Rahul Da Cunha: Superstar nation

A fool cannot be an actor, though an actor may act a fool's part - Sophocles

While the world battles with ‘minor' issues like terrorism and hunger, India concerns itself with an issue of astronomic proportions - Rajesh Khanna has been called ‘a poor actor' by Naseeruddin Shah.

Illustration/Uday Mohite

Tremors are being felt in Bollywood, little girls in the 70s - now all grown up - who slept with his photo under their pillows are distraught with these slanders against their first crush.

Yes, dear readers, Naseeruddin Shah has committed blasphemy, he has done the unthinkable, he has called Kaka, a limited actor. Silence has descended on the nation. The Dalit issue has temporarily gone onto the back burner as they say. Only Sallubhai's acquittal in shooting a couple of black bucks, equals this. Naseerbhai has had an uneasy relationship with Bollywood. In Facebook terms we would say of his ‘affair' with the industry - ‘It's Complicated'.
The man has a habit of slagging our iconic superstars. First it was the Big B. And now the Amar Prem star. See, to me, Mr Shah is still our finest actor, bar none. He's still that consummate performer, who delivers a master class in acting 9/10 times. And that entitles him to talk with some degree of authority about good versus bad acting.

It's just that perhaps this is the wrong country to do it in. Because in ‘apna desh' good acting has no bearing on success. You don't frankly need to have any real acting chops to attain superstar status (think Rajinikanth). And worse, when you criticise our icons, you upset every Tom, Dick and Mrs Funnybones.

This isn't cricket , where your lack of technique will leave you languishing in the Ranji Trophy. This is the Indian Fillum Industry where six pack abs take precedence over subtlety of craft.

Where muscles are preferred over method acting. Where finally nostalgia supercedes everything.

I agree with Mr Shah. Mr Khanna was a mediocre actor. If SRK (by his own admission) is a six emotional expression actor, then Rajesh had one stock look. (In fact, it was actually the voice of Kishore Kumar that gave the star his status). But it's that stock look that broke hearts and box office records with equal élan.

Superstars abide by another set of rules - all my same-age lady friends, were in love with the man - he sang, serenaded women, smiled back at you in a way that no one on the silver screen had done before.

Look, SRK's acting annoys me. Those quivering lips, not my cup of chai. But he's the man. The outsider who came to Mumbai from Delhi with nothing and who fills the screen with a presence that hovers between the boy next door and a Badshah.

Naseer has outacted every superstar under the table. Yet, he will sadly always remain the supremely gifted thespian. Never the talismanic icon.

That's just zindagi ka safar.

Rahul da Cunha is an adman, theatre director/playwright, photographer and traveller. Reach him at rahuldacunha62@gmail.com