STAR POWER: LONG TIME NO SEE!
The pandemic will affect some A-listers’ long-overdue dates with the big screen, not their box-office recall, feel analysts
The Covid-19 pandemic has affected everything, including Bollywood stars’ dates with cinema halls. It’s been a while since audiences have seen any of their favourite actors on the big screen. But a few big stars, missing in action even before the lockdown, have to now wait longer to shine again. And with theatres unlikely to reopen any time soon, all the action has moved to 2021. Yet, experts don’t feel it will diminish their box-office draw, and out of sight may not really be out of the audience’s mind.
For starters, actor Ranbir Kapoor, last seen in Sanju (2018), was supposed to have releases such as Shamshera and Brahmastra this year. Likewise, Aamir Khan last starred in Thugs of Hindostan (2018), but was set to be seen in
Laal Singh Chadhha in 2020. Shah Rukh Khan’s last film Zero, too, was in 2018, but he was scheduled to shoot for new films this year, including Rajkumar Hirani’s next.
“I don’t think the kind of stardom an SRK or Aamir has amassed over the years will diminish in any way just because they aren’t seen in a film for two to three years,” says exhibitor-distributor Akshaye Rathi. For trade analyst Taran Adarsh, too, it’s not a “matter of great concern”. “To be fair, you can’t really count the lockdown that way. Plus, it’s not as if they would have been idle in the lockdown. I’m sure they would have had script narrations and made other plans for post-lockdown days. So, I don’t think it’s a great cause of worry,” he says.
Not just SRK, Aamir and Ranbir, others such as Abhishek Bachchan (last seen in Manmarziyaan, 2018; will now be seen in The Big Bull on an OTT platform), Anushka Sharma (last seen with SRK in Zero) and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan too (appeared last in Fanney Khan; 2018) haven’t been seen on the big screen for a while now. “I don’t think it affects a top star’s recall value or stardom. Audiences, anyway, know that an Aamir or a Ranbir don’t do films very frequently. The lockdown has pushed the timelines a bit but that’s not in anyone’s hands,” says Atul Kasbekar, managing director of a talent management agency.
Except the few actors who have already seen their films release in 2020, such as Ajay Devgn with Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior, Ayushmann Khurrana with Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan, Tiger Shroff with Baaghi 3, Kangana Ranaut with Panga, and Deepika
Padukone with Chhapaak, or are likely to have a movie release later this year, the pandemic and its fallout has kept almost all the top names away from the big screen in 2020. But experts are optimistic that the biggies will strike back hard.
“The stardom of such big names isn’t going anywhere, so once things come under control, they need to start doing at least two films a year because that would bring in people, as well as money, back in the system. That would be the time when our top names can show their star power,” concludes Rathi.