But what is striking about Toilet – Ek Prem Katha’s success is that it is not a one-off for Akshay. In earlier times, his hits would be interspersed with flops. But consider his record in the last two years. In 2016, there was Rustom, Airlift and Housefull 3. The former two were superhits while the latter was a hit. In 2017, before Toilet – Ek Prem Katha, there was Jolly LLB 2, which was also a big hit. That is five consecutive hits, all of them over the Rs100 crore mark. That affirms his position as a star who might not necessarily provide the bumper lottery of Rs300 crore movies, but a steady cash counter that is low risk. No one else besides Salman Khan and Aamir Khan have that position in Bollywood at present. What is the reason for Akshay’s success? It is hard to pinpoint but script selection might have something to do with it.
Toilet – Ek Prem Katha had not found much acclaim from reviewers but the story was not a run of the mill one. Same for Rustom and Airlift. They were offbeat fares created within the milieu of commercial entertainers. Airlift, in fact, had a new director, which indicates that Akshay gave more importance to the script than to who would be helming the project. He is willing to take risks.
This year he will also be playing a negative character opposite Rajnikanth in the sequel of the blockbuster Robot. It is said to be one of the most expensive movies ever produced and chances are it too will be a big hit. Akshay will soon be 50 and in a recent interview to a newspaper, he was asked about how he manages to look this good even now. His answer was that he keeps his life simple by only doing movies and taking care of his family.
Another takeover
Before Koffee With Karan, the most popular celebrity chat show on Indian television hosted by the filmmaker Karan Johar, there was Rendezvous With Simi. Simi Garewal, former actress, hosted it and like Karan she was an intimate of all the top Bollywood personalities.
Her style was sombre and elegant, without any recourse to gossip or provocation, which is what made Karan’s show so popular. Rendezvous With Simi had a wide audience because she could get the who’s who of the film industry to participate in it.
But the mood of the times soon overtook her and both the television channels and audience wanted spicier stuff. As Karan’s show became instantaneously popular, her’s gradually ended. One would think that is old history, except that there was an odd recurrence of it. Simi was hosting an awards show in Melbourne and Karan had been one of the guests there. Later, he apparently offered himself as the host for the coming edition of the event. This was learnt by Simi who was naturally enraged. She tweeted about it, ‘After I finished hosting IFFM Awards @karanjohar told Festival Director ‘Next year I want to host the awards’! Another takeover?!’
If true, this is somewhat ungracious of Karan. He is also turning into a controversy magnet, having public squabbles with the likes of Ajay Devgn and others. For someone already so successful, one wonders why he doesn’t just relish what he has.
Out of danger
There was some heartening news recently after a bit of a scare. Early this month, it was reported that Dilip Kumar had been hospitalised and his condition was critical. There was also mention of his kidneys having failed. The veteran actor is 94 years old and understandably his fans feared the worst. But he showed that there was a lot of fighting spirit still left in him. After a little over a week in hospital, his wife, Saira Banu, announced on Twitter that he had recovered. The doctors attending him had also permitted him to return home.
Once back, they had a surprise visitor in the form of Shah Rukh Khan. She tweeted about it: ‘Message from Saira Banu: Sahab’s mooh-bola beta-“son” @iamsrk visited Sahab today. Sharing some photos of the evening...Sahab’s doing much better since return from the hospital. Shukar Allah.’
Later, she gave an interview to a tabloid and said that Shah Rukh was usually not in touch with them. In fact, Aamir and Salman were more in contact with the family. And she did indeed complain to Shah Rukh about it when he came. To which he said he had been busy with shoots that took him out of the country. He also promised to correct his not being connected in future.
Second hit
Another person who is basking in the success of Toilet – Ek Prem Katha is its lead actress Bhumi Pednekar. She had made an unusual debut playing an overweight woman in the movie Dum Laga Ke Haisha. It came out in 2015 and became an unexpected hit. Bhumi got noticed for a great performance but then there was the danger of being typecast as an overweight actress. Bhumi, it turned out, had in fact put on weight for the role and was soon back to her regular body type.
In Toilet – Ek Prem Katha she plays a feisty rural woman, so that too is removed from the glamorous roles that heroines build their careers by. But she has shown herself capable to mould into any role and with two back-to-back successes, should now have a pick of choices.
In an interview to an online magazine, she spoke of how she had been nervous before the release unsure about how the audience would find the story. But her decision to do the movie seems to have paid off.
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