Bajrangi Bhaijaan but just about allowed his Prem Ratan Dhan Payo to cross Rs. 200 crore, which was only 4 times its opening day business.
Reputations don't matter anymore. Just a good script doesn't work in isolation. An ongoing fad doesn't make much of a difference either. After Neerja, it seemed that biopics are in. Azhar and Sarbjit have crashed that core thought process.
Ok, so Salman Khan and Aamir Khan sell. Well yes! But if Sultan or Dangal are bad movies (and one truly-truly hopes, both for the industry as well as the audience, that this isn't really the case), do not expect them to cover much of a distance. Oh yes, they will get their opening day but in the times when Fan opens at Rs. 19.2 crore, only to end its lifetime at Rs. 85 crore, nothing is improbable any more.

It all comes back to square one – you can't have a star elevate a bad script anymore. Aamir Khan has suffered this with Talaash. Akshay Kumar has had his fair share of disappointment with Brothers. Hrithik Roshan couldn't take his Bang Bang to the Rs. 200 crore mark. Ajay Devgn has Himmatwala in his repertoire.
No one is invincible. Everyone knows it. Everyone realizes this. Everyone acknowledges this as well.
It is just that hardly anyone wants to change.
Perhaps the signs are there though. Shah Rukh Khan has moved his Raees all the way to next year. A smart move actually. It gives him all the time in the world to introspect, retrospect and reconsider how he wishes to pitch his film now. Reshoot? Perhaps. That's not a bad idea even if it has to happen. No shame there. Anything that works for the film, and in turn works for the audience.
Meanwhile, the younger generation could well be thinking that if it can happen to the Big 6 [Khans, Akshay, Ajay, Hrithik], it could happen even to us.
Anytime. Any Friday.
Salman Khans Sultan and Aamir Khans Dangal have to be wary and here is the reason why

Ranveer Singh has a Bajirao Mastani to his credit and still, the only film he is currently committed to is Aditya Chopra's Befikre. Well played. Why rush it up when you are at the top of the game. Also, you are at Number 7 already! Perhaps even a step or two higher.
As for the ladies, they seem to have pretty much decided that somewhere there has to be a stop on 'Lovely', 'Pinky' and 'Sheila'. Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra have headed for Hollywood and have not even announced their next films yet. Have they gone for good? One hopes that's not the case as Bollywood indeed needs them. A good script and a top hero is just not enough, you need a top heroine too to bring in the audience. Katrina Kaif has just applied breaks on signing too many movies. Perhaps media is coming down a little too heavily on her after Fitoor. Unfair. That said, she made this choice.
Sonam Kapoor may be happy that she has her Neerja while Alia Bhatt may have been happy to play an extended special appearance for mentor Karan Johar. However, is it a sustainable model? Naah!

You need a good script plus Salman Khan, Kabir Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan to bring in audience for Bajrangi Bhaijaan, and make them stay there.
You need a good script plus Aamir Khan, Raj Kumar Hirani and Anushka Sharma to bring in audience for P.K. , and make them stay there.
You need a good script plus Shah Rukh Khan, Rohit Shetty and Deepika Padukone to bring in audience for Chennai Express, and make them stay there.
You miss either of the big names, and big ticket films would go missing.
You miss a good script, and the ticket itself would go missing.
It's futile to say 'Wake Up', as everyone is wide awake and well aware of the facts. It is about waking up the conscience, taking a breather and revisiting why we are here in the industry in the first place.
Shah Rukh Khan has done that already with Raees.
Hopefully, Salman [Sultan], Aamir [Dangal], Akshay [Rustom] and Hrithik [Mohenjo Daro] have already given it due thinking, before stepping into these big ticket films.

Article written by staff at Bollywood Hungama. Read more

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