I may swoon at the mention of the little Khan (which one?), well, Amir, but will Mr. Sen do the same, or will Subramanian love Amitabh Bachchan as much as Mr. Mukherjee does? (He's married to Amader Bangali Mey…Joya)
India is a united country with divided opinions, especially when it comes to film star preferences.
While most of the peninsula dances to the Big B's slow beats (slower now at middle age), the average Bihari as well as the South Indian, Hyderabad or Madrasi, too likes him. It's a pan-Indian appeal. However, the Khans have a little bald patch in Bihar. The areas of the Northern sensibilities, Delhi, UP, Punjab, Haryana, love maar dhaad, and the Deols have ruled the roost here for two generations, ever since muscles became fashionable in Hindi films. Currently it's Sunny, artificial hair and all.
Towards the singsong East, it is usually family dramas and sob stories that are appreciated and so are the heroes who do it! Alok Nath and Reema Lagoo would rule the roost there!
Most of the star material actors are popular in Bombay and the South - Anil Kapoor, the Khans (Shahrukh has a limited appeal in Delhi, it being home territory).
In the South it has to be the masters of histrionics and there aren't too many of those in Hindi industry
In the foreign markets the BIG FIVE are the three Khans and Hrithik and Anil Kapoor. Of course, Madhuri is the reigning queen, even trashy films that severely bombed in India do well in markets abroad, Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar ke, for instance. Her name sells like hot cakes.
The most recent explosion, Lagaan, has hit in Mumbai and the South but it didn't do too well in the North, maybe familiarity bred contempt. Gadar, however, has been favored in the North; maybe the Sunny magic or even lost forgotten memories.
Then there is what can be technically termed "product preferences," meaning, because my uncle looks like Anil Kapoor, I like him.
These preferences extend to the most outlandish people, a whole suburb of Mumbai identifies with Virar ka chokra, Govinda (who makes no bones about it). Another whole generation of Allahabad University Products venerated Amitabh Bachchan. Of course, the Deol clan has spawned a fan following over the whole of the Northwest, starting somewhere in the mid-sixties and may end only when Papaji Dharam's kitchens close for everybody from Phagwara. Land love!
The South Mumbai chiknaas who have no care in the world (except perhaps whether their hair tint is exactly the shade in style) and have recently found an identity in Dil Chahta Hai will always identify with the Khan duology (Shahrukh doesn't fall in this category).
Abhishek Bachchan will attract the fans of the Bachchan clan, even if he doesn't flaunt his East UP Hindi, as big Daddy did (and very profitably too). The two Khanna sons however, have meandered, none is anywhere like the great spiritual gardener, Vinod Khanna. Of course, India's fan followers are choosy about hereditariness, or why else would the rosy-cheeked and dimple chinned Fardeen be a hot property?
The sophisticated films that don't rely on
do well only in Mumbai and some sophisticated parts of South. Basu Chatterjee's films in the seventies and more recently, Dil Chahta Hai , fall in this category. As for the rest, well, gambling may pay off after all.
Well, so much for the national identity.
(Very interesting afterthought…how came EVERYBODY swoons over Julia Roberts and Leonardo Di Caprio?)
