Shahid Kapoor’s stint in Bollywood has been very interesting one; he has been through controversies, love affairs, success, failures which happens to almost all movie stars today. What makes this guy unique is; despite having good looks, immaculate dancing skills, and superb acting skills, he is still not quite there after being in the industry for more than 10 years! People who are ageing; who have mediocre acting skills are successful but someone like Shahid who’s much talented and younger has been just about average in terms of success.
Despite delivering the humongous success like “Jab we met” in which he shined all the way, he could not establish himself as a romantic star; which is very unfortunate, considering he is resorting to sad efforts like “R. Rajkumar” to save his career when he isn’t really suitable for that kind of roles. Even a non-actor like Farhan Akhtar(non- singer and non-director as well) could establish himself as a “successful actor”; what has gone wrong with Shahid Kapoor? How did he become a “has been”? I think there are many factors which contributed in Shahid Kapoor’s fall from success. I’m listing few of them here.
No self- promotion: Shahid Kapoor is a self-confessed shy guy which definitely goes against this industry where people having “look- at- me-I-am-so-happening” attitude rule. He isn’t loud and boisterous in media; he isn’t good at “selling himself” like big stars such as SRK, Akshay Kumar etc. Apparently, ability to promote yourself is a bigger skill than talent in the Bollywood. One doesn’t hear too much about Shahid, there is rarely any interview or controversy surrounding him anymore. His PR skills or team who does the job for him are doing a below average job.
Lack of smart connections: One more disadvantage of being reserved. He has never been part of any “camp” which would have gotten him plum projects. He has never starred in big banners such as Dharma or Yashraj, despite spending here a decade. He isn’t the kind who’d pursuit Chopras and Johars for roles; which other actors blatantly indulge in.
Break-up with Kareena: This much talked about incident didn’t only cost him a girlfriend but a whole army of Kareena’s high-profile “friends” which included likes of KJo. If it was any other actress, the blow wouldn’t have been this harsh but Kareena being Kareena had a Kapoor tag as well as hoards of “A-listers” as friends who distanced themselves from Shahid after the break-up. He couldn’t be part of the “inner circle” anymore.
Being choosy about movies: The list of movies rejected by Shahid Kapoor is striking; Raanjhanaa, Besharam, Shuddh Desi Romance, Gori tere pyar me. Out of all, rejecting Besharam was definitely a good decision but movies like Suddh desi romance or Raanjhana would have been on a different tangent because of Shahid’s presence considering his capability in playing romantic roles. The movies he chose at cost of the above movies are: Phata poster nikla hero and R.Rajkumar! He even rejected an international Mira Nair project! That would have given him the credibility which even 10 more “Haider” cannot give. Very poor choices!
Signing less movies: Doing one film a year is a good idea only when you are an Aamir Khan. For rest of all, visibility is the key to survive. Shahid apparently gave Mausam and Teri meri kahaani two years! This seems like an 18th century approach to work in an industry where fortunes change weekly. Out of sight is out of mind for technologically obsessed audiences today.
Increased Competition: Bollywood newcomers like Ranveer singh, Siddharth Malhotra, Varun Dhawan etc. are steadily making their mark in the industry. An entire era has changed in Bollywood where new heroes are flocking in who are even accepted by the audiences. 100 crore clubs, 200 crore clubs are here to stay and Shahid would have to develop new strategies to compete with the new competition.
Apart from the above factors, he should be himself rather than aping others. Doing Tapori-Action roles will only make him a Salman Khan Wannabe. Let’s hope he makes smart choices in future.
Vaibhavi