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Camp Bollywood

And they literally rule Bollywood.

Take the example of Karan Johar. None of his films are complete without the trademark Shah Rukh Khan. Similarly Suraj Barjatya had a leaning towards Salman Khan, David Dhawan must have Govinda in his films, Sanjay Gupta must have Sanjay Dutt and Dharmesh Darshan has a fascination for Akshay Kumar. The word ‘Camps’ is probably the new mantra in Bollywood.

Stars, both established and upcoming, fight their way just to stick to or get into one particular camp.

The Johar camp

The Johar camp movies have more or less the same star-cast. As far as his movies are concerned, Karan must sign Shah Rukh Khan, he will have Farah Khan, he will get Kajol (if she’s available) and definitely Rani in some sort of cameo too, and of course Manish Malhotra to do the costumes.

According to Karan Johar, Rani, Shah Rukh and Kajol are the three lucky mascots for him. He even created a small appearance for Kajol just to add that lucky factor to his film KANK. Lately, Kareena makes a re-entry into the Karan Camp. She learnt her lesson when she stormed out of it. She later had to apologise. Shows how powerful these camps really are.

Ram Gopal Varma camp

Most of Urmila’s movies done in Ram Gopal Verma’a camp were great successes. Stars like Nisha Kothari, Jiah Khan are part of Ram Gopal Varma’s Camp. After a four-year long association with the maverick filmmaker, Antara Mali is ready to go independent. So far she has acted only in films produced by Ramu’s Factory. Now he seems to be obsessed with the Bachchans and it is also visa versa. Lets see how this ‘marriage’ works.

The Chopra camp

Their dedication and determination in the production of films reflect in their movies. The actors are repeated in almost every film: Shah Rukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukerji, Preity Zinta, Amitabh Bachchan are regulars with Yash Raj Films and Dharma Productions. Incidentally, Saif and Rani are regulars with the Yash Raj camp by and have given many hit films like Hum Tum, Tara Rum Pum etc.

Amitabh Bachchan is the only actor, having worked with Varma as well as Chopra.

The Bhatt camp

Mahesh Bhatt has restrained actor Emraan Hashmi from signing films outside the Bhatt camp. The Bhatt camp has almost all the new stars like Emraan Hashmi, Kangana Ranaut, Shiney Ahuja, Mallika Sherawat, Ashmit Patel, Shaad Randhawa, Mohit Suri etc.

Not to forget the fact that the Bhatt Camp and the RGV Camp are the only camps which give a chance to the new comers who enter the industry.

In Bollywood, entering camps has become important. The word camp means power. Multi starrers are here to stay. Single hero/heroine movies are becoming a rarity. There aren’t many actors who are surviving because of their acting abilities. Everyone has his or her camps. Shahrukh Khan, Abhishek Bachchan —Karan Johar and Adi Chopra; Sanjay Dutt —Sanjay Gupta and Vidhu Vinod Chopra; Bobby Deol —Abbas Mastan; Akshay Kumar —Priyadarshan and Abbas Mustan and so on. Even Salman relies more on his home productions than anything else.

Aishwarya Rai v/s rest of Bollywood camps:

Ash is in a rather shaky position as she somehow stood alone until she became a Bachchan. She had upset a number of stars. Aamir Khan vowed never to work with Ash because she acted pricey. Hrithik Roshan’s dad thought Ash was too old to work with Hrithik. Salman Khan was obviously out after their affair went sour. Vivek Oberoi is a definite no-no. Shah Rukh Khan’s last movie with Ash was Devdas and now with all the enemity we doubt he’s in the Bachchan good books either. SRK had a bad experience with Ash too. So Ash was left with only a couple of heroes like Abhishek, Sanjay Dutt (too old) Zayed Khan (too young).

Recently Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik, Salman Khan and Saif Ali Khans met at a private party to create a strong bond. The old rivalry between Salman and SRK was forgotten and these stars decided to boycott Aishwarya. So now we will have Ash working with only Abhishek in the forthcoming movies.

Amitabh-Abhishek and SRK’s relationship went sour during Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehnaa and smaller camps were formed soon after. So it was Shah Rukh-Preity-Rani-Karan in one and Amitabh-Abhishek in another. Karan somehow needs to balance between the two camps. He is far too diplomatic when it comes to choosing between them. He is clever and knows where his bread is buttered. He is successful so each camp needs to pamper him.

Though the Bachchans and SRK say their so-called rivalry is a media creation, those claims have often been contradicted when they've taken public potshots at each other.

So there seem to be two clear groups in Bollywood now —the Bachchans and the Khans.

Aamir Khan:

Lets hail Aamir Khan. He is the only actor who does not feel the need to be in any camp. He is independent of all these politics in Bollywood. Probably the only actor who is totally secure in Bollywood. He knows his job and does it well.

But the rest of the industry definitely needs these camps to feel secure and wanted.

“One gains allot being attached to a camp/ production house, one grows with it and in the meanwhile develops a healthy working relationship with the house or camp,” says a trade analyst. “It’s the name of the game. And it shows in the films. Karan Johar has a superb rapport with Shah Rukh and therefore feels comfortable working with him in all his films. This 'comfort level' can also be seen when Rakesh Roshan directs Hrithik Roshan or Ram Gopal Verma directs Urmila Matondkar. Of course Shah Rukh is also the favourite of Yash and Aditya Chopra.”

He continues, “If a combination of people succeed in giving a hit, producers have all the more reason to repeat the cast. But don’t get me wrong. If people have talent, they do get a chance. For eg: take the case of Rani Mukherjee. Karan Johar did cast her in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. It would also be wrong to say that actors get a chance only by virtue of being in a camp. Though Urmila Matondkar and Antara Mali have been constant factors in the Ram Gopal Varma camp they surely have talent. If a producer is spending so much money he wouldn't take a risk. With Ramu it was the attraction towards his very talented leading ladies too.”