The more the merrier

When this trend started waning,the next generation of actors like Anil Kapoor,Jackie Shroff,Sunny Deol and Sanjay Dutt were keen on single-hero projects. Javed Akhtar,who co-wrote films like Sholay and Deewar,feels it’s the rise in the number of actors and their insecurities that had caused this shift. “Earlier,actors were united and more than happy to work together,” he recounts.

However,nothing is constant in Bollywood. The ensemble cast returned gradually — duly accompanied by box-office success — in the late 90s. Dil Chahta Hai helped boost the career of Saif Ali Khan and Akshaye Khanna,Yuva worked wonders for Abhishek Bachchan and,more recently,Rock On!! did the same for Arjun Rampal.

Today,multi-starrers are back in vogue. The A-listers in Bollywood are willing to look beyond solo-hero movies. This explains the cast of some of the most-awaited films,which are nothing short of coups. Zoya Akhtar’s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (Hrithik Roshan,Farhan Akhtar and Abhay Deol),Rajkumar Santoshi’s Power (Bachchan,Sanjay Dutt,Anil Kapoor and Ajay Devgn),Anees Bazmi’s No Problem (Dutt,Kapoor and Akshaye Khanna) and Madhur Bhandarkar’s Dil To Bachcha Hai Ji (Devgn and Emraan Hashmi) — all scheduled for release over the next six months — will only go on to consolidate this trend.

Devgn,who clearly leads the trend,says that the emergence of better and more complex scripts has triggered the resurgence of multi-starrers. “A one-hero film often ends up being one-dimensional. If films are being made these days that consist of many strong characters — like Raajneeti where I worked along with Ranbir Kapoor,Arjun Rampal and Nana Patekar — then it demands such large casts,” he points out. According to Anil,multi-starrers are back because audiences and filmmakers are ready to experiment with unexplored subjects. “When themes are more real,there is no hero or villain,only characters,” he says.

Trade pundits are of the opinion that multi-starrers were an offshoot of the filmmakers’ attempt to lure crowds to theatres. Now,of course,it’s more script-driven. “If Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan even come together,it would definitely generate interest. But if the script doesn’t work,the interest won’t be enough to recover the Rs 300 crore which is likely to be spent on such a project,” says Ritesh Sidhwani of Excel Entertainment. His production house brought Hrithik Roshan and Farhan Akhtar together in Luck By Chance and is also producing Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. “The audience is wiser. Today,if a particular script doesn’t work,even the presence of multiple actors won’t help,” he adds.

According to Bhandarkar,actors squabbling over more prominence in a film often discouraged directors from working with multiple actors. “Apart from that,it can shoot up the budget manifold. At the same time,actors are more professional today. Major actors don’t work without a bound script. So there is ample clarity on characters,” says the director.

So far,Indian audiences have mostly seen veteran actors joining hands for multi-starrer projects. Can movie-buffs now dream of Imran Khan and Ranbir in a single frame?