India is a country obsessed with cinema. The obsession with cinema automatically translates into obsession with its protaganists. From the inception of cinema in India, there have been many stars who have wowed the audience with their aura, enigma, performances and ultimately resulting in the boxoffice successes along with critical acclaims.
Talking of Indian cinema, the first movie industry that comes to mind is Bollywood, the hindi movie industry. Not to disregard any of the regional film industries of India, Bollywood simply because of its wide reach across India whereas mostly other movies are restricted to within their states or a limited population residing in other countries. If we debate on Bollywood, the first Superstar of Bollywood that comes to mind is Dilip Kumar. Probably, India's first method actor and superstar who enjoyed amazing box office success and also gave incredible performances. He chose quality over quantity and did a variety of roles ranging from a Devdas, to a Mughal e Azam, to a Naya Daur to a Ram aur Shyam. From the peerless Ganga Jumna to the poignant Mashaal. Dilip Kumar is considered a pioneer of acting in Bollywood. He enjoyed phenomenal success across nearly two decades. Even during the latter stages of his career, he staged a brilliant comeback with movies such as Mashaal, Kranti, Vidhaata.
During the late 1960's, Bollywood saw the rise of a new superstar. Rajesh Khanna. Rajesh Khanna was an unimaginable superstar. Even though he did not have the conventional looks of a bollywood hero, he just cast a spell across the nation, especially during the years 1969 to 1974 giving 14 consecutive super hits, a record which still stands unbroken in bollywood. From Aradhana to Anand, from Amar prem to Bawarchi to numerous other hits, Rajesh Khanna became the darling of the nation. A heart throb who created a mass frenzy in a cinema obsessed nation like ours. However, Rajesh Khanna's stardom was short lived as his movies began to fail and did not enjoy the kind of craze he was used to. Rajesh Khanna movies though are usually considered to be musical romantic stories, most forget that he gave classics like Anand , Bawarchi etc which did not even have an actress paired opposite him. Changing times, the changing economic conditions of the nation with a lot of anger and frustration amongst the youth of country paved the way for the downfall of the Superstar Rajesh Khanna. The hero was none other then Amitabh Bachchan.
Amitabh Bachchan started with a string of flops and then struck gold with Zanjeer. The movie rejected by many leading stars finally came to Amitabh Bachan and he played the angry young man which the audience lapped up. Movies like Deewar which followed up cemented his place and marked the arrival of Superstar Amitabh Bachchan. People began to identify the Angry Young Man in Amitabh Bachchan which was relevant to the times of the nation. What followed was a humoungous number of hits, superhits, blockbusters across the seventies and eighties that saw Amitabh Bachchan rise to a position which no other actor of his generation was even close to. He enjoyed unparalled success during these times and almost regarded as the superstar of the millenium. That Amitabh Bachchan is still actively doing movies is a testimony to his discipline and his hunger for cinema. However, as all good things come to an end, the Amitabh Bachchan era also had to end.
The eighties was mostly ruled by action, revenge movies stuffed with commercial masala elements. Times change, tastes change and yet again Bollywood saw a new entry, a probable new Superstar. In the year 1988, a very small movie "Qayamat se Qayamat Tak" saw a boyish Aamir khan debut and enter into the hearts of Indian movie goer. The film became a big success and changed the face of Bollywood once again as Bollywood went romantic again. But, for how long was this new star going to last?. How far could he go in the rat race of Bollywood?
PS: Most would disagree that I have left many other big stars such as Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Rajendra Kumar, Manoj Kumar, Dharmendra, Mithun etc from the above post. This is only taking into the consideration the superstars that have made the most impact and lasted in our memories for the most time. Not to demean other stars, this is done taking into consideration the success rate, the critcal acclaim and also the impact that they have created on Bollywood and thus ultimately over Indian cinema.
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