When the word ’’suave’’ comes to mind, one can’t help but think of one stylish, dignified, and dynamically sophisticated guy with magnificent talents---Fardeen Khan. Okay. Agreed. May be some arguments are already in the making.
Agreed again that Fardeen’s career off late hasn’t done the magic to officially verify my opinion of him, but the fact is that whoever has closely noticed and monitored the guy’s performances can realize how hardworking, dedicated, and determined he is to regain what he kind of lost---his winning popularity.
Fardeen Khan had his share of drawbacks since the beginning. But then again, who is perfect? To start with, the guy was a graduate from abroad, apparently all the way. So his Hindi/Urdu diction as well as accent were both challenged by the pundits of the film industry. Add to it, he was way too fair and classy to portray different roles, such as those in village based dramas or Ancient India (Lagaan, Mumbai se Aaya mera dost)! Then, he was being launched by Feroz Khan, whose movies (though some like Qurbani being musical successes) mostly went unappreciated universally.
Besides, the decision to stick with his skinny posture as well as long, unsuitable hairdo, simply hindered his launch. The heroine opposite him was an even more forgettable face (and even name, notice I forgot)!
So when his debut vehicle ’’Prem-Aggan’’ proved a failure at the BO, as well as his performance trashed, no one in the industry was surprised with the failure of FK Jr. They knew the guy needed a complete makeover and a start from scratch to bounce back. In an effort to quickly resurrect the damage in his son’s career, FK Sr. decided to make another home production, roping in the ’then hot-and-happening’ Aishwarya Rai opposite his unnoticed son. Good for Fardeen that the movie was shelved for unknown reasons. One can’t take the chance of repeating the same filmmaker after a fresh debut failure.
Fardeen did, however, get fortunate when his opposition was nil in the awards ceremony and he was there to collect the award for the best male debutant. His career then got a new lease. He cut his hair short, put on some required weight, and sported a rough look to suit the character of a conventional Indian hero. As soon as his make-over was complete, he got an awesome mentor in RGV. RGV roped him opposite another promising actress, Urmila.
With the RGV-Urmila magic destined to work after Rangeela, Fardeen got his big break in ’’Jungle’’. The movie met with moderate success at the BO and Fardeen’s performance was vastly improved as the guy won rave reviews for the movie that released in 2000. However, 2000 was Hrithik’s year. His success overshadowed the likes of SRK, so how would Fardeen manage his due. The answer was simple, he needed to step up himself, out of the shadow of his father, Urmila, etc. and give a memorable performance.
What happened was next to exactly that! In 2001, when no one could’ve expected it, Hrithik’s own family member stepped up the challenge of becoming the next young heart-throb of the country. Fardeen returned with an amazing physique, mesmerizing personality, trend-setting style, as well as a promising performance in a comic/romantic/serious role. It was again RGV who extracted such a decent and versatile performance from the guy who had now silenced his critics. It was once again Urmila who he formed a chemistry with.
However, as much as him and his newly won supporters would’ve hated it, the reality was that the new hero on the block was accused of possessing drugs (cocaine specifically) on him. Promos of his forthcoming movies like ’’Love Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega’’ (Comedy) as well as ’’Hum Ho Gaye Aapke’’ (romance) were on the air when Fardeen was caught amidst this huge controversy. He quickly turned from the stylish Khan into the controversial Khan for a few months to follow.
However, he was released the same year, managing to witness ’’Love Ke Liye...’’ do wonders at least on Mumbai BO while ’’Hum Ho Gaye...’’ was declared a major failure. Fardeen’s hatrick was completed with ’’Love Ke Liye...’’ but poor luck seemed to have hit his movies again.
However, this time it was only his movies. The guy’s loyal fans kept on believing in him. His sincere performance left an impact despite the failures of ’’Kitne Door Kitne Paas’’ and ’’Kuch Tum Kaho Kuch Hum Kahein’’, two adequately made movies, yet with monotonous storylines that became their enemy at the BO. Anupam Kher’s ’’Om Jai Jagdish’’ was the last product the guy could offer his fans in 2002 apparently. The movie promised a lot. But as luck would have it, Fardeen just had another failure to his credit. A very sensitive movie, OJJ suffered due to some loopholes in the screenplay as well as a somewhat weak publicity.
Fardeen quickly left the serious romance genre after four above mentioned flops in a span of one year. He returned to his comic ways with Boney Kapoor’s ’’Khushi’’ in February 2003. ’’Khushi’’, however, marked the continuing lack of success for Boney as well as Fardeen and his co-star Kareena. Despite some magical and hilarious moments, the movie failed to do good business thanks to its huge budget. Fardeen’s performance still got praised and he was still a star who was well sought after. But it was about time the guy gave a hit. 2003 saw Hrithik make an impactful return in with an award winning performance in KMG. On the other hand, Vivek Oberoi rose to fame quickly with 3 biggies in his opening year in 2002. 2003 seemed promising for him too. John Abraham and Shahid Kapoor too made impactful debuts in 2003. To stick around and cope up with his gen. of actors, Fardeen desperately needed a success to revive his career forward. However, just the opposite came.
His super-hyped bike flick, home production ’’Janasheen’’ (despite some decent initial business) was considered a failure at the BO. The worst part was that this time the guy himself failed to escape all the criticism. His sixth flop in a row witnessed critics hammer him for doing the opposite of Hrithik, who benefitted from home productions just as much as Fardeen suffered from them. Fardeen was almost forgotten for the most of 2004 until he hit back with Ken Ghosh’s ’’Fida’’.
Ken and Shahid (the undeservingly popular success story from Ishq Vishk) apparently just brought a lucky venture to two talented yet suffering actors in Fardeen and Kareena. A lot was expected from the film. However, the movie was released within 3 weeks after his on-t.v. promos, apparently with no great publicity at all. Add to it, despite being a well made movie with great music, ’’Fida’’ has a very unconventional ending for the commercial Indian masses. They outright rejected the movie that went on to mark Shahid’s first flop as well as a continuing bad patch for Fardeen.
(Continued in comments section)!