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their individual careers occasionally, was already middle class. The effect cal patronage.
even as they correspond a star. of this phenomenon was Shrill and orchestrated
to the same timeline, trace Distant from both a new hero representing campaigns on television
different graphs of success these two young men creamy top layer society and social media plat-
and celebration. was Shahrukh. Unlike and the glitz of India shin- forms are targeting the
Aamir Khan was the Aamir and Salman, he had ing. Not surprisingly, film Khans’ religious identities.
first to acquire fame in only known the world of plots turned away from the In changing modes of how
his uncle Mansoor Khan’s theatre in Delhi and had pressing concerns of the entertainment is produced
Q
production ay amat se no association with the rural and urban poor, even and consumed, it remains
Q ay amat Tak (1988). This film industry. His career as the single screen theatre to be seen if the ageing
film, argues Bamzai, subtly started as a small-time gave way to the comforts Khans can reinvent them-
redefined gender dynam- actor in television shows. of the multiplex catering selves again in the face of
ics through its portrayal of Shahrukh’s early films to its well-heeled clientele competing OTT platforms
a younger and softer hero R aj u Ban G ay a G entleman unwilling to rub shoulders that restrain the erstwhile
who is the object of desire (1992) and ab hi H aan with the hoi polloi. reach of cinema; and also
K
of its ‘innocent yet deter- K ab hi N aa (1994) perhaps In the last few years, at times when democratic
mined’ heroine. mirror his own struggle as the Khans have had to face processes and guarantees,
Salman Khan whose an ambitious youth thirst- a string of films that failed which underpinned the
first hit came with Maine ing to rise quickly in his at the box-office. Younger shared cultural space that
Py ar K iy a (1989), a movie career and gain fame and male leads are closing in is Bollywood cinema, are
that correlated blatant fortune. on the race to stardom, eclipsed by the untrimmed
consumerism with the In aspirational India even as older contempo- ambition of political
Hindu joint family, carried set into momentum by raries such as Akshay Ku- stardom.
the burden of awareness the last decade of the 20th mar continue to have an ROHINI MOKASHI
that the other Bandra boy century, the state was the effective presence, perhaps PUNEKAR (The Book
Aamir, whom he had met enabler of the burgeoning a result of courting politi- R eview
JUNE 2022 EDUCATIONWORLD 89
