AGEING GRACEFULLY!

They have ruled during their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s in beautiful memorable movies (many hits & some flops) with their histrionics and charishma. While most of them were lost in oblivion, there are a bunch of actors, who have not only matured as good old wine (to taste better) but also are proving their immense talent (in acting & box-office pull) giving the generation next a tough time to establish themselves in Bollywood. We are talking about 50 plus (in age) actors, who are still creating immense euphoria among the current audience as they did decades ago. No wonder, with the trend of filmmaking changing, these yesteryear superstars and stars are thankful to the young generation scriptwriters and filmmakers, who are writing and making tailor made roles to accommodate their talents. They surely are ageing gracefully and proving a better bet than new entrants of Bollywood, who vanishes after a couple of flop films.

The first name surely starts with the first alphabet ‘A’ – Amitabh Bachchan! His meteoric rise from a lanky SAAT HINDUSTANI to the angry young man of ZANJEER /DEEWAR / TRISHUL / KAALIA (the list is unending) to the man who launched ABCL is known to almost every cine buff and readers all across the country and globe. However, as per the Law of Gravitation, what goes up must come down – Amitabh’s rise too, was grounded with the debacle of his company. However, destiny surely had a bigger role to play in Bachchan’s resurrection as the ‘Star of the Millennium’ with his re-entry (in films) MOHABATEIN and of course KBC! The rest as they is history now. Bachchan is in his 64th year and with recent hits like BLACK / BAGHBAN / WAQT – Race Against Time / BUNTY AUR BABLI / SARKAR – this amazing superstar is glowing much brighter than the ensemble of younger stars put together. Bachchan had even confessed in one of his earlier interviews that his second innings (as an old man) is much - much better and busy than his prime time as the angry young man. He is romancing much young actresses now than he did in his younger days. Bachchan surely has proved for the younger generation to emulate him for his true professionalism (dedication / discipline / devotion / delivery / duty) to achieve the status of the “Superstar of the Millennium” is just not luck or else fluke! The less said the better for us is in Bachchan’s great honour. Amitabh Bachchan will be seen romancing 18-year-old Jiah Khan in Ramu’s NISHABD! Can anyone ever match his indomitable record or status in Bollywood in years to come by? The answer in every lip would be – NEVER! Such is the magnitude and charishma of Bachchan at a riping age of 63 plus. He is surely ageing like wine, which tastes better as the years goes by!

Unlike Bachchan, India’s first ever superstar Rajesh Khanna had a completely different persona and image. Rajesh Khanna, who made his debut in 1966 in AAKHRI KHAT at the age of 24 in Bollywood, ruled the 70’s as a romantic hero. The rise of Bachchan and his (Rajesh Khanna) high handedness (as the first superstar) surely made filmmakers to shy away from him as he was losing his touch at the box-office. However, Kaka, as he is popularly known, bounced back in the 80’s with some memorable hits like SOUTEN / AVTAAR / AMRIT and AGAR TUM NA HOTE in spite of Bachchan’s success. With the emergence of the Khans (Aamir / Salman / Shah Rukh) in the late 80’s and 90’s, people soon forgot Rajesh Khanna. The fall from being a superstar to a ‘has been’ surely took a toll on Rajesh Khanna. He went into oblivion shying away from everyone in the industry. Like Bachchan, even Kaka entered politics without much luck. His broken marriage with Dimple Kapadia, drinking bouts and self-esteem saw the industry losing one of the best romantic heroes of the 70’s. However, after a sabbatical of almost 13 long years (AMRIT in 1986 was his last release), he re-emerged once again in 1999 in Rishi Kapoor’s AA AB LAUT CHALEIN. It has been almost seven years now and only recently Rajesh Khanna was in the news for making a comeback (once again) in an untitled venture and will be paired with Zeenat Aman. An actor will always remain an actor, so what if they make or are forced to take sabbatical from the love of their life – arc lights! Rajesh Khanna is also Bachchan’s age, i.e., 64 years!

When we talk of ageing stars, the only name that supercedes every other actor is the ever-so-young Dev Anand at a riping age of 83 years young! Born on 26th September 1923, Dev Anand made his debut in 1946 in HUM EK HAIN. Ever since, he is one multifaceted individual with whom the whole world is in awe of! He has acted, produced, written, directed and in his last movie MR. PRIME MINISTER (2005) even wrote the lyrics and rapped (sung) a song. The undying spirit of this great legendary actor from a small Punjab village Gurdaspur is really and truly evergreen in every respect of filmmaking. Dev Anand is the only actor in the industry, who has ruled in the 50’s with films like BAAZI (1951), TAXI DRIVER (1954), FUNTOOSH (1956) and KALA PANI (1958); then the 60’s with KALA BAZAR (1960), HUM DONO (1961), GUIDE (1965) and JEWEL THIEF (1967), then 70’s and 80’s with beautiful movies. When the generation of today or the 60’s have never even thought of an Indian filmmaker making an English film, it was Dev Anand, who gave GUIDE in 1965 to the world in English and it was appreciated worldwide too! His undying passion and evergreen star status still has producer investing money in his projects, in spite of failures in the 90’s and the millennium decade. He refuses to give up and is still active hunting location in Croatia for his next film titled WHEN HEARTBEAT ARE THE SAME!

