Glamour and adulation are addictive but once the limelight shifts, it can threaten a celebrity’s sanity. The Hindi film industry is replete with such examples. TUlIKA AGNIHOTRI OJHA writes about how fame can lift stars up and may often bring them down mercilessly too
I’m gonna live forever
I’m gonna learn how to fly high
I feel it coming together.
People will see me and die. Fame!
I’m gonna make it to heaven.
light up the sky like a flame; fame!
I’m gonna live forever.
Baby, remember my name.”
| Fame sung by Irene Cara
Fame is addictive, more so for those who thrive on public adulation and constantly being in the limelight. There are some who are bestowed with prefixes such as Badshah, Nawab, and Bhai, and bask in the glory for decades, when sometimes they don’t even deserve it. And then there are some, who despite talent and potential, get to live all but a few illusory moments of fame — willingly or otherwise.
In a country of star worshippers, we either see people as somebodies or nobodies. The equally cut-throat Hindi film industry churns out newer, fresher faces even before you can grasp their names. One day you are hot, next day you are not. You could also argue that there’s simply not enough room for everybody. The competition is tough and viewers have a lust for variety, especially when it comes to female actors, while they tend to be more forgiving towards older male stars. So, it is not uncommon for actors to come and go.
However, when actors prove their prowess — irrespective of the number of films they did and despite the blink-and-you-miss-them roles — and attain a certain degree of success, they leave the audience asking for more. Hence, it makes for a rather peculiar case when they simply fall off the filmy grid. It’s sudden and out of the blue. While some of these disappearances are explained, others leave people baffled.
Bollywood has seen many popular actors fade away, some due to poor career choices, leading to a string of flop films, some get disillusioned, while others have made a conscious decision to bid goodbye to the big, bad world for a myriad of reasons.
According to research conducted by US-based Donna Rockwell, a clinical psychologist specialising in celebrity mental health, “fame changes a person’s life forever, and is felt more as an impact or overnight experience, rather than a gradual transition”.
“Developmentally, the celebrity often goes through a process of: First loving, then hating fame; addiction; acceptance; and then adaptation (both positive and negative) to the fame experience. Becoming a celebrity alters the person’s being-in-the-world. Once fame hits, with its growing sense of isolation, mistrust, and lack of personal privacy, the person develops a kind of character-splitting between the ‘celebrity self’ and the ‘authentic self’, as a survival technique in the hyperkinetic and heady atmosphere associated with celebrity life,” she writes.
Perhaps the most heartbreaking example of this would be yesteryears’ actor Raj Kiran. He started his career in the 1970s, and has nearly 100 films to his credit, including Karz, Baseraa, Maan Abhiman, and Arth. Although he was one of most underrated actors of his time, he reached the zenith of his career in the ‘70s and ‘80s, only to disappear for almost a decade.
Many years ago, Deepti Naval had posted on her Facebook page: “looking for a friend from the film world; his name is Raj Kiran. We have no news of him, last heard he was driving a cab in NY City…if anyone has any clue, please tell.” No one heard or read about him, and most assumed him to be dead. Till a sad revelation by his Karz co-star, Rishi Kapoor in 2011 — that Raj was in a mental asylum in Atlanta, US, paying for his own treatment. Unrest in his domestic life had apparently taken a toll on his mental health, leaving him in a state of depression. Such a chilling reminder of what it takes to break the best of us.
More recently came to light the curious case of sanyasin Tanushree Dutta. After debuting in Aashiq Banaya Aapne opposite Emraan Hashmi in 2005, things didn’t work out too well for the Bong bombshell, who was crowned Miss India in 2004. Five stressful years in the glam world led to a three-year spiritual sabbatical for her. Probably the last straw came while the seductress was shooting an item number for Horn ‘Ok’ Pleassss in 2009 when she alleged that her co-star Nana Patekar had misbehaved with her.
Much later, when photographs emerged of Dutta sporting a bald look, many thought the stress had taken a toll on her sanity. She was quoted as saying in an interview two years ago: “I went on a rollercoaster ride in Bollywood; I struggled to get the best out of me…Even when I was surrounded by a lot of people, I felt lonely…the stress triggered me to shift gears; when I decided to take a sabbatical, yoga and reading helped me discover a new me. Now, I don’t expect miracles.”
“Being famous is variously described as leaving the person feeling: lonely; not secure; you have a bubble over you; family space is violated; a sense of being watched; living in a fishbowl; like a locked room; and, familiarity that breeds inappropriate closeness. Yet, while the celebrity experiences many negative side-effects of fame, the allure of wealth, access, preferential treatment, public adoration, and as one celebrity put it, ‘membership in an exclusive club’, keeps the famous person stuck in the perpetual need to keep their fame machine churning. The unfortunate truth, however, is that for each and every celebrity, the fame machine can only churn for so long,” writes Rockwell.
And then there are some who would rather stay away from 70mm screen than do films that don’t do them justice. Rahul Khanna is one of them. He describes himself as a ‘Boutique Bollywood Actor’ on Twitter and has done only a handful of Hindi film roles; his last being a cameo in Wake Up Sid in 2009. The son of Vinod Khanna and brother of Akshaye Khanna, started out as a VJ for MTV Asia in 1994, and moved on to do films like Earth, Bollywood/Hollywood, and love Aaj Kal after which he simply vanished from showbiz.
