ENTERTAINMENT
When stars shine on telly
Many Bollywood stars are game for acting on television, something that was unheard of a few years back
Surekha Kadapa-Bose

BIG boys playing on TV. Yes, that's the breaking news if you noticed how your favourite filmstars are so often seen on the telly. What was a trickle earlier has become a flood of sorts with big stars vying with TV actors to get their finger in the popularity pie — television. Name any big star — the Khan triumvirate (Salman, Shah Rukh, Aamir), Bachchans (Amitabh, Abhishek), Dharmendra, Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan, Rani Mukerji, Priyanka Chopra, Madhuri Dixit, Shilpa Shetty, Kirron Kher, Sonali Bendre, Vivek Oberoi, directors Karan Johar, Remo Fernandes, Anurag Basu, playback singers Sonu Nigam, Shaan, Javed Ali, Anu Malik, Bappi Laheri, Himesh Reshmiyya, etc. and one will find some of them on some TV channel or the others interacting with common people.

As Aruna Irani, yesteryear heartthrob in films like Bobby, Caravan, Bombay to Goa, Karz and 300-odd films, says, "Dhanda milta hai! There is huge money in TV today. And everybody can make money. So why not?"

Irani, who got into television in 2000 by producing a serial Zamana Badal Gaya and has gone to produce, act and direct several popular serials, including the currently-on-air, Sanskar (Colors), further adds, "Today the small screen is more popular than the big screen. Every house, be it a city slum or far-flung villages in India, has TV sets. Besides our neighbouring countries and NRIs based in other countries also access Hindi programmes. Big screens don't offer that reach, however posh the theatre may be."

Operators of TV channels know that the presence of big stars on their programmes ensures higher TRPs. So, they are willing to offer obscene sums to these stars to appear on their shows. Imagine the size of the cache it offers that it prompted Madhuri Dixit Nene to come back to India with bag, baggage and family to start afresh. Her re-entry in big films could not get her the moolah which TV shows has given her. She has been the judge on one of the popular dance reality shows — Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa Season 4, 5 and now 6 on Colors channel.

According to trade analysts, stars like Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar are paid anywhere between Rs 1 crore and Rs 3.25 crore for a day’s shooting! No film, however big budget it may be, will pay them this kind of money.

Most of these big stars have, so far, not ventured into daily soaps. They are happy doing reality and quiz shows like Kaun Banega Crorepati, Bigg Boss, Dus Ka Dum, Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain, Fear Factor: Khatron ke Khiladi, India’s Got Talent, Jhalak.., Dramebaaz and others. There are, of course, lesser-known actors like Neena Gupta, Kanwaljit, Kiron Kumar, Vidya Sinha, Ravi Baswani, Paintal, Mukesh Khanna and others, who have flooded daily soaps. Yesteryear diva Sridevi did venture into a daily soap, Mrs Iyer but it failed to leave a mark.

Farooq Sheikh, who starred in highly popular films of the 1970s and 1980s bracketed as new wave films like Chashme Baddoor, Saath Saath, Umrao Jaan, Kathaa and the latest being Shanghai, says, "The reservations that filmstars had of working on the small screen is pass`E9 now. The reach of TV is supreme. So why should big stars hesitate to come on TV?"

Sheikh, who has acted in serials like Ji Mantriji, Chamatkar, Shrikant and held a talk show, Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai on Zee TV, says, "The medium is same, only the screen size seems to be different. As TV screens are smaller in size, one’s tone of delivering a dialogue is softer. Just like the way one’s volume differs when addressing a room full of people compared to addressing a ground full of people."

Irani, of course, feels that there is no difference in acting on different-sized screens, "If you slap me, my reaction would be the same irrespective of the screen size. I would cry the same way, or even laugh the same way."

However, everyone agrees that though there is huge money and instant popularity when the serial becomes a hit, TV is hard work. "They really work hard; 12-14 hours a day for 20-22 days a month, which is absolutely unheard of in films," says Sheikh.

When asked knowing the hard work, would Sheikh take up another serial if offered, he said, "Why not? If I get a chance, a good story and conditions that are agreeable to me, then I will certainly take up the project."

Well Sheikh isn’t the only one willing to put in the hard work, for it is rumoured that even Amitabh Bachchan plans to star in a daily soap, to be co-produced by AB Corp. his own production house. If Bachchan starts the ball rolling, will the others be far behind?

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