With a new doll in the shape of Taimur Ali Khan, the celebrity branding of children seems to have gone to the next level, says Team Viva
The celebrity-obsessed times that we live in ensure that by extension, the children of people in the spotlight, too, are in the constant glare of the media and more importantly nurtured and grown into a legacy of continuing brand value. Particularly in India, where children are treated second to only god in domestic hierarchy, a dulara commands everybody’s attention. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the recent manifestation of a doll in the likeness of a cuteness overload called Taimur Ali Khan. When producer Ashwini Yardi tweeted a photo and said that this was being sold in Kerala, it practically broke the internet. Coming after the 100 plus fan clubs dedicated to the two-year-old on social media, this was certainly the next level in obsession.
However, his father Saif Ali Khan seemed pretty amused as he said, “Maybe I should trademark his name... The least they could do is send me one! I am glad people are benefiting from him. I only ask God for his safety and happiness in return.” Kareena on the other hand, did let the emotions of a mother peek out when she said, “Taimur can’t run away from his popularity and neither can his parents. When I saw the doll, I wondered what was I supposed to say. But Saif pointed out that it is because people love him so much and such things are a blessing for him. There is so much genuine warmth for our son that it’s bad to stop people from clicking his pictures or making his dolls. But they should understand that he is a two-year-old child and needs a normal life. Both Saif and I are struggling to give him that and will continue to do so without telling the media to back off, no matter how annoying it gets after a point. It’s tough on him as it’s on Saif and me.”
Unwavering focus on a child born to celebrity parents is not something unheard of in the West. Within a week of being born, Princess Charlotte, the second child of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton, was splashed on the cover of newspapers and magazines. In another month, a commemorative doll version of the little princess, priced at $100 and made by at least three different companies, appeared in the market. Some collectors had special “reborn” versions of baby Charlotte made, paying thousands of dollars where every vein and hair was perfectly in place.
But this was certainly not the first. The first commemorative doll was probably the Venus of Willendorf and other Venus figures discovered in Europe that are between 25,000 and 40,000 years old. In the 16th century, Margaret Lennox commissioned a painted portrait of her toddler granddaughter, Arabella Stuart, who many considered the rightful heir to Queen Elizabeth I. Incidentally, in the painting, the child holds tight to a small doll, which with its red hair and pale skin looks suspiciously like the Virgin Queen. But it was during the Victorian era that the production of commemorative dolls exploded. In the Western world, the birth of the middle class meant that disposable income was on the rise and dolls were no longer just for the wealthy to perpetuate their physical entity. Owning your own version of a real life idol connected you with the personality at an intimate level and could even be granted the value of a souvenir that could turn into a heirloom meant to be auctioned later.
Says Ashish Chakravarty, chief creative officer, Contract Advertising, “This doll can be seen as a gradual progression from the obsession with Rajesh Khanna’s shirts, Govinda’s baggies or Aamir’s cap. But the obsession with a kid is a first for sure in India. But then we aspire to get a part of the star dust and that is what can be seen here. Once there were the Madonna dolls. Even those of Michael Jackson. But the latter became such a superbrand and a leader of a pop cult that people followed the goings-on of his children, who became minor celebrities even without having done anything. Saifeena is a brand. The mother is the reigning queen of Bollywood and the father is both nawaab and new-age and currently has the entire internet fandom at his feet courtesy Sacred Games. Taimur is a physical manifestation of Saifeena. So it had to happen. Besides, the kid is real cute and draws an aww from everybody.”
Remember the kid in the Murphy ad? Or the babies in the Johnson ads? Taimur takes us back to this old world of innocence that we desperately want to hold on to. The Murphy baby featured everywhere. Except Taimur, according to Neeraj Bassi, chief strategy officer and managing partner, Publicis India, comes with the halo of a pedigree. “For Taimur, the curiosity spirals because the paparazzi has limited access unlike his Western counterparts, who even have their social media profiles in place by the time they are born,” he says.
Besides, the birth of celebrity children is part of another event in the star’s brand persona. “Earlier, the celebrities themselves were protective of their children. Raj Kapoor’s children did not interact with the public till the time they appeared in films. The late Sridevi, too, was really protective about her girls. But times have changed and now the extended life of a celebrity, umbra and penumbra taken together, are as much saleable. There’s no aura about secrecy. Look at the way that everybody in Bollywood posts intricate details of the growing up years of their children and their naming ceremonies. Business today is dependent on social media hits and recalls. A doll company, therefore, sensed a business opportunity here. Taimur was the top choice because he is the most popular. I won’t be surprised if the trend catches on and a clothes company markets a line of what Taimur wears,” says Chakravarty.
However, there is a dark social turn to events that everybody overlooks. The Taimur doll imposes the idea of misplaced regality and aspiration among other regular children playing with the doll. Imagine Taimur arrayed between superhero dolls that kids love to play with. It is as if the childhood ideals themselves are part of a huge franchise.
Not only that, there’s myth-making around him that can spin out of control vis-a-vis his real personality as he grows into adulthood. As Bassi says, “What we are doing to that kid’s life is unfair as is setting unattainable benchmarks for regular kids. Taimur can’t have a normal life as every action of his is being watched. His life is a performance art. In such a scenario, the star child gets fixated with that attention and develops personality problems in the long run. Heaven help him if he falls short of the towering expectations of him as an adult.” Perhaps that’s the reason why Saif himself is wary of Taimur becoming an actor. For if he fails to retain the same level of stardom, it is a crashing fall for anybody to take. If only we knew where to draw the line.