The Hindu Business Line : Rise of a `thinking star'?

When does an actor step out of the frame? Going by the ceaseless chatter emanating from celebrity-driven column inches, chat show hosts, and prime time news bulletins, Aamir Khan has been anointed the Thinking Star.

He's everywhere: in the colour supplements of national newspapers, frowning thoughtfully on TV shows, on radio, on posters, his familiar tone and visage keeping pace with the barrage which never seems to end.

The media frenzy, which feeds on newness, often lets you forget that there have been other famous screen faces in the spotlight for similar reasons.

It also helps you ignore the basic dilemma of such a person who is constantly in search of public approbation: should s/he say what s/he thinks, or should s/he say what is expected of her/him?

Aamir's so-called support to the Narmada Bachao Andolan (he has since gone on record to say that he only meant to show solidarity with the displaced individuals in need of rehabilitation, not to take on the politics or the politicians for and against the dam) has fanned protest in Gujarat.

This happens only in India, as a Govinda song famously put it: when an issue is likely to spark media interest, all manner of self-serving individuals get on to the bandwagon, and milk it for whatever it is worth, sometimes to the point of obliterating the original issue.

Aamir has been criticised for talking out of turn; Fanaa has been banned in Gujarat; the sole intrepid theatre-owner who decided to run it is facing death-threats, as are the brave souls who went to Mumbai to see the film. And the week has ended with an indignant protestor setting himself on fire.

The actor has been slammed from all quarters: Gujarat BJP, celeb bashers, and the average punter who lusts after that two second sound byte which will make him famous forever.

The many roles

This is not confined to Aamir-NBA-Gujarat alone. This is a very 21st century phenomenon: the professional actor as a multi-tasker. Depending on the occasion and the remuneration, the actor becomes the face of a multinational conglomerate, the endorser of products (if you are Amitabh Bachchan this could range from the humble chooran to high-end suiting material), as well as the articulate spokesperson for a social cause. When time permits, acting projects happen.

It helps if you are in Bollywood's A-list. Or, heck, if you are Bollywood's A-list. Who's first, Shah Rukh or Aamir? Take your pick. It helps even more if your movies not only become the most anticipated events on the annual movie calendar, they also routinely max out the box office in the opening weekend. A couple of IIM graduates, snacking on pizza at the next table on the Friday afternoon this writer had watched Fanaa, declared that "unless Aamir makes 10 Mangal Pandeys (last year's turkey with the star playing Mangal Pandey, the hero of the 1857 Indian freedom movement, which defied criticism by taking a huge initial) in a row, we will always watch his movies".

Those IIM grads, on their way to lucrative assignments in New York and Hong Kong at Lehman Brothers, are not alone. Yashraj Films, the producer of Fanaa, proudly ran ads, which claimed that the movie had amassed a whopping Rs 22 crore-plus in its first three days. Aamir's already had a huge hit early this year. Rang De Basanti is well on its way to becoming a cult movie, apart from being one of the highest grossers in Bollywood, according to UTV, its producers.

An actor's rights

Several questions arise. Why shouldn't Aamir have the right to comment on an issue, which bothers him as a concerned citizen? Does an actor necessarily have to confine himself/herself to the camera just because s/he is primarily an entertainer? And, this one is at a slight tangent but related: Do celebrities who become rent-a-quote mainstays become less than what they are?

Anyone who is interested in making his or her views known on a subject is free to do so: we do, after all, live in a functioning democracy even if it is flawed. So Aamir can hold forth on the dam and rehabilitation of the displaced on the one hand, and on the colours that he likes (a staple supplement question, usually reserved for those who don't know what else to ask), the cuisine he favours, and the heroines he has kissed). Way before Emraan Hashmi was invented, Aamir was there: he is the original serial kisser, having, on screen, smooched or slept with almost every heroine, and his bedside manner is much classier than Hashmi's.

And why should an actor only talk about movies and roles and filmmakers, if s/he is capable of thinking about other things? It's another matter if the person is demonstrably dumb: those who have had the dubious privilege of extracting intelligible answers from film stars have often rued the day they decided to be film journalists, because most of the conversation is either stage-managed by their PR handlers, or deadly dull. Aamir is among the handful of current Bollywood stars who are a pleasure to talk to (Shah Rukh is another, and he also has strong, cogent views on everything under the sun, or at least he can fool the media into believing so: he's not the most successful actor in Bollywood for nothing!).

Film stars do not go hunting trouble. Most ignorant mischief-makers fail to realise that a healthy controversy, far from harming the star and halting her/ him in her/ his tracks, works in quite the opposite way.

More often than not, the media churn becomes terrific publicity: Yashraj Films must be immensely chuffed that Fanaa has been in the limelight so constantly without any efforts on their marketing team's part.

Again, more often than not, the star becomes hotter than s/he wagered for, with relentless media attention.

Answering the last question is a bit trickier. People whose very being and livelihood depends upon being in the public eye have to be careful. Too little, and you are dubbed a has-been. Too much, and you are taken for granted. The really big stars and their media managers know how to walk the line: Aamir is right now poised delicately, and should think of getting off, and switching off. He's walked, and the movie is doing the talk.

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