The drool-worthy actor is one of the recent desi exports to American television and is working on FX’s The Americans, in which he plays Yousaf, an Oxford-educated, Pakistani intelligence officer. On why he isn’t seen on Hindi film screen as often as the audience would like, he was quoted as saying: “Doing a movie is like a short-term marriage…as an actor, there is an incomparable joy that comes from working on a project you truly connect with. I try and strive for that as much as possible in my choices and look for material and teams that I know I will enjoy working with.”
It’s also true that matrimony is the leading cause of disappearance of women actors. A common saying in Bollywood goes that an actress has only 10 good years in the industry; they try and make the most of it and then ‘settle down’ for good. Take Neha aka Shabana Raza for instance. Who’s that, you’ll ask. Remember that sweet girl who debuted in Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Kareeb opposite Bobby Deol in 1998IJ She went on to do a string of average films, such as Hogi Pyaar Ki Jeet and Koi Mere Dil Mein Hai, finally tying the knot with actor Manoj Bajpayee in 2006. She is known to strictly avoid the prying eyes of the media, only to make rare appearances at her husband’s film premieres, and has taken on the role of full-time mommy to the couple’s daughter, Ava Nayla.
Mandakini (born Yasmeen Joseph) could not make it big despite a hit like Ram Teri Ganga Maili. Sadly, her name is almost always taken for that one shot in the film where she bathes under a waterfall, draped in a white, flimsy sari. Controversy courted her yet again in 1994 when photographs showing the actress with underworld don, Dawood Ibrahim, emerged. Some people claimed they were having an affair; some said she had moved to Dubai to live with him. Mandakini was said to have shot down all these rumours.
After her film career went south, she tried her hand at singing, and even brought out two music albums. But that didn’t work out either. In 1990, she married a former Buddhist monk, and went on to have two kids. She now describes herself as a “simple housewife” and runs Tibetan yoga classes and a centre for Tibetan medicines in Mumbai with her husband.
Who can forget the doe-eyed actress to whom Amitabh Bachchan crooned in Hum (1991): “Chumma, chumma de de”IJ Kimi Katkar, who had been modeling since she was 17 years old, was tagged as the sex siren of Bollywood in the 80s. After the huge success of Hum, she was inundated with film offers. It was around the same time that she met famous photographer and ad-filmmaker, Shantanu Sheorey; he popped the question to her and she quit films without a question.
She was quoted as saying in an interview: “I think I left at the right time. What more could I have done after acting opposite Amit (Amitabh) in HumIJ After 10-11 years of continuous work, I knew I needed to settle down.” They moved to Australia for five years to seek better medical treatment for their son Siddhanth, who had a life-threatening illness. When the family decided to return to the motherland, Kimi knew she didn’t want to call Mumbai home and chose Pune instead. “We needed to go to a quieter, smaller city to re-establish ourselves as a family,” she was quoted as saying. In 2014, the family relocated to Goa and set up a photography institute called The One School.
In 2014, Hero’s lead Jackie Shroff’s son Tiger made his debut with Heropanti. When the trailers hit the screen accompanied by the signature flute tune from the 1983 flick, many were reminded of the film’s heroine, Meenakshi Sheshadri. She became Miss India at the age of 17, and was a part of several hit films such as Damini, Ghayal, and Shahenshah. Ghatak (1996) was her last project, after which she married investment banker, Harish Mysore, and shifted base to the US.
A few years ago, there were some reports that she will make a comeback with Ghayal remake starring Sunny Deol. Although Sheshadri said she was approached for the film, things did not work out. For now, she seems happy being out of the limelight and spends her time at home with her husband and two children, and runs a dance school for kids where they learn Bharatanatyam, Kathak and Odissi.
Similar was the story of many other leading ladies: Farah, Sonam, Mayuri Kango, Sheeba, Ayesha Takia, and Mamta Kulkarni.
In an attempt to keep up with the competition and the desire to always look desirable, some celebs also fall prey to the trappings of shortlived beauty — plastic surgery. From Karisma Kapoor to Katrina Kaif, many actresses have ostensibly gone under the knife to get the perfect face and body. But for some unfortunate ones, such as Koena Mitra, this tryst with the knife goes completely awry. She could well be the poster girl of cosmetic surgery gone haywire. The Saki Saki girl’s nose job was such a disaster that it not only left her jobless but also had a debilitating effect on her health.
Honest enough to admit to having undergone cosmetic surgery, she revealed in an interview in 2013: “After the surgery, my bones started swelling up. Even the doctors gave up and said that only medicine and prayers will work. I sat at home initially. I didn’t hide anything. But people spoke and wrote the worst things about me.”
That is perhaps the dead-end of the cycle of fame. The people who lift you up often bring you down mercilessly. One might ponder, are we — the audience — somehow responsible for the downward spiral of stars, whose lives only serve one purpose of ours — entertainmentIJ Or maybe, stardom comes with an expiry date. Or maybe that’s the reason why they are called stars; some have lights that burn brighter and faster than others.
