I just have to paste it here...

YashRaj, Karan Johar, SRK, SLB, Aamir, Salman, etc ZINDABAD!!!

"Commercial cinema the world over is the bread winner of the family, it is the child that doesn't go to school so that the younger one can."

I found this excellent post that talks about commercial cinema, specifically in India but it also touches the scenario in other countries a bit. I totally agree with the viewpoint.

I've noticed (who wouldn't?) the 'attacking' tone in the comment sections of youtube, news articles, etc. from fans of different Bollywood star fandoms esp after media hyped on alleged arguments/fights/disagreements/etc. between some of them.

I don't get it. Why do you believe everything you read? Similarly, why do you have to change how you feel about certain actors/directors/producers/etc. based on other's opinion?

See, I know Aamir is an excellent actor. He has even said that he's No. 1 and relegated Shah Rukh to No. 2, so I guess it must be true.. at least according to him. I dunno how star status is measured in India as I'm not Indian and Shah Rukh has never been interested in the number game. Since I'm his fan and my idol doesn't care about it, so why should I?

But I just can't enjoy Aamir's brand of films as much as I enjoy Shah Rukh's. In fact, I enjoy Govinda's brand of films more than Aamir's.

I watch movies for entertainment. I watch them becoz I have a lot of pent-up emotions in me and there're not enough exciting things happening in my real life to release them, and movies act as that release switch.

See, I spend my day working from 9am to 6pm mainly and go home to either do more work or watch TV or DVDs/surf the net/read books/etc. I'm not a social person so I don't go out much. I'm not active so I don't do sports, participate in societal programs, etc.

I have enough stress in my work so I'm not going to go home all tired, throw my laptop over the table and say, "Oh, let's watch a movie about lovers committing suicide tonight," look up youtube and hit on Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak. Plus, there's an intensity in Aamir's performance that I find I can't stand. I get exhausted just watching him emote. The one Aamir's film I can watch over and over is Rangeela. But that's probably becoz I love Urmila's sexy dance scenes.

Amitabh is superb, but I didn't grow up watching him. I managed to watch some of his hit movies when I was a kid but being a malay-Malaysian, I wasn't brought up in an environment where movies and movie actors are revered the way they are in India or America. I also have this thing about watching old movies by an actor who's already old or dead. I think this state of mind was brought about by River Phoenix's death. I love that boy's films. Then he just went and ODed himself and I couldn't watch his movies anymore. Now it's the same with Heath Ledger.

I'm not into Salman because to me he always has the same face, same physique, same mannerisms in most of his films I've watched. I don't really take it seriously when he's portrayed badly by the media off screen. I mean, what do I know about Salman's personality? His fans love him to death to the extent of proclaiming, "Salman's enemies are my enemies," and so many of them can't have liked him so much if he's so badass, right? But I'm just not able to take all that macho-ness and shirt-offing frequency on screen for too long.

There're several other actors who I thought show great acting in the coupla movies of theirs I've watched: Anil Kapoor, Kamal Hasan, Saif Ali Khan, Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan, Aftab Shivdasani, Emraan Hashmi. I thought Govinda was really good the first time I watched his movie all those years ago before he suddenly disappeared, at least from the hindi movie list shown in Malaysia, so I was happy when Partner was shown on our TV3 channel. It was a laugh riot, and I loved it.

Thing is, I love Shah Rukh in all his films and all his off screen appearances, while those other guys' magic only works for me in some films and it doesn't work for me in their other films. And their off screen personalities don't work for me at all. It's completely a personal choice.

However, even though the public persona of Shah Rukh Khan and all the other stars matter to us, their fans, why should we shove it down everyone else's throat everytime we're talking about them? Why do fans talk about their idols as if they know them inside and out? Have you eaten their food, stayed over at their houses, been invited to their parties, etc.? We only know how they are from what little we see of them on interviews/shows/concerts/etc. They're literally strangers to us... not our jeevan sathi or family members.

I thought it's all about having fun at the movies? Why must I hate Aamir because he derides Shah Rukh everytime his films are releasing/his blog is not getting enough comments, or Salman because he kept having disagreements with Shah Rukh at his ex-girlfriend/girlfriend's film sets/party and afterwards kept harping about the impossibility of resuming their friendship? I'm annoyed. I'm very annoyed. But hate? Naaaa. Their private lives are completely irrelevant to my life, dudes. I couldn't even summon enough energy to be annoyed at Amitabh for his "my TRP vs. someone else's TRP" post. In fact, I thought that and the debate that followed after was severely amusing.

Anyway, back to movies. I agree with Shah Rukh 100%. Movies are supposed to entertain us in that 1.5 - 3 hours we're watching them. There're fans like me who prefer them to be as reel as possible, and there're those who prefer them to be as real as possible.

I love fantasy and happy-ever-after Hollywood films like Lord of the Ring, Harry Potter, Neverending Story, The Matrix, etc. and I love romantic films from Bollywood like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai where the heroes don't get battered every few seconds by the villains.

I can't stand issue-based films for too long as I'm basically an emotional and hot-tempered person that I usually get angry and stressed out with the injustices shown in the films by the time the credits roll.

But I also know that there are people who love niche/issue-based films. And you know what? There's enough in the pipeline to satisfy both sections of the audience.

Do these unreasonably angry fans really want a Bollywood industry without either Aamir or Salman or Amitabh or Shah Rukh or Hrithik... or even Karan Johar, Farhan Akhtar, Sajid Khan, David Dhawan, Yash Chopra, etc.? From all their bitching, that's what I feel. That they want the actors/filmmakers they dislike or hate to just... I dunno... disappear. Unrealistic much?

I think with internet, bitching has become virulent because it's unchecked and sometimes even encouraged in blogs, tabloid/news articles, online interviews, etc. I've been bashed in my blog too (not in this one. It was when I was in a different fandom, not Bollywood), which is why I'm not so crazy about getting comments now. I only open my comment section in case my friends and some nice passersby want to add their input.

Anyway, in my meandering and rambling way, what I'm trying to say is.. chill, people. If you're not so jumpy everytime some star makes scathing remarks about your idol, I doubt that he'd be making such remarks for long. A case of demand and supply?

I'm sure that if only you could look forward to the good things about your idols... and on getting a more interesting life of your own... this obsession about who's better than who, whose movies are doing better at the BO, who's going down or up, etc. will hardly matter anymore.

Just concentrate on the love rather than the hatred. It takes too much energy to hate, and that too towards a stranger. Enjoy your idols in and out of their movies. Live life, be happy. Who knows... tomorrow may never come.