Superstars are strange creatures. Most of them at least. They live in a world far removed from reality, like the films they star in. They believe in catering to a faithful flock, carefully cultivated and whose IQ they’re convinced is in single digits. The constant refrain when anything close to reality is suggested is, ‘my fans will not accept’. Most of the sequences on-screen make you suspect they’re bionic save the brief moments when they’re putty in the hands of a mother who still feeds them by hand and the heroine who makes them waltz to her tunes. Failure doesn’t deter them from this assumption. Fans flock the theatres only on the first three days and the fate of a film either way is sealed on the Monday after its release. Stars seem to be blind to the fact that if the rest of the vast populace keeps away, the film is doomed. The whole process of how a superstar’s film is produced is strange. It all works in the reverse. It’s considered a blessing if a star chooses a particular producer who’s visiting him, wishing him on birthdays by way of full page ads in local newspapers and generally suggesting he’s in the queue. It’s celebration time when the star deigns to agree. He then suggests a director he likes and is not from any rival camp. After a ‘different’ one-liner is approved, the director disappears to a remote resort with his creative coterie to cook up a plot.
The ingredients are the same. Only a name glorifying the superstar has to be approved which is sometimes the most difficult part.
Raj Kumar was the biggest star because the whole family was his fan and awaited his films. The kids watched his films first, while the parents waited for the euphoria to subside. The man was never typecast. There was diversity in the plots which spoke of certain values. Raj himself maintained a moral code of conduct on-screen which was inspirational, however marginally. Directors did not claim that their films were ‘different’ or that they were passing on a message. It was all subtle yet wholesome. Raj’s biggest hits were the mythological and family dramas not ‘Operation Diamond Racket’. The same goes for Vishnuvardhan. ‘Bandhana’ was a bigger hit than most of his ‘action’ films. Among the present lot families seem to like Puneet. Some say he won hearts with his pleasant presence and disarming demeanour in ‘Kannadada Kotiyadhipathi’. After a slew of flops it was the mediocre ‘Rajakumara’ that brought back families to watch him. It was manipulative and tardily done but Puneet reuniting estranged parents with their progeny squeezed tear ducts. People prefer tears of joy or sorrow rather than watching bloodbaths on-screen.
Dhruva Sarja, grandson of the yesteryear baddie Shakti Prasad made his screen debut in 2012 with Addhuri which did very well and followed it up with Bahaddhur, also a hit. Producers love the tested combinations and so one signed director Chetan and Dhruva for another project. Bharjari went on the floors in 2015 and was released last week. The reason for the delay in reaching theatres cannot be creative is what you conclude after watching the film. There was the usual noise about ‘great expectations’ purely because the star’s previous films were hits and this one boasted of a ‘hit combination’.
Will Dhruva score a hat-trick? His uncle is ‘Action King’ Arjun so he’s anointed with the moniker ‘Action Prince’. He has to maintain the family reputation and so gets to beat up more than a hundred thugs who come together but approach one at a time. The script of the film is as imaginative as that. It starts on a promising note. The hero’s ambition as a kid is to become a soldier but it changes as he grows up. When he finally gets the superstar screen ‘introduction’ jumping off rooftops you realise that he’s built ‘Popeye’ biceps but his brain has been in limbo. He spends his time uniting ‘lovers’. Between a father who admonishes him for his waywardness and the typical screen mother who smothers him with love he decides that his ambition now is to sire a child. Yes seriously! Now that’s lofty. He promptly meets a girl who swears she’ll feed and support him in exchange for undying love. The girl’s parents too, stinking rich don’t mind. That’s what makes this film different! Well, hero has reluctantly written a test to join the army and gets the call of duty. On the way aboard a train he meets a girl who asks him to act as her fiancé. Enter two compounded hamlets caught in a time warp. Of course they can’t stand each other but the twist in the stale tale is that hero is the scion of the warring families. If you’re still intrigued visit the nearest screen showing ‘Bharjari’.
I honestly don’t know how the film is faring. There were very few people on the Monday morning that I watched at a multiplex. The producer will claim it’s a ‘single screen’ film. If the film succeeds it’ll reflect more on the viewer, vindicating the director and star who’ve used more brawn than brain.
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