“Ijhi lagtai Mohini ka dence? Ijhi nai hai! Doich log kar sakta hai malum? Ek JLO ani ek Shakira!”, part of a flashy dialogue of Deepika from her latest flick, Happy New Year. This dialogue might seem cheapo to some, humorous to some others and a blend of both to the remaining group of audience just like me! Well, no matter how the audience reacts to it, I’m sure Deepika won’t mind because it is the new ‘in’ thing in Bollywood right now and is bound to engender both criticism and applauds from the Bollywood obsessed junta.
History lucidly beckons that Bollywood has been the indisputable trendsetter of almost everything pertaining to Indian fashion then may it be the super-wide Bell-bottoms of Vinod Khanna and the bold see through sarees of Mumtaz in the 70’s or may it be the anti-accoutre style of Ranvir Singh and the one pieces of Parineeti Chopra in 2013. Indian audience have fanatically followed the reel lives as well as the real lives of their stars. Simultaneously, there also has been a horde of critics of Bollywood’s audacious inventions.
In the same way, the latest trend of Bollywood’s top-notch stars to adopt cheapo roles with even more kitschy dialogues to make fun of themselves has seen mixed reactions from audience. While some fans have amiably accepted this new stunt of their stars, others have totally discarded it.
Till now, I’ve discussed only about the implications of this policy of ‘ridicule yourselves’ of Bollywood’ stars on the Indian audience. Actually, advertently or inadvertently, it has left an even more significant effect on the stars themselves. Mostly, it has benefitted the stars in some way or the other.
For example, Abhishek Bacchan’s gamble in the movie Happy New Year of intensely ridiculing himself by speaking the least dignified accent and by letting his reel character be despised by lead actors like SRK with references like “Naali ke keede” and what not… But this move of him is proving to be a positive one as despite being the side hero, people are crediting him as the lifeline of the movie Happy New Year, something which he has failed to achieve even in the films lead solely by him.
Similarly, Riteish Deskmukh didn’t abstain himself from performing cameos such as that of a luscious and busty lady desperate for money and men in the movie Apna Sapna Money Money and a few others. No matter of what kind, but he at least managed to get some extra recognition for his transvestite stint and that too when his career was on a downfall.
Another paradigm is of Alia Bhatt whose low IQ has been on the ultimate high since the past one year. It was one of the episodes of Coffee with Karan where her “exceptionally commendable” general knowledge came into the limelight. Since then, the quantum of memes and jokes on her imbecility has grown astronomically making her the Goddess of stupidity. But to everyone’s surprise, Alia herself chose to be an abettor of ridiculing her own image by posting a video on YouTube that further aggrandized Alia’s stupid image. In this way, she not only eschewed a possible irked reaction from her side but also achieved to publicize herself positively.
There was a time when the actors performed only those roles which complemented their real life status. For example, veteran actors like Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bacchan, etc. neither accepted ridiculous roles nor did they tolerate a single joke on them in public appearances or interviews. No matter what was the financial status of these actors in their movies, they were always rich in dignity and language. Such was the case with male actors, leave the female ones behind. On the contrary, today, renowned names like Vishal Dadlani and Anurag Kashyap readily pose themselves as homosexual lovers entertaining each other with lewd dances and dresses.
In my point of view, this neoteric trend connotes both positivity as well as negativity. Positive in the sense that it shows the “do anything” spirit of today’s stars to give more life to their roles and connect better to their eclectic audiences. But on the other hand, while performing their roles, many a times, their accent exceeds the limits of gaudiness, their actions become vulgar and they readily shed their dignity just for the sake of some publicity and humor. So, to all the actors considering the “make a fun of themselves” policy as the new winning formula, here’s what Deepika has to say: “Haarna toh haarna, pun ijjat mat utaarna” :p
