Clamour For Stardom

Kollywood is experiencing a ���������������������������hero boom���������������������������, as lots of people are turning heroes.
In the last eight months, nearly 20 guys have debuted as heroes, and most of them have remained one film wonders. Yet, everybody ��������������������������� from the light boy to an established hero���������������������������s brother or cousin ��������������������������� wants to turn into a hero in Tamil cinema!
Remember, some of the biggest stars in Tamil cinema have come up the hard way.Rajinikanth, who is now a superstar, began his career as a poor bus conductor while Kamal Haasan, who began his career as a child artiste and dancer, has risen to the level of being called a living legend. Vikram, a talented guy who used to dub for others, finally made it big, thanks to his grit and determination. Their struggles to achieve stardom is a story by itself.
Take a look at the number of new heroes who have launched themselves in the past few months ��������������������������� Pa Vijay, Tarun Gopi, Vishnu, JK Ritheesh, Kanal Kannan, Krishna, Aadi, RK, Ratan, Siddharth, Ravi Ganesh, Aravindan, Aditya and Ramakrishna. Every time a new face like a Sasikumar or a Jai tastes box-office success, a new crop of cash rich guys want to become ���������������������������the next big thing in Tamil cinema���������������������������. Today, the new breed of heroes are all in a hurry to achieve stardom, especially those with industry connections who believe stardom to be their birthright and superstardom, a cakewalk.
Most of these guys fund their own films and later release them in 30 to 40 centres on their own by hiring theatres for a week. Their maiden venture, costing anywhere between Rs 2.5���������������������������4 crore, mostly end up as flops and do not cover the cost of the posters and newspaper publicity. After a week���������������������������s run, the film boxes come back to the producer���������������������������s office, and in a few days time, they are shown on television channels starved of film-based content as ���������������������������putham puthu padam���������������������������!
In no other film industry in the world is there such a craze among ordinary people to turn into film stars. Even in Bollywood, those with filmi backgrounds do have a big edge over those with no industry connections or godfathers. (The answer to the question, who was the last actor who was successful in Bollywood without any filmi background, should be King Khan!) However, in Mumbai, the aam aadmi (ordinary person) is not turning into a hero by producing films like in the Chennai film industry. According to a film historian, the craze to turn into a Tamil film hero among the rich and poor is due to the nexus between Tamil politics and cinema. Most of the ordinary people believe that stardom is necessary if you have to be successful in Dravidian politics following the success of Vijayakanth, Napoleon and recently, JK Ritheesh, for whom films have been a stepping stone to politics. They reel out the names of popular leaders who have made it big in TN politics and their filmi connections.
Meanwhile, the ���������������������������hero boom��������������������������� continues as seven new guys are being launched as heroes this month, before aadi maasam which starts on July 17. Please note the film industry welcomes all new heroes with open arms as they will be bringing around Rs 30 crore to the industry that will keep a few thousands employed.