The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

City boys makes waves in Bollywood
By Anjana Datta

IN your very first encounter with him you can’t help being impressed by this tall, handsome young man who looks every inch star material. He is Bikramjeet — a new star from City Beautiful making waves on the film horizon.

TV watchers will instantly recognise him as serials “Rano” and “Tutan Wala Khoo” featuring him are on the air on the Lashkara channel. The theatre fraternity of City Beautiful too knows him too well for he has participated in a number of plays which proved to be a big hit with the audience. So it didn’t take him long to realise that his next destination was the tinsel town.

A one ad-film actor, Bikramjeet always knew that he wanted to act. As luck would have it, a chance meeting with Krishan Lamba, a well-known director of Bollywood, launched him on his journey to stardom. In 1997 Lamba was visiting Himachal Pradesh in search of new locales for his forthcoming film. One of Bikram’s friends introduced him to Lamba and showed him his ad film. Impressed by his terrific screen presence, he recommended him to Naveen Kumar, another big name in Bollywood, who immediately offered him a role in his Punjabi film “Mera Ghar Kithe Hai”. The heroine of the film is Upasana Singh. The story is woven around the plight of a girl who has to spend her entire life following the dictates of others. Before marriage, it is her father and brother who dominate her life, and after her marriage, her husband and then son. She cannot find solace anywhere nor have a place which she can call her own. The entire film shot in and around Patiala is due for release very shortly.

In this film, Bikram plays the role of a dominating and caring elder brother very convincingly and establishes his credentials as an actor. Though it is not a lead role, Bikram accepted it and portrayed it beautifully. It was enough to give a kick start to a career which saw fairly decent performances in the following years. Looking back, he is glad that he accepted the film and benefited a lot from it. He believes that it was this role that paved the way for him for better things. For simultaneously, he got an offer to do “Rishtey”, another Punjabi film made by Krishan Lamba. In between, he did a TV serial, “Kashmir — Aaj Kal”, part-I depicting the current situation in the valley. In it he plays the role of a Muslim press reporter who braves terrorism while doing his duty. He thoroughly enjoyed doing the role. Its second part is being made now.

This was followed by “Tutan Wala Khoo”, a TV serial directed by Mohan Singh, and “Rano” by Narinder Grewal for Lashkara channel. Both are on the air now and enjoy an immense viewership in the region. Then came “Chandigarh Campus” which is still being shot in Chandigarh. In “Rano” and “Chandigarh Campus”, the heroine is Rimpy Gill, a former Miss Chandigarh. In “Rano” he plays the hero. But in “Chandigarh Campus”, he plays the role of a suave villain, the spoilt son of an MLA. In fact, it is a role he identifies with in real life too.

Although he has played quite a number of negative roles, he doesn’t want to be branded as a total “baddie” for life. In most of the films and serials which he has signed recently, he is playing a positive role. For instance, in “Rano” he is playing the hero’s role. A hero’s role or a villain’s, he has no qualms about playing it. What matters most to him is that the role should be appealing and convincing. Says he, “These days the chocolate hero is one or two films concept. There is a lot of scope for a mature and macho character role.” And Bikram is determined to prove that he can act.

Bikram is proud of the fact that unlike any other newcomer, he didn’t have to struggle or manipulate to get a role. All roles which he has received so far, were got on the merit of his personality and acting ability. “The directors themselves are offering me a variety of roles. I have neither a godfather in this industry nor, have I ever enrolled myself in any acting school. Yet, I have managed to get a good deal of film offers,” he remarks with a beaming face.

If Lady Luck is really on his side, then this young actor is surely going to make it big one day on the silver screen as he likes to take himself seriously. He is determined to prove that he will be a success soon.

At present, things are looking up for Bikram in such a big way that he will soon be gaining recognition both on the national and international level if his present assignments are any indication. His forthcoming films are “India’s Most Wanted”, a Hindi feature film starring him with Sunny Deol, and ‘Sarhad Paar’, another Hindi feature film written and produced by Vijay Tandon starring him with Sanjay Dutt and Tabu. Besides, he is featuring in two TV serials being made by Buta Singh Shaad, IMFA President, “Kutian Wale Sardar” for Star Plus and “Adi Raat Pehar Da Tadka” for Zee Alfa TV Channel and a couple of others.

In the motley jumble of cacophonic college fresh young boys who are trying hard to lend their talent to cinema, Bikram stands apart. His mannerisms and style suggest that he is different from the rest. An ardent fan of Vinod Khanna and Aditya Pancholi, he wants to develop his own style. His favourite heroines are Kajol and Aishwarya Rai.

Born and brought up at Karnal, he had his early education at St Therea’s Convent there. After doing postgraduation in public administration from Panjab University, Chandigarh, he settled down in the city. Throughout his student life, he has been a good hockey player and a sportsperson.

