The Hindu Business Line : Beyond the Khan trio

It's taken ten years and more, but it looks as if Bollywood's second rung is ready and raring to go. The three Khans — Shah Rukh, Aamir and Salman — still occupy the top slots; but both in box-office terms as well as in people's imagination, the young 'uns are racing up the aisles by leaps and bounds.

Take the performance of last month's Taxi Number 9211, with John Abraham and Nana Patekar. With not a Khan in sight, and no Yash Chopra either, the film has done well enough for it to be labelled a moderate hit. Two reasons: John's dimpled charm which has been wowing women from 6 to 60 (the mandatory prerequisite that all true heartthrobs possess); and, this is a tad more important than the presence of Bollywood's latest `it' boy — a story which is not run-off-the-mill, and treatment which is fresh.

It is about two men and the city of Mumbai — an eccentric taxi driver, and a rich young man who dreams of becoming richer; not by dint of hard work but by inheriting his dead father's billions.

The strengths of Milan Luthria's film are two-fold. It gives you two people who are credible and who do what their character flaws force them to do; it also sets them in a context, which is instantly recognisable. The film could have been set in any big city, but being in Mumbai gives it its peculiar zesty flavour. Raghu Shastri, the taxi driver, and Jai Mittal, the Armani-clad dude, are no cardboard cut-outs.

Breaking the mould

This is a big deal indeed, given that Bollywood has turned out films, which have no address and no story for such a long time. We are finally getting characters in our movies, not heroes who sing, dance, fight and cry. We are getting men and women, not boys and girls. We are willing to break the mould, experiment a little, when we get into a movie hall.

Which is why the Bollywood second rung, which has been on the fringes for a while, is now moving centrestage. Abhishek Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan, Akshay Kumar and John — these are leading men who've all done the hero thing (Akshay and Saif longer than the other two), and are now turning to directors who will present them with a degree of difference... with edge.

Just because Hrithik Roshan and Amisha Patel set the box office on fire with their teen romance (Kaho Na Pyaar Hai) didn't mean that the copycats could get a free ride on the same gravy train. Two subsequent films with the same actors and theme were miserable flops.

Hrithik moved on to greyer territory sooner than his contemporaries (Mission Kashmir, Fiza, Lakshya, Koi... Mil Gaya), and has been for the past two years shooting for Krish, "a never-before-seen superhero extravaganza".

Unlike in the past, when Hrithik would have been forced to do indifferent films just to keep himself in circulation, he has been, according to fan magazines, spending the last two years "in preparation" and "getting into the character".

The rising stars

Both Saif and Akshay started out roughly at the same time — well over 10 years ago — and they have been at the vanguard of this change. Saif has played a manipulative conman, a college preppie, a valiant soldier, and a feckless zamindar who finally gets true love, all in the space of the last five years. This Khan may not be part of the holy trio, but he's got himself a place in the pantheon.

Akshay did a string of forgettable movies in which he was required to just dance, sing and fight, till he was given a chance to show that he has great comic timing and he can be equally effective in doing a serious turn.

The directors who have exploited him best are David Dhawan (Mujhse Shaadi Karogi) and Raj Kumar Santoshi (Khakee).

John, the newest kid on the block, has come to the movies through modelling and is already quite popular.

Abhishek too, after his debut in Refugee where he showed potential, signed up a whole bunch of lousy films. It's only when Mani Ratnam chose him from an assembly line of wannabes (despite his illustrious surname and lineage, that's what he was, a wannabe) and presented him as a lumpen youth in Yuva that people sat up and took notice.

He then went on to hone his strengths... being strong, silent and laconic overlaid with an impish brand of humour which is completely urbane, completely his.

Pink is macho!

Dhoom was a huge hit, and suddenly Abhishek who was dubbed "unsexy and boring", became "hot and happening". He did Bunty Aur Babli, a massive hit again. He did Bluffmaster, not a hit, but his fans loved him even more. Like other leading men, who aspire to be real men — stubble, signet rings and all — Abhishek makes pink look macho.

So, to John! As the saying goes, he can wear a sack and make it look like the sexiest garment on earth. He has, till now, traded on being `uber' stylish and drop-dead good-looking. But he has shown that he can also be funny and serious. Jai Mittal gives him a chance to do more than he has done before.

And like all the other young guns currently hotrodding Bollywood, which has finally woken up to the importance of story and character, he is making the most of it.

Picture by V.V. Krishnan

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Beyond the Khan trio