HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED IN THE ANNALS OF THE WORLD’S LARGEST FILM INDUSTRY! SANGEETA WADDHWANI OFFERS AN INSIDER VIEW
Having met almost ALL our charming movie heros and heroines over the last 15 odd years, and read about the lives and styles of the ones before my career began while I was still a student, I have observed a critical shift between a previous generation (say the stars who ruled the 80s and early 90s) and the new millennium. It is this generation that by far, has it’s feet rooted to the ground. And that…is an UNDERSTATEMENT )
Would a yesteryear superstar ever come clean about her depression and start a body dedicated to helping people combat it, the way Deepika Padukone has? (A Rekha would convert her misery into sher-o-shairees and tell the world to shove off as she is busy being the resident Greta Garbo. Parveen Babi spiralled into total schizophrenia in her total isolation from fans, well wishers and family).
Would a yesteryear female star brave two timezones and work weekends with a perfectionist like Sanjay Leela Bhansali, then fly back to do 14 hour shifts on a TV series, Monday to Friday.. a la Priyanka Chopra? And would a yesteryear hero go religiously to the gym, even if it’s midnight…and hire international coaches to get into his best possible physical and mental shape for a movie? Yes, we’re thinking of the Hrithiks who take forward the legacy of a mentor like Salman Khan. (It might even be fair to say that Salman broke the trend of pot-bellied heroes going straight for beer and chicken tikka after pack up!)
Sure there was something sweet about the more pompous yesteryear stars. Perhaps they could afford their eccentricities, or rather their producers could, given there was no GST tax back then. There were noble stars… actresses like Rakhee who made bhajiyas for Dilip Kumar to consume during the shooting of Shakti. (We believe he liked the bhajiyas so much they were over between his many takes with none left for the final shot!)
There were actresses who made fresh rotis for the unit…nurturing the people around them. Star wives like Jennifer Kapoor and Shobha (for Jeetendra) were most often the stylists for their superstar husbands.
It was a different world…not perfectionist, not globalised and certainly not saturated by social media. One star who clearly embodies the virtues of yesteryear values and today’s acute transparency and professionalism, is Amitabh Bachchan. A compulsive tweeter, blogger, vlogger, FB Live-r, he gyms everyday, respects people’s time, and embraces a changing cinematic and socio-cultural landscape with aplomb. Yesterday a special occassion marked the titan’s 75th birthday.
Sir, you have been paid many compliments but dare I add one more? You embody the best of Old Bollywood and New Bollywood. In you, the twain do meet…
@amitabhbachchan
LIFE OF A MAGAZINE EDITOR 
Another thing you may recall of the Bollywood superstars of yesteryears, is how many of them changed their names to make themselves more acceptable to the movie going public.
Dilip Kumar, Johnny Walker, Rajnikanth, Rekha…and others did that
This practice has been given an almost complete pass by the new gen Bollywood, who seem quite content with their birth names. Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra, Ranbir Kapoor, Salman Khan and others use the same names as on their birth certificates.
However, a new trend is worth watching. When Kareena Kapoor married Saif Ali Khan, she added his surname to hers. How many more will do that in the upcoming star weddings? We will wait and watch
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Interesting observation Bala! I found out only recently that Neetu Singh was Harmeet Kaur! Ranveer told me he is half Sindhi..therefore his full name should have a Bhavnani too!
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