Covering Bollywood and the Hindi Cinema

Here are Shekhar Kapur's 2 cents on the so called SRK-Bachchan War!


The newspapers are blazing with pages full of the supposed power struggle between the two stars.The power struggle apparently (if the papers are to be believed) is dividing the biggest political leaders, the biggest industrial icons in India.

But can any one tell me what this power struggle is about, struggle for what ? Am I stupid or is this all so silly ..Or does the Media think that the people in India are stupid enough to indulge the supposed ego’s of two cine stars. I know them both. Both as normal as a lifetime of stardom can allow them to be. This feels like a total media creation to me.

But what really got me roaring with laughter were graphs created by political analysts of the relative power of the respective star. And guess what the index of power was based upon ? The value of the brands promoted by each one of them, and the cash they make out of brand endorsements. So Sachin Tendulkar’s power depends not upon his performance on the cricket pitch but on how much he makes from brand endorsements ?

Its seems that 60% of celebrity brands are endorsed by Amitabh and Sharukh - and those that are left are mopped up mostly by Sachin. So are we Indian’s stupid to think that Chavanprash is essential for our health merely because Amitabh Bacchan says so on TV ? Especially when we can safely assume that he has never touched the stuff ? And do we really buy a small car called the Santro because Sharukh Khan says so, knowing that he has a fleet of white BMW’s standing by in his house ?

Hey wake up everyone. I personally am tired of seeing Amitabh’s or Shahrukh’s face peering out of every hoarding and every TV commercial. But that’s their call. I just don’t believe that theirs is a power struggle (that apparently involves the Gandhi family, the Ambani’s and god know who else) that stems from who is the next host of kaun Banega Crorepati.

All this seems to be Star Tv’s way to add to viewership to KBC ,for they are scared to death that the viewrship may fall as Amitabh has left.Does Sonia Gandhi really care ? Do we ?

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