Note- By young star the reference here is to an actor in his 20’s and who has enough star power to carry off a film on his ‘young’ shoulders.]
A short while ago when I was in Mumbai I was involved in a discussion with some friends which included a few PFC authors as well. All of a sudden the discussion started focusing on one aspect- who is the best young actor in Hindi cinema these days? Most people said Shahid, one or two said Ranbir and probably someone took Imran’s name as well. Mind you this discussion took place a week before the release of Wake Up Sid and maybe if it happened after the release, Ranbir may have got a few more votes.
Now quite recently I was talking to another friend and discussing who would be the ideal candidate to do Ram Charan Teja’s role in Magadheera’s Hindi version. After a lot of thought I realized that probably the best choice for the same would be none other than Hrithik Roshan. Yes I do agree that Hrithik is certainly a decade older than Ram Charan, but then considering that the hero in Magadheera has to fight, dance, ride a horse, wear a period costume, perform bike stunts and most importantly look convincing in all these, nobody else I thought fit the bill better than Hrithik.
Most of us must be aware of the buzz created a few days back by apparent rumors that the producers of Magadheera ( Geeta Arts ) have decided to rope in Hrithik and Aamir to portray the hero in the Hindi version ( Hrithik for the past and Aamir for the present ). All this has made me ask the question aloud- where are the young stars in Hindi Cinema today? My personal observation is that Shahid Kapur certainly can fit the bill to a reasonable extent. While with a Ishq Vishk, Vivaah and Jab We Met he proved that he can pull of a romantic and family oriented film, the action genre still eluded him. After Kaminey even that has been handled to some extent.
But what Shahid needs now is to prove that he can pull off an out and out masala entertainer and emerge a big star in his own right. While Saawariya and Bachna Ae Haseeno invoked mixed response to Ranbir’s acting, Wake Up Sid has certainly brought in favorable response and now I think its clear that for light hearted romantic flicks Ranbir can certainly be an ideal choice. Even his forthcoming movies like Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani and probably even Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year seem to suggest the same. Prakash Jha’s Rajneeti might make a difference as it would be something out of the ordinary for him. But in spite of all this it’s still debatable if he can carry off a masala action entertainer. We need to wait and watch.
As for Imran Khan I do not really have much to say. I think the success of his first movie – JTYJN was due to a combination of A.R.Rehman’s music, the script and the performances of the entire star cast and not of Imran in particular. His later movies like Kidnap and Luck have not done anything positive for Imran. It’s probably even too tempting to say that Imran has probably been overrated a bit too early. Lets see if his forthcoming releases like Delhi Belly manage to create a more positive impact and tell us if he’s overrated or not.
Now let’s talk about Neil Nitin Mukesh who made a decent debut with Johnny Gaddar. While he looked lost in Aa Dekhen Zaraa, he was all right in New York but still has a long way to go before he can give us the confidence that he is a big star in the making. While Madhur Bhandarkar’s Jail could be a turning point for him, its time that Neil also decides to move out of the serious grim roles and loosen up a bit and do a light entertainer too so that we can see some variety from him. Now the only other names that I can think off are Kunal Khemu, Emran Hashmi, Sharman Joshi and Riteish Deshmukh.
While Kunal Khemu is certainly a good actor I really doubt if he could carry off the larger than life roles convincingly. Emran Hashmi,Sharman Joshi and Riteish Deshmukh are people who have just turned 30 and can maybe easily pass off as few years younger as well. After doing some trademark movies the actor in Emran has finally started emerging with movies like Awarapan and Jannat, but he still needs to do more such movies before getting universal acceptance. Sharman Joshi and Riteish Deshmukh have unfortunately got slotted as actors who excel in comedy films and though they have done movies like Life in a Metro, Rang De Basanti, Sorry Bhai (Sharman) Naach, Cash ( Riteish ) which are not comedy films, they still tend to get associated more with the lighter movies. Hopefully an Aladin and a Rann for Ritesh or 3 Idiots for Sharman will help in proving their versatility.
When we look at the scene in regional cinema, the scene is a bit different. While in Bengali and Malayalam cinema the situation is somewhat similar, it’s a lot different in Tamil and Telugu cinema. In Malayalam Prithviraj is the only actor among the young brigade who looks well set to fill in the slot that’s firmly occupied by Mammootty and Mohanlal. In Bengali cinema for a long time now it’s basically Prasenjit Chatterjee and Mithunda who have been ruling the roost. The only other actor who has managed to make a serious impact is Jeet who shot into prominence with his debut film itself (Saathi).
