Plan B to avoid sad showbiz endings

As we all woke up to the New Year and barely had the celebrations died down, breaking news of a young and promising actor’s suicide jolted us out of our reverie. It was the news of actor Uday Kiran’s suicide at his apartment at Srinagar Colony in Hyderabad in the late hours of the previous night!

His sudden demise moved the Telugu film industry and common public alike and posed many an unanswered question and raised million other doubts about the inside stories of Tollywood. It also killed the fantasies of many aspiring and rising stars of Tollywood. It questioned the safety and security offered by the showbiz, the opportunities and threats from the industry. His death had influenced the mindset of the wannabe stars. Perhaps it is a clear battle between starlets with “Talent But No Support “(TBNS), and that of the “Stars From Filmi Families” (SFFF)!

The young brigade across the country strongly believes that Cinema is the Mecca to actualise their creative abilities and talents. To add to the fuel of creative urge, the success of a nobody with one film and the subsequent craze he/she gets in the media reaffirms the innate inclination of young minds to test their future career in filmdom. Actually, the success rate of such new stars to reach those heights is very minimal, but that never deters people from reaching Krishna Nagar (where aspiring movie cast and crew live) or Annapoorna Studios or director Teja’s house (who is known to have introduced hundreds of newcomers to the industry including Uday Kiran), with millions of dreams! The young talent from every nook and corner of the state finds cinema as the ultimate platform to showcase their talents as actor, filmmaker etc. Cinema is the ultimate form of comprehensive art, where 24 frames and 64 arts meet at one point. The wannabe stars come seeking opportunities and ready to work hard, but unwilling to have a Plan B - What will they do if and when things go wrong?

The Uday Kiran episode had inevitably made everyone to look back into the annals of Tollywood, Bollywood and other film industries, where the stars have committed suicide in the past. The on-screen magic of the stars have seen some off-screen tragic ends, which over-shadowed the glory they enjoyed, or assumed to have enjoyed in their life.

Diva Divya Bharathi committed suicide on April 5, 1993, at the age of 19, she was the youngest heroine who shot to fame in Tollywood and Bollywood with films like ‘Bobbili Raja’, ‘Rowdy Alludu’, ‘Assembly Rowdy’, ‘Deewana’ etc. The same pain was felt by the public, when Silk Smitha committed suicide on September 23, 1996. She had the credit of working for more than 450 films in South cinema and Bollywood, and wooed the audience with her vamp roles and club songs.

The lesser-known stars of yester years like Sugandhini (Jagame Maya), Vijayasri (Manchi Kutumbam), Leela Rani (Vintha Katha) too put an end to their lives abruptly.

Likewise, Monal (Actress Simran’s sister) and Alphonsa of ‘Amma Naanna O Tamil Ammayi’ fame ended their lives apparently for similar reasons. And the mysterious deaths of Prathyusha (died on February 23, 2002) of ‘Kalusukovalani’ and ‘Bhargavi’ (died in December 2011) of ‘Ashta Chamma’ fame are examples of the blood and tears in the real life of the stars.

Tollywood, at present, is flooded with the young talent with great expectations and bundles of energy, efficiency and hard work. Previously, the number of young heroes, from the NTR-ANR era to the Chiranjeevi-Bala Krishna-Nagarjuna-Venkatesh generation, was a miniscule number.

But the contemporary Tollywood is presenting a new face every week and of them at least 10 newbies are getting noticed with their first two movies and as they are just about to find a foothold, another bunch of 20 newbies are overtaking them.

The young stars like Varun Sandesh, Sundeep Kishan, Harshvardhan Rane, Nikhil, Aadi, Nani, Sharwanand, Madhavilatha, Sanjjana, Gayathri, Swathi Reddy, Sri Divya, Nanditha etc have been around for some time with some highs and lows.

Tarun started his career in 2002 with a blockbuster ‘Nuvve Kavali’, while Varun Sandesh with ‘Happy Days’, Raja with ‘Anand’, Nani with ‘Ashta Chemma’, Sharwanand with ‘Vennela’, Nikhil with ‘Swami Raa Raa’. Several new and young heroes like Nagraj, Avasarala Srinivas, Sri Vishnu, Abhijeet and Harish have made their entry into the big bad world of cinema and created a buzz with their performances. Do they have their plans in place just in case things go wrong?

Everyone knows that success and stardom change every Friday. Yesteryear actors like Sobhan Babu and Murali Mohan shifted their attention even when they were in their hey-days and found alternative careers besides films. Now, a few of the young ones are following their steps and establishing themselves as entrepreneurs, producers and venturing into new avenues, balancing the films and businesses simultaneously. Tarun got into hospitality by opening a restaurant and a pub; Nani and Sharwanand have turned to film production (D for Dopidi and Ko ante Koti) respectively. Kamal Kamaraju of ‘Avakai Biryani’ has found an alternative in theatre, paintings and architecture. Raja, who tried to commit suicide a few years, has re-invented himself to take up character roles and as a counselor for fellow depressed actors.

Ileana, despite having a successful movie career, quickly teamed up with her mother and sister to set up a boutique in Hyderabad.

There are also some smart ones in the young brigade who realised how fickle the showbiz is and have changed gears. One such example is Gayathri of ‘Happy Days.’ Although she got many offers after the super hit ‘Gabbar Singh’, she took a break from films to fly abroad for higher studies for her future career, should her filmi career end as a flop. They should take a leaf out of senior actors like Roja and Ali who have successful shows of their own on TV. The trick is to reinvent themselves. Even Big B Amitabh Bachchan had to do that to get over his lean period. It was ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ that helped him in his second innings.

At the end of the day, it is all about looking for opportunities and making the best use of what comes and at the same time, keep a Plan B ready. Those who fail to do so may end up having ‘The End’ cards played prematurely in their lives.