Unsung heroes

Have been meaning to write on this for a long time now. I love the movies - thanks to my educational background, I have learnt to appreciate movies from several angles. I may not be as up to speed on the new releases as I would like to be... but then I do know what is happening about me.

What I wanted to write about was how in the glamour and glitz of it all... some actors just get overshadowed. Maybe their movies don't enjoy the bling of the SRKs and Aamir Khans... despite which their movies often turn out to be much more watchable than the OSOs and Ghajinis. Take for example Abhay Deol - recently happened to catch his Oye Lucky Lucky Oye. Many from the friends and famliy circle trashed the movie in the first five minutes. But here was a movie I thoroughly enjoyed. A small town guy who dreams of making in big and does that by being an excellent con man. Paresh Rawal plays multiple characters in this movie and that is something that has not been talked about. Whereas on the other hand you have Deepika Padukone's double role in CC2C being harped about continously. There is also Shahid Kapur, who is a fabulous dancer and has excellent comic timing. Infact Shahid was even a part of Shiamak Davar's dance troupes and in a song in Taal, you will see him as a background dancer who gets to drape a white cloth all around Aishwarya Rai. Why do we yell ourselves hoarse on Hritik's and copy cat Harman's dancing skills. Why don't we know more about Kay Kay Menon who could pull off a Hazaron Khwaishein Aisi as well as a Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd.

Besides these unsung fellows, you also have those who finally hit jackpot headon. For example Akshay Kumar - it took him almost 18 years in the industry before rose petals were thrown on his walkway. Now its as though everything the man touches is turning to gold. Saif Ali Khan who was trashed for his firang hairstyle and accent today stands on some of the highest bastions of Bollywood. This is after years of talent going unnoticed.

We have several media that make their livings based entirely on Bollywood. More often than not, pre release hype, movie reviews and even post release publicity harps largely on the main stars of the movie - and by this I mean purely on their physical presence in the movie. Never does one go to praise a performance. SRK has established the fact that he is a complete commercial film artiste. Not once has he attempted to take on an art film. Yet reams are written on his performance skills. I mean- give me a break.. the very same media also trashes him as a ham artiste.

Why are some movies called off beat - well simply because they and the performances they include are promoted as such. Am I trying to make a point here... not really.. what I am trying to point out is that a lot of very good performances often go unsung... there can be several valid reasons why... but bottom line... I don't like it and so I wrote about it (tongue in cheek).