Prasenjit Chatterjee and Ranjit Mullick - Mama BhagneThrough there are other talented actors like Jishu Sengupta who have been hovering around for ages, they are yet to get their due. Dev is the current sensation and might probably join the ranks of Jeet to prove a worthy challenger to Prasenjit. A case in point about the lack of younger stars can be seen in the form of a recent Bengali movie- Mama Bhagne ( remake of Govinda’s Rajaji : ) ) where Ranjit Mullick and Prasenjit play the uncle and nephew respectively whereas ideally one would expect younger stars to fill the requirement.
The situation certainly is a lot better in Tamil and Telugu cinema. While Rajnikanth and Kamal Haasan are still going strong and Vijay,Ajith, Surya, Vikram, Madhavan constitute the next layer, there’s also a big pool of younger actors in Tamil like Dhanush, Simbu, Vishal, Bharat, Arya, Jeeva, Jayam Ravi and a lot many more. While Dhanush, Simbu and Vishal are focusing on trying to be the next big star, people like Jeeva (Katradhu Tamizh, Raam, Siva Manasule Sakthi etc), Bharat ( Kadhal, Pattiyal etc ) and Arya ( Arindhum Ariyamalum, Pattiyal, Naan Kadavul etc ) are trying to make a balance in their choice of movies. Telugu cinema also has a lot of younger actors like Jr.NTR, Allu Arjun, Ram Charan Teja, Ram, Allari Naresh etc who have reasonable star power.
Having mentioned all this let me get back to my earlier questions. Who do you think is the best young actor in Hindi cinema these days? And who do you think will ideally be fit to do Ram Charan Teja’s role in Magadheera’s Hindi version? I don’t think there would be too much of confusion regarding the responses to these questions, nevertheless let me wait and see what you all have to say. Let us remember that most of the popular stars today like SRK, Aamir,Salman,Akshay,Hrithik, Sanjay Dutt, Abhishek, Ajay Devgan etc all had become stars before they even turned 30. After all there are very few people like Amitabh Bachchan who started a bit late and turned a star in their 30’s. Considering that it’s tough to say how many of the current lot would go on to emulate their seniors. Time alone would say. In the meanwhile let us look forward to Hrithik (in all likelihood) doing the Hindi version of Magadheera. After all wasn’t it just recently that we saw Salman Khan doing his version of Mahesh Babu’s Pokiri (Wanted)?
Note- I have on purpose not discussed people like Zayed Khan, Harman Baweja, Jacky Bhagnani etc for obvious reasons.
A short while ago when I was in Mumbai I was involved in a discussion with some friends which included a few PFC authors as well. All of a sudden the discussion started focusing on one aspect- who is the best young actor in Hindi cinema these days? Most people said Shahid, one or two said Ranbir and probably someone took Imran’s name as well. Mind you this discussion took place a week before the release of Wake Up Sid and maybe if it happened after the release, Ranbir may have got a few more votes.
Now quite recently I was talking to another friend and discussing who would be the ideal candidate to do Ram Charan Teja’s role in Magadheera’s Hindi version. After a lot of thought I realized that probably the best choice for the same would be none other than Hrithik Roshan. Yes I do agree that Hrithik is certainly a decade older than Ram Charan, but then considering that the hero in Magadheera has to fight, dance, ride a horse, wear a period costume, perform bike stunts and most importantly look convincing in all these, nobody else I thought fit the bill better than Hrithik.
Most of us must be aware of the buzz created a few days back by apparent rumors that the producers of Magadheera ( Geeta Arts ) have decided to rope in Hrithik and Aamir to portray the hero in the Hindi version ( Hrithik for the past and Aamir for the present ). All this has made me ask the question aloud- where are the young stars in Hindi Cinema today? My personal observation is that Shahid Kapur certainly can fit the bill to a reasonable extent. While with a Ishq Vishk, Vivaah and Jab We Met he proved that he can pull of a romantic and family oriented film, the action genre still eluded him. After Kaminey even that has been handled to some extent.
But what Shahid needs now is to prove that he can pull off an out and out masala entertainer and emerge a big star in his own right. While Saawariya and Bachna Ae Haseeno invoked mixed response to Ranbir’s acting, Wake Up Sid has certainly brought in favorable response and now I think its clear that for light hearted romantic flicks Ranbir can certainly be an ideal choice. Even his forthcoming movies like Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani and probably even Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year seem to suggest the same. Prakash Jha’s Rajneeti might make a difference as it would be something out of the ordinary for him. But in spite of all this it’s still debatable if he can carry off a masala action entertainer. We need to wait and watch.
As for Imran Khan I do not really have much to say. I think the success of his first movie – JTYJN was due to a combination of A.R.Rehman’s music, the script and the performances of the entire star cast and not of Imran in particular. His later movies like Kidnap and Luck have not done anything positive for Imran. It’s probably even too tempting to say that Imran has probably been overrated a bit too early. Lets see if his forthcoming releases like Delhi Belly manage to create a more positive impact and tell us if he’s overrated or not.
