Needed : Indian lesson for Stallone

It happens now and then. Especially in moviedom. Stars who are accustomed to arclights can not breathe `out of focus.' They try to prove the world that they can still grab the focus of the public. Many a stars and superstars have fallen prey to this attitude and some have really been sussessful in the endeavour. An actor after carving a larger than life image for himself, is assigned a measured time as his careerspan based on the experiences of past performers. Only a Amithabh or Rajnikant here or Marlon Brando there can outlong this careerspan. Examples of men who either proved to the world that they can overlive their prescribed and expected careerspan or perished in the process of attempting this can be found dime a dozen. But someone crying out loud to grab attention of public, and that too in Hollywood, was never heard of. And when that long unexpected thing happened, it could not become so curious as name of the person behind that cry. That man is Sylvester Stallone.

One who is nourished on a regular dose of Bollywood, Hollywood and all other flicks, needs no introduction of Sylvester Stallone. The 'Rocky' of the Seventies and 'Rambo' of the eighties someshow was overshadowed in Nineties and afterwards. This action hero is now 60 years old and feels sidelined in Hollywood. He thinks it's time to show people that careers of guys like him can last long after most people retire, and he sets out to prove it in his new movie, "Rocky Balboa." "People are living longer. They are healthier. They have more ambition, more energy, yet society is telling them to move aside," Stallone told Reuters. The movie "Balboa," will be released in US theaters on December 20. It is the sixth movie in 'Rocky' series that began with 1976's "Rocky." Stallone famously raised about $1 million to make that low-budget film based on a screenplay he wrote and would not sell to Hollywood's studios unless he was the star. It subsequently went on to become a cult hit and established Stallone as the Superstar even before Rambo appeared on the scene. It also gave birth to various copied movies in India and elsewhere, the notable being `Boxer' starring Mithun Chakraborthy and 'Main Intequam Loonga,' a Dharmendra starrer.

The original movie tells of a hapless boxer, Rocky "The Italian Stallion" Balboa, who overcomes huge odds to better his life. It became a surprise smash hit, earning over $117 million at US box offices, ($362 million in today's dollars), winning the Oscar for best film, and making Stallone a worldwide star. Four other movies followed the Philadelphia boxer through various stages -- career success, family troubles and bankruptcy. Stallone said the lovable lug has been championed by fans because he is humble, can be self-deprecating and is sometimes fearful of what life offers. "He has an almost childlike naivete in the body of a very courageous fighter," Stallone said. Stallone said he wanted a nobler ending to the "Rocky" series than in 1990's "Rocky V," in which Balboa fights a young boxer he trained to help save himself from financial collapse. Stallone, who wrote and directed "Balboa," said he spent 6 1/2 years trying to get the movie made and most Hollywood studio executives scoffed at the idea. Eventually new management came in at the MGM studio which owns the "Rocky" films, and they helped Stallone raise $20 million -- a small amount by studio standards -- to make the movie.

People in India, especially those in media and movies, tend to teach us about the excellence of Hollywood. But apart from the unacademic lure of the Indian movies, developments like these show that Hollywood can take a leaf out of us. We have more than one persona who have showed time and again that they need not go through tests once their mettle is unarguably proved. Take Amitabh Bachchan for example. The man who ruled Hindi movie industry for more than two decades, is now 65. Full five years more than Stallone. But he is still busiest actor in country. And if Stallone was a king in the Ring, Amitabh was the Shahenshah of action. But after a point in his career, he remained out of glare of cameras for about two years. Then he came again. Not 'Don'ning his usual 'Angry Young Man' image but with a reinvented look of a sophisticated elder. Welded with the family dramas filled with Indian ethos, this elderly actor has now transgressed to yet unreached territories for Hindi cinema. Amitabh's resentful young actor might have been popular in Egypt and Mauritius, but his new avataar is now buzzword in places like Germany.

A second example is that of Southern superstar Rajnikant. This actor is playing almost unifocal roles for more than twenty-five years, and still going places. He is the second most paid star in Asia (Pay: Approximately two million rupees per movie.) He had also at times put off his movie assignments, but every time he did so, managed to return with a bang. And with a bigger bang for that. He has not altered his image for a long time, but has experimented with the themes in the same set ups. That has endeared him to the public more and more. He did not nor does not require to say to public, that he wants to prove 'a certain point' throgh his projects. Besides all these, Indian movie world is filled with people who have defied their age and set the screen on fire. Dileep Kumar, a stalwart in his own right, worked wonders in Saudagar in 1991, when he was more than 75 years old. Mohanlal, Mammooty, Chiranjeevi, Nagarajun...these are some of the actors in Indian films, who are past their forties and in some cases, even past their 50s but are not only have a footing in industry but also giving young performers a run for the money. They are playing usual Hero in the run-of-the-mill ventures as well as doing some memorable, so called 'meaningful' roles. That's why when Stallone claims to try to prove something, it sounds so unconvincing. And to return to his basic film for such an attempt is most fallacious. 'Balboa' might come out as a good movie. But to relate it to one man's attempt to gain a footholding sucks the enjoyment out of it. Instead of banking on such fallacies, he should go on striking and shooting, the way we all liked him till now. C'mmon man, show must go on.