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The highs and heartbreaks of filmstars has been a favourite theme with directors,
Affairs in the film industry have always held fascination for movie buffs. Set in the 1950s, Prakash Jha’s Khoya Khoya Chand directed by Sudhir Mishra is the story of writer-director Zafar (Shiney Ahuja) and an actress Nikhat (Soha Ali Khan), an extra who becomes a superstar. The film is a romantic celebration of relationship within the cinema world and has been influenced by filmi legends. Zafar liberates Nikhat from the stronghold of Rajat Kapoor, an actor, and then exploits her for himself. One can see in Nikhat traces of Meena Kumari’s alcoholism, Waheeda Rehmaan’s meteoric rise and the fatal flaws of Madhubala but still it is not the story of any one actress. Raj Kumar Santoshi’s Halla Bol deals with the toils and conflicts of an artiste. Sameer Khan (Ajay Devgan) is a struggler who becomes a filmstar. He makes his own rules. In a psychological makeover, he imbibes the traits of the characters he plays. He is in a dilemma as he contrasts his earlier self and his corrupt superstar image. In writer-producer Ismat Chugtai’s Sone Ki Chidiya (1958), the film highlighted cinema’s popular romantic tales/images with the hard-hitting reality of the film industry’s exploitation. Nutan slipped into the character Lakshmi so unobtrusively that the audience felt it was chunk from the life of every heroine, be it Meena Kumari, Nargis or Madhubala. As soon as Lakshmi, an orphan who is unloved by her relatives, becomes a heroine her relatives try to exploit her newfound earning capacity. Amar, a journalist, ditches her when he comes to know that all her wealth is being controlled by her family. She falls in love with poet Shrikant (Balraj Sahni) but her brothers offer him money to leave her. Shrikant accepts the money convincing Lakshmi that she had been duped a second time. She comes back to him when she learns that he had donated that money for the cause of junior artistes’ fund. Guru Dutt’s Kagaz Ke Phool (1959) was a nihilistic self-portrait of Suresh Sinha, a film director. In Pyaasa, his alter ego rejected fame albeit only after achieving it saying, "Yeh duniya agar mil bhee jaye to kya hai". Kagaz Ke Phool showed Suresh’s frustrations when he becomes a failure and pines for name fame. His marriage to Bina (Veena) is on the rocks because her aristocratic family looks down upon his profession. On a rainy day he meets Shanti (Waheeda Rehman) shivering under a tree and gave her his coat. Shanti comes to his studio to return his coat and walks in front of the camera. One look at her face and a star is born. She plays the role of Paro in his underproduction film Devdas. Their relationship devastates Sinha’s marriage. Shanti left the studio and became a teacher in a village school. Suresh loses his Midas touch and his films fail and fortunes decline. He dies playing an extra artiste in the studio where he had directed films in his heydays. Shyam Benegal’s Bhumika (1976) was a satire on the world of cinema. It was the story of Usha (Smita Patil), a heroine, whose search for happiness is strewn with several broken relationships. Based on the autobiography of legendary actress Hansa Wadkar and her search for identity. Usha is brought to Bombay’s film industry by her mother’s lover. She marries Keshav (Amol Palekar) and has a daughter. After a divorce, she falls in love with Anant Nag, a narcissistic actor, followed by an affair with Sunil Varma (Naseeruddin Shah), a young director who turns out to be a weakling. Finally, she becomes the mistress of Kali (Amrish Puri), a rich landlord who takes her to his rural mansion where she has no freedom. Dejected and desperate she returns to Bombay. The story raised many questions of women’s oppression. Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Abhimaan (1973) is about singer Subeer Kumar (Amitabh Bachchan) who marries Uma (Jaya Bhaduri), a village girl. At a party, Subeer persuades his wife to sing a duet with him. After that Uma gets offers to do professional singing in the industry. As the wife’s popularity graph ascends, the husband’s career spirals downwards. Subeer feels threatened by his wife’s success. His frustration tears their relationship apart and Uma suffers a nervous breakdown. Subeer realises his folly and they come together. Mahesh Bhatt’s Arth (1982) traced the metamorphosis of Pooja (Shabana Azmi) who walks out from her marriage when she discovers that her husband Inder Malhotra (Kulbhushan Kharbanda), a film director, is involved with actress Kavita (Smita Patil). Guilt-ridden Kavita succumbs to schizophrenia and leaves Inder to rue the complications that are of his own making. Farah Khan’s Om Shanti Om is the story of Om Prakash Makhija (Shahrukh Khan), a junior artiste, who is in love with superstar Shantipriya (Deepika Padukone).
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