Doing the Khan way

Sonia from Pune

Being amongst the top ranking Khans in the industry lets take a peak into what he wants to say behind his success mantra- do just one movie per year

It would be tough to slot Aamir Khan. Just ask most critics and journalists who have interviewed him. The star can wow his audience while he demystifies movies or whips up a marketing frenzy. Tagged perfectionist, a marketing genius and now Mr Blockbuster, Khan's success sory is what masala Hindi films are made of. Born to producer Tahir Hussain, Aamir Khan's debut film Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak refashioned Bollywood’s language and his latest 3 Idiots rewrote history!

22 years and 32 films later – Aamir turns 45 on March 14with controversy, awards, friends and fights strewn along the way. Let’s take a sneak peak at his best roles without the ‘masala’.

Aamir Khan's effervescent debut made him an overnight sensation. His portrayal of a teenage-lover was everything giggly girls wanted to see on-screen.

Aamir Khan's tapori Munna set off a slew of characters. Like Aamir recounts in an interview: "Ramu had four flops before this. Urmila (Matondkar) had eight. The film had no story."And yet it spiraled all their careers into the fast-track! His street smart tapori's claim to love and good life had an unbelievably soppy and sugar-sweet ending. But it had us all rooting for this underdog.

His role of 'Raja' stayed raw and honest, not ashamed of his origin. And though it earned him the tag of a boorish chauvinistic husband, he still made a mark with the audience! Much was made of the lip lock and Karisma’s stunning transformation, yet it was Aamir who made this movie stand out, winning him his first Filmfare Best Actor Award.

As he often says, "Waise bhi perfection ko improve karna mushkil hota hain."

Setting off cool in his own way, Aamir played Akash; who, he states in an interview, "generally does his own thing. The only difference between Akash and me is that I believe in love. Akash doesn't." Establishing his own relevance in Bollywood like his character, Khan gave Akash a character graph and an attitude that even the word cool couldn't.

In an interview of his simple story of a dyslexic child, and one which questioned the education system, Aamir Khan stated that he would be broken in Taare Zameen Par didn’t work.Direction was always on Aamir Khan's radar and it was always as he stated on many occasions, a matter of when than why!

Playing art-school teacher Ram Shankar Nikhumb, he highlighted in the second half of the film, what a great school teacher can do for a student.
The film was racked with controversy especially when writer Amol Gupte raised questions about who really directed the film.

ghajini look. CREDIT:chakpak.com

 

Do we need so many fashion weeks?

Sonia in Pune

With a number of metro cities like Pune and Hyderabad hosting their own Fashion Weeks this year, the debate on the need of so many fashion shows begins…

With the increasing interest in fashion, the count of fashion weeks is increasing by the year. Apart from the big daddy’s of the fashion week lineage, like the Lakme Fashion Week or the Wills India Fashion Week, every region has its own fashion extravaganza lined up every season. Even smaller cities like Pune and Hyderabad have started their own regional fashion weeks, putting them on the list of the next-big-things.

With all these new entrants, the big question is now highlighted all the more; ‘Are Fashion weeks important?'

Well, let’s try to break down this question and look at it from all the different angles of the fashion world. Primarily, take the designers into consideration. With more than 3500 designers and labels existing today, its very difficult for all designers to be a part of a single fashion week and have a platform to showcase their designs. If every region has their own platform, ten there will be more chances of visibility and success as far as the designers are concerned. For the emerging designers, these fashion weeks can be a brilliant platform as the competition is less, and participation becomes an easier deal, not to mention, a cheaper one too.

Next, we look at the business of fashion. If we take a national or a regional level idea, in one way it is very difficult for a buyer to see 20 different fashion weeks across the year and make the business work. For a local buyer or the new entrants, this, on the other hand, is a very beneficial deal. But taking the larger picture in the head, you do not expect an international buyer to come and take a look at the collections of all fashion weeks, and hence, from the point of view of international trade, regional fashion weeks are a waste of resources and money.

What with the huge arcade of latest fashion trends, the excitement of every new show and then the purchasing that follows; the young generation of India seems to love this new wave of fashion. But all this is fine only till this high remains a high, and does not turn into an overdose. Even though the talent is plenty, there are many designers who are just wanna-be designers, and don’t have any real talent. So when repeated shows of hideous designs are seen, even he fashionistas lose interest.

                                                       Model at Milan Show Credit: Google pics

 Fashion week is the need of the hour it depends from city to city and as to how you view the show. People these days are very conscious about fashion .