With Abhishek Bachchan’s television show “Bingo” debuting this week, Monojit Lahiri focuses on the amazing, new wave of revenue-generation streams that have suddenly gripped Bollywood!
Once upon a time, not long ago, stars dazzled bright only on the skies – and our B-town stars, only on the silver screen. They were our gods and goddesses, luminous deities who mesmerised, transfixed and transported us to a never-never land of happy-ever-after! In the troubled, busy and confusing times we live in, these stars, with their spectacular and larger-than-life glamour and feel-good quotient, showed us the light, inspired hope, consistently – in their own filmy way – demonstrated virtues victory over evil and generally distracted us, entertained us, gifted us an alternative reality that engaged, enchanted… even empowered! In the India we live in, entertainment is Bollywood and Bollywood is stars; creatures who are elusive, whom you see but can’t touch or connect with; dudes and dolls you read about, gossip about, fantasise… Their charm lay in the fact that they were out of bounds, inaccessible, off-limits to the howling mobs.
Suddenly, in recent times, this concept has taken a U-turn! The big, sexy, glamorous, unattainable movie star defined by magic and mystique now comes to entertain you, every night, free of charge, on… the idiot box! From Big B, SRK, Salman Khan to Akshay, Ajay Devgan & Kajol, Preity Zinta, Rani Mukherjee, Urmila Matondkar, Raveena Tandon, Sushmita Sen, Sonali Bendre, Malaika Arora, Rakhi Sawant… they are all hitting the TV screens in droves! Why? In Hollywood (a place the complex-ridden Bollywood is constantly yakking about) – neither TV endorsements, TV anchoring or ‘special’ (insanely lucrative) appearances at product launches, event openings, concerts or big-ticket weddings happen. So what’s going on? Why this desperate sell out? Aren’t they scared that this insane and all-pervasive exposure will hurt their brand equity as stars?
Longtime film tracker, Ashish Paul laughs away these contentions. “Film stars of yesteryears – 50s, 60s, even 70s – resided in a different world. Commercialism, consumerism and media-driven activities didn’t exist. It was a sweet, cosy, protected space with very high comfort levels. The advent of TV, but more critically the opening up of markets post ’91, changed all that. This coincided with Bollywood getting bigger and more powerful as an undisputable pan-India – even global – brand. Very soon, along with cricket, it became the new religion, the great leveler, a seductive common factor that – despite caste, creed, language, colour, religion, region, culture, even country – bound all! It’s natural, hence, that today’s star kids (smart ‘n’ savvy that they are) will participate, even drive this new revenue generation stream. As for compromising on their ‘exclusive’ tag, I don’t think they give a damn! The amount of money they earn in these shows against the time spent, makes it a delectable fast buck option! Victor Banerjee (of “A Passage to India” fame), however, doesn’t agree totally. He believes that traditionally, there has always been a distinct divide between TV stars and movie stars, each ruling their own defined space. “Hollywood still maintains it and apart from the odd exception doesn’t dream of indulging in any of the crazy trade-offs that blitz the scene here. For a very long time I resisted TV work. It’s only when nothing worthwhile was coming my way in the movies that I started doing TV serials. Ads, anchoring or special appearances remain – mostly – a no-no! There’s a limit to commodification! Everything in my life is not up for sale!”
Once upon a time, not long ago, stars dazzled bright only on the skies – and our B-town stars, only on the silver screen. They were our gods and goddesses, luminous deities who mesmerised, transfixed and transported us to a never-never land of happy-ever-after! In the troubled, busy and confusing times we live in, these stars, with their spectacular and larger-than-life glamour and feel-good quotient, showed us the light, inspired hope, consistently – in their own filmy way – demonstrated virtues victory over evil and generally distracted us, entertained us, gifted us an alternative reality that engaged, enchanted… even empowered! In the India we live in, entertainment is Bollywood and Bollywood is stars; creatures who are elusive, whom you see but can’t touch or connect with; dudes and dolls you read about, gossip about, fantasise… Their charm lay in the fact that they were out of bounds, inaccessible, off-limits to the howling mobs.
Suddenly, in recent times, this concept has taken a U-turn! The big, sexy, glamorous, unattainable movie star defined by magic and mystique now comes to entertain you, every night, free of charge, on… the idiot box! From Big B, SRK, Salman Khan to Akshay, Ajay Devgan & Kajol, Preity Zinta, Rani Mukherjee, Urmila Matondkar, Raveena Tandon, Sushmita Sen, Sonali Bendre, Malaika Arora, Rakhi Sawant… they are all hitting the TV screens in droves! Why? In Hollywood (a place the complex-ridden Bollywood is constantly yakking about) – neither TV endorsements, TV anchoring or ‘special’ (insanely lucrative) appearances at product launches, event openings, concerts or big-ticket weddings happen. So what’s going on? Why this desperate sell out? Aren’t they scared that this insane and all-pervasive exposure will hurt their brand equity as stars?
Longtime film tracker, Ashish Paul laughs away these contentions. “Film stars of yesteryears – 50s, 60s, even 70s – resided in a different world. Commercialism, consumerism and media-driven activities didn’t exist. It was a sweet, cosy, protected space with very high comfort levels. The advent of TV, but more critically the opening up of markets post ’91, changed all that. This coincided with Bollywood getting bigger and more powerful as an undisputable pan-India – even global – brand. Very soon, along with cricket, it became the new religion, the great leveler, a seductive common factor that – despite caste, creed, language, colour, religion, region, culture, even country – bound all! It’s natural, hence, that today’s star kids (smart ‘n’ savvy that they are) will participate, even drive this new revenue generation stream. As for compromising on their ‘exclusive’ tag, I don’t think they give a damn! The amount of money they earn in these shows against the time spent, makes it a delectable fast buck option! Victor Banerjee (of “A Passage to India” fame), however, doesn’t agree totally. He believes that traditionally, there has always been a distinct divide between TV stars and movie stars, each ruling their own defined space. “Hollywood still maintains it and apart from the odd exception doesn’t dream of indulging in any of the crazy trade-offs that blitz the scene here. For a very long time I resisted TV work. It’s only when nothing worthwhile was coming my way in the movies that I started doing TV serials. Ads, anchoring or special appearances remain – mostly – a no-no! There’s a limit to commodification! Everything in my life is not up for sale!”
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