The stereotype hero that was missing in action has made a grand comeback. Powerful punches and kicks are in.
Take a glimpse: he's the secret service agent on an international mission; a father who turns super hero for his child and a bodyguard who protects his woman from the villain. These are the modern day heroes from forthcoming action flicks Agent Vinod starring Saif Ali Khan; RaOne with Shah Rukh Khan and Bodyguard with Salman Khan.
All about heroism
Amitabh Bachchan epitomised heroism with élan in films like Deewar, Sholay, Trishul in the 70s. Claps, whistles, hoots reverberated in cinema halls when the hero won. But somewhere we lost the plot. And the theme of the larger-than-life hero faded from Hindi films. The legendary superstar Bachchan is back as an angry (not so) young man with his upcoming film, Bbuddah... Hoga Terra Baap. Says Amitabh Bachchan "Cinema would be incomplete if it did not portray elements of heroism, which is where the legendary term 'hero' has its origins." About three years back, chocolate boy -tur ned-brawny Aamir Khan paved the way for heroic films with Ghajini. However, Salman Khan wants to bring back heroism in a big way. All his forthcoming films Ready, Bodyguard, Ek Tha Tiger, Sher Khan, Kick.. bring back the magic of a hero.
Says Salman Khan, "I want people to go to theatre and say, 'Here comes my hero. We used to have it, but now we have romantic films, we had started missing heroes." Director of Bodyguard, Siddique says, he increased Salman's action sequences in Bodyguard keeping his macho image in mind. "There are so many situations where the audience will clap for Salman," says the director.
The profile of the hero changed with the multiplex culture while others believe that it was change in audience profile that brought on the phenomenon of family drama and NRI romances. "Post-liberalisation saw the emergence of middle class audience, hencethe popularity of Hum Aapke Hain Kaun and Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge.
However, the 2011 census reveals the urban upper middle class is shrinking with one child per household, it is the burgeoning middle and lower middle classes that are thronging back to the single screen theatres. Hence, the increasing share of single screens in box office revenues and the resurgence of larger-thanlife action flicks," says Danish Raza, a screen writer.
Larger than life!
And jumping on to the bandwagon of action films are other actors like Ajay Devgn, who plays a tough cop in the Hindi remake of South blockbuster Singham, and one of the original action stars Sunny Deol, who gave Gadar, the biggest hit at the peak of Karan Johar-Yashraj brand of NRI cinema. Sunny is now working on Ghayal 2. "I have always had a great liking for action films. I am doing Ghayal 2 because the timing is right," says Sunny. Says Ajay Devgn. "I started my career doing action and I have never drifted away from it. Heroism is absolutely inspiring and it goes down well with every individual be it a multiplex audience or single screen. Singham is about the quintessential larger than life hero." While one has not seen him in the action hero avatar as yet, Saif Ali Khan too would like to have an image makeover. "As I get older, I would love to play a larger than life hero," says Saif. But there are no rules in cinema as the trend keeps changing. And then the concept of hero itself is personification of contemporary moral values that are evolving. "Audiences do not know what they want. You give them something, and if they like it then they know that this is what they want," sums up Siddique. All we can say is bring back the hero!
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