His father is a businessman and mother, a housewife. He has three brothers and a sister. With his good height, he stands 6’2”, and a robust physique, he always wanted to join the police force. But as luck would have it, he joined the film industry much against the wishes of his family who earlier had some reservations about the film industry. But not any more.

A deeply religious person, Bikram is a teetotaller and a pure vegetarian. He is basically a mama’s boy and wants to marry a girl of her choice.

However, at the moment, Bikram is totally involved with his film career and learning a great deal about film making and acting. He is looking forward to play a la Amitabh Bachchan in “Deewar” in the near future and seems to be on his way to success and stardom.

Indi-pop & packaging art
By Aseem Shrivastava

MUSIC these days is big business. With music companies more than willing to promote new talent, the market is flooded with new faces splashed on all music channels.

A majority of these one-song wonders never cut a second album and are never heard again. Are music companies exploiting the new singers or are they seriously promoting art?

“Most of the companies have no idea about the background of the artiste and are ready to launch him if he is willing to pay for his launch,” says singer Bhupi.

Some music companies insist on the artiste singing his/her first album for free and expect the same for the second album, if the first one is a success. This leads to parting of ways and the artiste looks for another company to cut his second album.

Launch into the music scene does not come cheap and the artiste ends up paying a huge amount. Some wannabes even sell their property to make a mark on the Indi-pop scene. If the first album is a success and there is demand, then the company does a second album. Otherwise the artiste joins the long list of one song wonders.

Jawahar Wattal, however, agrees that music companies in India have no idea of “artiste and repertoire” (A and R) which is the backbone of music. “Most of the companies don’t have understanding of music and lack music sense,” he says.

“The decision to launch any product has financial commitment prior to launch and therefore contains a risk factor. If the idea is to do one product only, the odds are stacked against the company. Normally one would spend more to break a new artiste than to sell an established one,” says Virgin Records marketing and A and R director Atul Churamani.

The risk, it seems, has only increased the crowd as more and more people try their hands at singing.

Baba Sehgal, still remembered for his first album “Thanda Thanda Paani”, was the first successful artiste on the Indi-pop scene.

The album a Hindi version of Vanila Ices’ “Ice Ice Baby” announced arrival of Indi-pop on the music sence.

Sehgal’s success came at a time when yo-generation was looking for a change. The album-cutting spree, however, started much later. Alisha Chinoy, Ali Haider, Sunita Rao et al kept it in the news. But Indi-pop was not hot.

“The credit for making Indi-pop what it is today goes to Baba Sehgal and Magnasound which launched him,” candidly admits Archies Music general manager Praveen Sethi.

Launch of satellite channels only made things easier for budding singers and Indi-pop, all of a sudden, was taken seriously.

Every music company worth its money signed a group of singers to sing for their labels, with none else than Baba and Alisha leading the lot.

Indi-pop all this while kept evolving. The never-before concept of a music video, thanks to so many channels on the scene, became the only source of promoting an artiste. Playback singing no longer remained a behind-the-curtain job and credit for it goes to late Gulshan Kumar of T-Series.

Singers like Jassi feel this cannot be stopped. “But like in sports in music too, only talented ones will survive. The artiste has to perform,” he says.

“More than 70 per cent of the artistes on the scene today cannot perform before live audience,” Bhupi says.

The success of a pop singer now depends on things other than just voice. Looks do matter.

“It all depends on packaging. If a singer is good looking and a good human being with a reasonably good voice and has done his job well, he can be sold in the market,” says Sethi.

The key word these days is packaging and the artistes undergo training in the nuances of conducting themselves in public.

“Even the music companies themselves are not sure whether the artiste will sell. If he looks good in camera, he is good enough to be a singer,” says Jassi.

There have been cases when the music company chose a wrong song for video to promote the artiste and despite the talent, the artiste failed to make any impact.

“It happened with one of our singers. We could not project his talent. But he is still working with us as we know he is talented,” says Sethi.

Music companies spend a huge amount of money, sometimes Rs 50 lakh just for the music video. Like, moveis, foreign locales, special effects and huge sets have now become minimum requirements.

Where does that leave the art? Who are the companies selling? Art or artistes?

“Music is bought and sold and two criteria: the music or the artiste. However, it must be remembered that the core of our business is signing the recording artistes for release. So we sign with a view to selling the artiste and consequently his craft,” says Churamani.

Wattal feels that India has not reached the stage where it will accept artistes just for his art.

“In the West we have singers like Steve Wonder who is disabled. His songs like ‘I just called to say’... and ‘Part time lover’... were very much appreciated. Can we expect the same for an Indian singer?” he asks.

So is the boom in the market only too much hype and no substance or is it for real?

“The big time boom where both the art and artiste will flourish is yet to come in India,” says Wattal.

While Wattal awaits that precious moment, the listeners will see more Daler Mehndis and Phalguni Pathaks in the making. — PTI