|
|
| Every year several new faces try their luck in Bollywood and 2007 has been no different. Ranbir
Kapoor, Muzammil Ibrahim, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Ruslan Mumtaz are just some of the new stars to have entered the fray. But they have a long arduous climb ahead of them. Because the plum roles still get offered to the five veterans in the industry.
|
|
|
Shah Rukh, Salman, Aamir, Akshay Kumar and Hrithik Roshan are the stalwarts ruling the roost and they show no signs of slowing down. With the exception of Hrithik, they've all crossed 40 and like fine wine they seem to be getting better with age.
There is one slight hitch though. Even though our heroes are earning megabucks, some of them want a larger share of the pie. And they believe they have a right to their share of the profits. We're talking here of Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan. If industry insiders are to be believed, the two stars are looking at co-producing as many of their ventures as possible. As a result however they are left high and dry and neither has a film he may want to go to town about. After all Hrithik's nowhere to be seen even as his Jodhaa Akbar is all set to release.
SRK has been on a high after Om Shanti Om. All his hard work and labour has paid off. And this was possibly the best time for him to reap the rewards. Initially his company, Red Chilies Entertainment was planning to produce Robot (with Shankar of Sivaji fame) with SRK in the lead. But plans for this film have fallen through.
His other joint co-production Don 2 is also in a limbo and is still to take off and rumors about Chak De 2 seem to be just that; rumors. So SRK has one release this year Bhootnath that was supposed to release last year. Bhootnath was the first casualty of the ongoing Amitabh-SRK war. Currently SRK is unemployed and there don't seem to be any roles offered to him.
So if suddenly, you find a plethora of films with SRK doing item numbers the real reason is the vacuum in his career and if you're wondering why Hrithik might do an item number in Krrazy 4 you've just found your answer.
Hrithik Roshan popularity touched an all-time high after Dhoom 2 was released in 2006 and audiences were desperate to see more of him on screen. But Hrithik's magnum opus Jodhaa Akbar has been delayed for a multitude of reasons. Meanwhile given the success of Dhoom 2, daddy dearest decided that their family-owned company Film Kraft should be a joint producer for all Hrithik's future ventures.
The earnings would be considerable and Rakesh Roshan would have an even bigger say in his son's career. Unfortunately, most producers are aware of Rakesh Roshan's interfering nature. And apparently in some cases Rakesh has even insisted on directing the project himself simply because he has liked the script.
As a result today Hrithik has only one release lined up for 2008 – Jodhaa Akbar. But then again this film is actually a spillover from 2007. There are rumours that he may do a cameo in Krazzy 4. But that's it! His own home production Krrish 2 has been tentatively slotted for a 2009 release. And with initial reports about Jodhaa Akbar being bleak, the New Year doesn't look too exciting for him.
He was never given the status of superstar like SRK because he never indulge in the self promoting games and let his work and success speak for him but this time around the tide has turn in his favour .The newest entrant in Bollywood's big league has had a great year in 2007. Namastey London, Bhool Bhulaiyya, Welcome and Heyy Babyy, have set the cash registers ringing almost ruling bollywood single handedly. Akshay Kumar churned out the maximum hits last year and is now charging more than Rs 200 million (Rs 20 crore) for a film
Akshay is not competing with Shah Rukh and Amitabh Bachchan any longer. After the success of Bhool Bhulaiyaa, trade pundits are comparing him with southern star Rajnikant. Bhool Bhulaiyaa is actually as big a hit as Rajnikanth's Chandramukhi, from which it was inspired.
|
|
After giving four hits in row Akshay has hiked his price and signed the next film by Venus Records for Rs 22
crore. "It is true that Akshay has hiked his price. He has signed the new Venus film for more than Rs 200 million and apart from that, he will have 54 percent share in the film's total profit," editor of trade magazine Super cinema said. The new deal s puts Akshay in the league of the highest paid actors everyone feel that Akshay is a one-man industry on his own.
"Akshay is running his own parallel industry. His box office record is impeccable. You cannot even call him the numero uno because he is far beyond that now in the box office race," a trade expert said. Some call him the Hindi film industry's hit machine.
The box office collections of Akshay's Welcome in the overseas have surpassed those of all erstwhile solo Akshay titles, creating a new record for the actor. In almost every mainstream location, Welcome out-grossed major Hollywood openers like War, I Love You and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.
"Three previous hits and with Welcome setting records now, 2007 has been a year of box-office fortunes! I'm glad that I'm ending 2007 on a high note with Welcome, my highest overseas opener," Akshay said.
If last year was dedicated to comedies, 2008 will see him going back to his original genre - action. In Nikhil Advani's new action-adventure-comedy, Chandni Chowk To China, Akshay will see him doing edge-of-the-seat stunts. The actor, who was out of practice for more than seven years, trained in a form of martial arts known as Wushu for the film. The movie will cost Rs100 crore and that makes it one of the costliest Hindi films so far. After a long hiatus, he will be seen in Yash Raj Films'
Tashan, which is again an action-packed film.
In a recent interview to a tabloid, Akshay said, "I have no immediate plans of turning producer. My job is to act and the producer's job is to earn the
moolah." This seems to have worked in Akshay's favour as even after he has delivered four successive hits this year he have no intentions to produce his own films and share profits;
With slew of films lined up for next year Akshay Kumar is fast turning into one of the busiest actors in Bollywood. Maybe Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan can learn a few lessons from him.
|
|
|
Are
you looking for something else? Try new Google search
: |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Latest
Bollywood
|
|
|
|
|
desipowerchat.com.
All rights reserved