Dev Anand’s repertoire is amazingly extraordinary in every sense. Out of the 100 plus films that he acted in, 30 plus projects he has produced himself. During a press conference of LOVE AT TIMES SQUARE, Dev Anand said, “Think big and think young! I still dare to make films irrespective of its outcome – at least I have not given up on life or filmmaking! I have so many stories to tell and that is why I keep making films.” The exuberance and his workaholic energy are indeed infectious and one should learn what drives him so passionately even at this age (83 years)? Well, Dev Anand is a legend and indeed a rare personality that Bollywood will always be proud of for centuries to come by. Dev Anand is one filmmaker, who has been always ahead of his time. Who can forget his TERE MERE SAPNE (1971) and HARE RAMA HARE KRISHNA (1971) about the hippie culture? He is also one of the greatest filmmakers, who has given industry heroines like Zeenat Aman, Tina Munim and keeps introducing new talents in his films.

Another fine actor, who rose from a villain to hero to playing father’s role nowadays, is Vinod Khanna. In his 60th year, Vinod Khanna gave a tough time matching Amitabh’s histrionics with great aplomb in the 70’s. In fact, he is much handsome than Big B and his persona is still unmatchable in Bollywood. Vinod Khanna made his debut in 1968 in MAN KA MEET as a villain. Ruling the 70’s and 80’s decades with films like MERE APNE / IMTIHAAN /ACHANAK / KHOON PASINA / AMAR AKBAR ANTHONY, MERA GAON MERA DESH and many more, Vinod took a sabbatical to follow Osho (Rajneesh). Industry people do say even now that had he not followed Rajneesh, Vinod Khanna would have been the No.1, the spot that went to Bachchan in his absence. What is interesting in Vinod’s case is that he kept doing 3-4 films on an average almost every alternate year. DAULAT KE DUSHMAN in 1983 was supposed to be his last film but he surprised everyone by coming back in 1985 with SATYAMEV JAYATE. With no release in 1986, he was again seen playing a cop in 1987 in INSAAF. While his films flopped, he surprised everyone with his brilliant performance in 1988 in DAYAVAN and RIHAEE. CHANDNI and BATWARA followed the next year and he was back again. The year 1990 saw 6 of his films but it was LEKIN, which made mark with the audience. From 1991 to 1997, he acted in as many as 18 films ageing gracefully on the screen with various characters.

In 1997, he introduced his son Akshaye Khanna producing HIMALAYAPUTRA. Burning his hand in production, once again Vinod Khanna took a break from the celluloid for four long years before emerging once again in 2001 with DEEWANAPAN, followed by LEELA in 2002. Vinod’s active political career has seen less of him since then but in 2006, he was seen in ALAG and is currently shooting for CHOODIYAN (Gracy Singh starrer) and RISK. He prefers to remain off media unlike his other contemporaries. Vinod Khanna still believes, “An actor should speak through his acting rather than other activities. Today everybody is media crazy and that is why there aren’t any actors any more, who are serious about their art!”

Rishi Kapoor in his 54th year is suddenly back in action this year with films like FANAA and yet to be released SAMBAR SALSA and DON’T STOP DREAMING. Having started his career in dad Raj Kapoor’s MERA NAAM JOKER, Rishi Kapoor made his debut as the leading man of BOBBY and rose to stardom with films like KHEL KHEL MEIN / RAFOO CHAKKAR /LAILA MAJNU / KARZ / HUM KISSI SE KUM NAHIN / AMAR AKBAR ANTHONY and many more hit films. From 1973 (BOBBY) to 1997 (KAUN SACHCHA KAUN JHOOTHA) Rishi Kapoor was a youth icon for his fans all over the nation. Having played romantic lead with maximum number of newcomers along with top heroines of his time, Rishi in fact never took a break and has been seen almost every year with one or two films. If in 2001, he played Kajol’s father in KUCH KHATTI KUCH MEETHI, 2004 saw him as Saif Ali Khan’s father in HUM TUM. 2005 he was back with Dimple Kapadia in PYAR MEIN TWIST. He is happy playing his age and has still the charishma to steal the show from his younger lead heroes with sterling performances.

The garam Dharam is still active and his persona of the HE-MAN of the industry is still intact even at the age of 71! Who can forget BANDINI (1963), HAQEEQAT (1964) or the biggest blockbuster SHOLAY (1975)? Dharmendra made his debut in 1960 with DIL BHI TERA HUM BHI TERE and has a record among his co-stars to have acted in number of films in a decade. The 60’s saw 45 of his films being released, in 70’s he came up with 66 films and in the 80’s decade it was a whopping 71 films to his credit; while in the 90’s there were 43 releases, Dharmendra has acted in more than 240 films till date, a record that only the He-man can boast of! Even Dharmendra joined politics like other aged stars but still he somehow manages to act in couple of films. In 2000, five of his films were released and wonder of wonders he was seen romancing hot - hot Mallika Sherawat in KIS KISKI KISMAT! Currently he is busy shooting for his home production APNE with sons Sunny and Bobby. The most astonishing thing about Dharmendra is that even though he’s the senior most apart from Dev Anand, yet he looks younger and dashing among his contemporaries. So far, he has produced four films till date. Dharmendra’s euphoria and fan following is still intact and people love his unique dancing abilities, comedy and fights!

There are many actors like Amol Palekar, Shatrughan Sinha, Rakesh Roshan, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah and others like Navin Nischal, Parikshit Sahani, Dara Singh, Satish Shah (on TV), who have crossed their 50’s yet steal the show from their juniors in the department of acting and persona even today. Ageing gracefully even after having ruled their prime age for decades, the bunch of the 50 plus stars are indeed a rare species to find in today’s time. They may join politics, produce / direct films and fail… but they are still good in front of the arc lights and their success speaks of their dedication towards the art called “ACTING”!

Johnny D