Ten Valentine heroes

With Valentine’s Day round the corner love is in the air. Our cinema has always been a celeb of love. Rarely have we told a story that does not deal with love. Why even ‘Lagaan’ is somewhere a love story as is … The 100 years has thus thrown up many an actor who was salesman of the sentiment. Let us take a look at ten of them:

1. Dilip Kumar: He epitomised love and the scene with the feather and Madhubala has come to be the filmi emblem of the emotion. May be he was the tragic lover who found it hard to fight the near perfection with which he played a Devdas- but look carefully at his filmography and you would notice that the actor brought unmatched passion to his screen romance.

2. Raj Kapoor: The scene from ‘Barsaat’ became the emblem of RK films and RK films in turn reiterated ever so often the theme of romance. In the 50s, he gave romance a physical dimension that none other did and yet it stayed in the realm of the innocent. Oh! Those were the days! ‘Awaara’, ‘Shri 420’, ‘Sangam’…

3. Dev Anand.: Can you believe it that women went weak in their knees when he smiled and walked the silver screen in a crooked manner to match his smile? I cannot remember him playing a rural character that has left an impression. Always urban, surely ever urbane. From Suraiya to Tina Munim, he wooed them all with flowers and chocolates in a style that was clearly from the West.

4. Shammi Kapoor: Love was raw and energetic for the guy who would slide down the snow clad mountains and swim through the cold lake waters but always with a Rafi melody on his lips. His heroines were strangely the one who disliked him initially but could never say no after the first few reels of the film. May be Shanker Jaikishan and Rafi added value but love surely had a new form of startling expression with this Kapoor.

5. Shashi Kapoor: Charm personified. He was a wonderful mix of the Dev charm, the Raj innocence and the Shammi feet. Girls of the 60s would be wild with Nanda who shared the maximum romantic screen space with the guy they would have cuddled.

6. Dharmendra: Strictly speaking he was not the romantic ideal given his brawl and more so the image of the guy who announced that he would have blood on his dining table in place of fruit juice! But even when the all brawl He-man saved the ailing widow of ‘Phool Aur Patthar’, he carried an irresistible charm that made him the Lady’s Man. His off screen romances also perhaps helped the image.

7. Rajesh Khanna: Not without cause was he called the phenomenon. Girls and ladies were willing to marry his poster and what a craze he became. His tryst with romance was slow in coming. After the initial rejection he got into the jeep and wooed a dimpled Sharmila with the magical Mere sapnoki rani … Romance was never the same again till a Valentine evening Shah Rukh Khan reiterated its value three and more decades later.

8. Rishi Kapoor: He inherited romance. First he saw Pappa, then his uncles. He not only inherited the musical elegance of the family but also the romantic voice of Rafi Saab. One actor who withstood the Big B wave. The chocolate hero did not just dance his way into the hearts of the viewer but backed it with dollops of charm and a wonderful smile and matching nibble feet.

9. Shah Rukh Khan: The Shahenshah of romance. Dimple cheeks, and a magnetic charm, he not only reiterated the spirit of romance but also ensured the return of romantic music in his cinema. He started the crores club and with Kajol and many to follow romanced and even as he wondered: Kya yahi pyar hai moved from the vengeful ‘Baazigar’ to the passion filled Veer of ‘Veer-Zara’ with élan.

10. Ranbir Kapoor: The surname is a giveaway. Just as the Khans and their magic is weaning (?) he comes as the heir apparent to the throne of the numerouno. However, in the context of the present, he is the named Rockstar and a true romantic- and if the glossy mags are to be believed even off screen he is the same.

Others have surely done great romantic films but the above ten seem to be the messengers of love, the sales boys whose Marketing manager was always in a good mood. They bring memories of a Happy Valentine.