Now let’s talk about Neil Nitin Mukesh who made a decent debut with Johnny Gaddar. While he looked lost in Aa Dekhen Zaraa, he was all right in New York but still has a long way to go before he can give us the confidence that he is a big star in the making. While Madhur Bhandarkar’s Jail could be a turning point for him, its time that Neil also decides to move out of the serious grim roles and loosen up a bit and do a light entertainer too so that we can see some variety from him. Now the only other names that I can think off are Kunal Khemu, Emran Hashmi, Sharman Joshi and Riteish Deshmukh.
While Kunal Khemu is certainly a good actor I really doubt if he could carry off the larger than life roles convincingly. Emran Hashmi,Sharman Joshi and Riteish Deshmukh are people who have just turned 30 and can maybe easily pass off as few years younger as well. After doing some trademark movies the actor in Emran has finally started emerging with movies like Awarapan and Jannat, but he still needs to do more such movies before getting universal acceptance. Sharman Joshi and Riteish Deshmukh have unfortunately got slotted as actors who excel in comedy films and though they have done movies like Life in a Metro, Rang De Basanti, Sorry Bhai (Sharman) Naach, Cash ( Riteish ) which are not comedy films, they still tend to get associated more with the lighter movies. Hopefully an Aladin and a Rann for Ritesh or 3 Idiots for Sharman will help in proving their versatility.
When we look at the scene in regional cinema, the scene is a bit different. While in Bengali and Malayalam cinema the situation is somewhat similar, it’s a lot different in Tamil and Telugu cinema. In Malayalam Prithviraj is the only actor among the young brigade who looks well set to fill in the slot that’s firmly occupied by Mammootty and Mohanlal. In Bengali cinema for a long time now it’s basically Prasenjit Chatterjee and Mithunda who have been ruling the roost. The only other actor who has managed to make a serious impact is Jeet who shot into prominence with his debut film itself (Saathi).
Prasenjit Chatterjee and Ranjit Mullick - Mama BhagneThrough there are other talented actors like Jishu Sengupta who have been hovering around for ages, they are yet to get their due. Dev is the current sensation and might probably join the ranks of Jeet to prove a worthy challenger to Prasenjit. A case in point about the lack of younger stars can be seen in the form of a recent Bengali movie- Mama Bhagne ( remake of Govinda’s Rajaji : ) ) where Ranjit Mullick and Prasenjit play the uncle and nephew respectively whereas ideally one would expect younger stars to fill the requirement.
The situation certainly is a lot better in Tamil and Telugu cinema. While Rajnikanth and Kamal Haasan are still going strong and Vijay,Ajith, Surya, Vikram, Madhavan constitute the next layer, there’s also a big pool of younger actors in Tamil like Dhanush, Simbu, Vishal, Bharat, Arya, Jeeva, Jayam Ravi and a lot many more. While Dhanush, Simbu and Vishal are focusing on trying to be the next big star, people like Jeeva (Katradhu Tamizh, Raam, Siva Manasule Sakthi etc), Bharat ( Kadhal, Pattiyal etc ) and Arya ( Arindhum Ariyamalum, Pattiyal, Naan Kadavul etc ) are trying to make a balance in their choice of movies. Telugu cinema also has a lot of younger actors like Jr.NTR, Allu Arjun, Ram Charan Teja, Ram, Allari Naresh etc who have reasonable star power.
Having mentioned all this let me get back to my earlier questions. Who do you think is the best young actor in Hindi cinema these days? And who do you think will ideally be fit to do Ram Charan Teja’s role in Magadheera’s Hindi version? I don’t think there would be too much of confusion regarding the responses to these questions, nevertheless let me wait and see what you all have to say. Let us remember that most of the popular stars today like SRK, Aamir,Salman,Akshay,Hrithik, Sanjay Dutt, Abhishek, Ajay Devgan etc all had become stars before they even turned 30. After all there are very few people like Amitabh Bachchan who started a bit late and turned a star in their 30’s. Considering that it’s tough to say how many of the current lot would go on to emulate their seniors. Time alone would say. In the meanwhile let us look forward to Hrithik (in all likelihood) doing the Hindi version of Magadheera. After all wasn’t it just recently that we saw Salman Khan doing his version of Mahesh Babu’s Pokiri (Wanted)?
Note- I have on purpose not discussed people like Zayed Khan, Harman Baweja, Jacky Bhagnani etc for obvious reasons.
Originally published in PFC.Check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/wanted-young-stars-where-are-they/
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