Who Will Control The Control Freaks?

When stars start lording it over their directors and technical crews, they're likely to crash and burn. Shahid Kapoor, we're looking at you

It's about time they woke up and smelt the espresso. As soon as an actor believes that he's a know-it-all about the fundamentals of his profession, he's set himself up for a bad fall. Enforced changes in the scripts, a gross indifference to the vision of the director in charge and the tendency to lord it over the technical crew and the rest of the cast are tantamount to asking for deep trouble.

Known - behind their backs albeit - as 'control freaks', Bollywood's successful stars seem to suffer from amnesia about their fledgling days, when they strove ever so hard to achieve the one hit that would earn them their all-too-elusive fame and fortune.
Perhaps, in recent years, Amitabh Bachchan is the only exception to the rule. The 73-year-old thespian has consistently followed a professional work ethic.

MEN ON THE EDGE: (top to bottom)Even the usually affable ImranKhan demanded more screen time in the gangster flick Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai Dobara;Akshaye Khanna (left, with co-star Saif AliKhan in Race)
is prone to moody behaviour
Punctual and unfussy on sets, Bachchan does brainstorm extensively with his producers and screenplay writers, but once he has accepted a project, he insists that he's there only to carry out the dictates of the team. Not surprisingly, he continues to assign the major credit to writers Salim-Javed and directors Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Prakash Mehra, Yash Chopra, Ramesh Sippy and Manmohan Desai, for his most memorable films.
By contrast, today's actors cross the line and become nightmares to work with. Take the most recent example: Shahid Kapoor. He replaced Madhuri Dixit as the chief jury person on this year's season of the popular TV reality dance show, Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa. Instantly, reports trickled in from the show's sets in Film City that he was interfering at every point with the creative team. Plus, he was visibly rude to the pleasant-natured host Manish Paul, who could do little but grin and bear it. Described as "an epochal disaster" by TV critics, the show's TRP ratings nosedived drastically.
Just as calamitously, Shahid's smug performance in Shaandaar, directed by Vikas Bahl of Queen fame, demonstra-ted that the actor could also make a mess of a role that otherwise had potential. As an insomniac wedding planner, he was overwrought. Moreover, he just couldn't strike up palpable chemistry with the perky Alia Bhatt.
Evidently, the 34-year-old actor requires a director who won't permit him to do his own shtick before the camera - like Vishal Bharadwaj did in the case of Haider (and Kaminey, well before that), extracting a performance that was nuanced and evoking empathy from the audience.
In fact, before his career received a second lease of life with Haider, Shahid's acting calibre had ranged from the forgettable (Milenge Milenge and Teri Meri Kahani) to the desperate bid to appeal to the masses with an over-the-top act in R.Rajkumar, memorable merely for its risible song and dance number Gandi Baat.
Before him, there have been quite a few instances of promising careers that went seriously awry because of the
actors' delusions of grandeur. Reportedly, Vivek Oberoi would butt in, even with a director as eminent and respected as Mani Ratnam, while working on Yuva. And, for some inexplicable reason, Akshaye Khanna - a natural-born actor - would sulk on location and at publicity photoshoots of Subhash Ghai's Taal. Not done.
Aware that he got far too big for his boots, Vivek is currently attempting to mend his ways. Meanwhile, at the age of 40, Akshaye seems to have opted for premature retirement, till offered a worth-his-while project  - something easier hoped for than achieved. A pity that, because Khanna's track record can boast of more impressive performances, as in Border, Dil Chahta Hai, Humraaz, Race and Gandhi, My Father.
Over to Imran Khan, who's under-going a turbulent phase. He may not be excessively argumentative with the director. Yet, when he acted up vis-à-vis the importance apportioned to him in Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai Dobara, producer Ekta Kapoor didn't take to it too kindly. After all, Akshay Kumar was the more marketable star in the gangster flick. So, whatever prompted Imran to complain? Consequently, his next project, Milan Talkies, under Ekta's production banner, was shelved. The no-show of his romedies, Gori Tere Pyaar Mein and the recent Katti Batti, affirms that Imran needs to clean up his act as well.
Bollywood lore, of course, lists Imran's real-life uncle, Aamir Khan, and Akshay Kumar as the ultimate control freaks. The final edit has to get their go-ahead, which can be nerve-racking for a director wary about star intervention. To a degree, both Aamir and Akshay have sorted this out by featuring mostly in films produced by themselves. Whenever they accept 'outside assignments', it's essentially with filmmakers with whom they share a comfort zone.
Expectedly, Salman Khan does his own number, especially when it comes to dialogue writing and dubbing, as well as the dance moves designed by the choreographer. In addition, his father Salim Khan has often had to give his nod of approval to the final product - except when Salman's under the charge of an unswayable director like Sooraj Barjatya, who elevated the actor to stardom with Maine Pyaar Kiya and Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!.
The moral of the story, then, is that actors are at their most accomplished, and earn the respect of their teams, when they're in line with the director. After all, a film is conceived by filmmakers and not by actors. In return for their professional fees, actors should do their job instead of poking their noses into areas that are beyond their comprehension.
At this very moment, Shahid Kap-oor needs to learn that lesson, and faster than his dance moves.