Punch Line: Saif Ali Khan — The Changeover (Part II)

SAK: Being Cyrus

Hum Tum‘s success lay in the fact that it had Saif Ali Khan in the lead. This role was practically written by him, by his very mannerisms in all his earlier comedies…and more importantly, it had opened up an entire new form of comedy in Bollywood. We had moved far, far ahead from the random slapstick fare that earlier constituted comedy. Saif Ali Khan, Boman Irani…these were actors who changed a generic notion. It greatly benefitted the rom-com genre, and movies started being made for the cineplex’s alone, and a new dynamic was added to Indian cinema.

Hum Tum was followed with some sincere performances in quite some many movies that came after it. The likes of Parineeta and Salam Namaste kept Saif’s flags flying at full mast. He was quite the sensation, he swung into the top bracket at once. He had set a market for himself and as of that point in time (or for that matter, even today) there was no one to take the crown away from him.

Every actor would love to be in such a position. It guarantees the next quite some many Fridays. You have your “peeps” to watch your back. And then Saif went and did something very, very different from what we have usually seen him do. Moving far, far away from the usual, came Saif Ali Khan in an English language edgy thriller — Being Cyrus.

SAK: Parineeta

Being Cyrus was different for so many different reasons. It was like the Renaissance of English language films in India. It was no longer restricted to a labeled set of actors, it was now open to all. Saif Ali Khan had chosen English as a language to ‘do‘ some serious cinema, while the rest of Bollywood kept running to Kolkata to star in the next Rituparno Ghosh movie to mark their debut into “serious cinema”. But English was different, because English went across all the major cities of the country. Sure, compared to the grand box office, this was figure is minuscule…but then these movies are shot without luxuries — recovery shouldn’t be such a pain in the ass when the multiplexes will vouch for you. And bring in a Saif, open up an entire new market of audiences exposed multifariously to world cinema.

Being Cyrus bridged a narrowing gap effectively. Two parallel tracks of Indian cinema were finally starting to merge. No longer was Hyderabad Blues a niche audience film. English dialogues started melting into the screenplays, without having a Hindi audio subtitle (like in Border… “Can I come in Sir? Kya main andhar aasakta hoon?” Like come on, choose one language!).

And Saif Ali Khan owned it. All the way. He was cool, he was suave, he was also apparently in the same time zone when Ek Hasina Thi started to pick up on home video. Saif had heralded a new segment to cinema.

And then he signed on for a movie, when everyone thought that the success had made him irrational, that it had gone to his head. “Saif Jokes” re-emerged, his voice modulations were re-enacted in every college canteen.

Saif broke down all his critics. He crushed them into pieces.

(To be continued…)

Punch Line: Saif Ali Khan — The Changeover

Saif Ali Khan: Changeover

There has seldom been perhaps a more dramatic change than this. At least I can’t think of any.

We first saw glimpses of the future in 2002 or so, with Dil Chahta Hain. Till then we wouldn’t care much if Saif Ali Khan was in a film or not. He was never the center of attention, he was never even a byproduct of attention. He was made fun of because of the way he spoke, he was made fun of because we all thought he looked like a girl, and we would laugh at his acting skills for completely different reasons.

SAK: Parampara

What started out with Parampara, way back God knows when (1992 or something maybe) was always a joke. The only little bursts of glory Saif may have achieved was because of Main Khiladi Tu Anari and the “Ole Ole” song from Yeh Dillagi. But those were far and few in number, and seriously could not count for anything.

He tried everything. Literally everything. And nothing clicked. I even checked somewhere that he was in a movie called Surakshaa, where he was apparently in double role, playing the roles of Amar and Prince Vijay. As I said, everything.

He even tried taking the soft core negative route with movies like Kya Kehna, but then again, zilch. Also under the hammer here is Bollywood’s Fargo lift, Love Ke Liye Kuchh Bhi Karega… that was far gone!

SAK: Dil Chahta Hain

And then came 2002, approximately ten years since his first film, and Saif was cast in the role of Sameer in Farhan Akhtar‘s Dil Chahta Hain. If I remember correctly, that was also the year in which Lagaan released and there was this mad frenzy around the movie, what with all the Oscar nod and all. And yet this movie stood out. This movie was equally appreciated, lamented that it released in the same year as Lagaan.

And while discussing Dil Chahta Hain, the movie can be left for another article, the acting by the three protagonists came under the limelight. And Saif was suddenly all we could think of suddenly! He was the funny one, the one everyone was forced to love. He was the ultimate friend, the one who you could always count upon and the one who always made you laugh.

SAK: Kal Ho Na Ho

And then came dessert… Kal Ho Na Ho. The sheer success of this movie was reverberating on every youth’s lips (at least). They knew the banter between Saif and Shah Rukh Khan to the T. They were enacting the “Are you Muhammad Ali?” scene by rote. Saif was big, Saif was the one you knew you’d get your money’s worth on.

SAK: Ek Hasina Thi

And with it came a minor judgement call on his career — the improbability of ever delivering a solo hit at the box office. He was always the guy you never took seriously. How could he pull the entire show by himself? He’d need someone to support him through and through. And after the respected, but denied performance in LOC, came the solo starrer after Kal Ho Na Ho. Ek Hasina Thi opened well, but tanked by the second week. There were other movies to be seen, like Khakee.

Ek Hasina Thi now enjoys a kind of cult status amongst cinephiles.

But he sealed it in his next release itself. Hum Tum, from the Yashraj banner did the same old comedy, only more modernized to suit current sensibilities. Multiplexes gave it all the boost it needed, Hum Tum was a mission accomplished. Right till the point he got his first National Award for the movie (and Filmfare nominated and awarded him the Best Comedian Award [????]) Interestingly, both Awards that year were a joke… but then we digress.

After Hum Tum, everything changed…

(To be continued…)

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