Rohit Dhawan’s upcoming action comedy Shehzada will be the second big Bollywood release of 2023. The spectacular success of Siddharth Anand’s action drama Pathaan, the first major release of the year, has re-energised the industry. While few will insist that Shehzada can emulate Pathaan’s performance — records are not rewritten every other day – the much-awaited film should get a good start at the box office. The main reason for this expectation is the presence of Kartik Aaryan in the central role.
Does a good start guarantee a satisfying commercial outcome? It does not, as has been exemplified by films that have failed to justify the pre-release hype and tanked.
Shehzada must deliver on its promise of offering larger-than-life entertainment during its runtime of 145 minutes. If that happens, resulting in a box-office success, it will benefit everybody associated with the film. The biggest beneficiary will be Aaryan, since the film’s plot revolves around his character of a young man with wealthy parents who gets switched at birth and grows up in a middle-class household.
Rise from nowhere
A Gwalior boy and the son of doctor parents without filmi connections, Aaryan has made it big in an industry that favours insiders who aspire to have careers in films. He is one of those few actors whose careers have remained unaffected by the spate of failures experienced by the industry after the Covid-19 pandemic slowed down and theatres reopened.
The 32-year-old actor had debuted in Luv Ranjan’s romantic comedy Pyaar Ka Punchnama in 2011. The opportunity came his way when he was studying for an engineering degree in biotechnology in Pune. It took time before he became known as an actor named ‘Kartik Aaryan.’ Appearing on the celebrity witness box of Rajat Sharma’s popular talk show Aap Ki Adalat, the actor had confessed that he was known as the boy who could deliver lengthy monologues for a long time. Viewers, he said, recognised him for who he was much later.
Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, a 2018 romantic comedy also helmed by Ranjan, brought him wide recognition. Today, he is one of the most popular and successful young stars of the Hindi film industry.
Good show in a bad year
Bollywood’s big guns, including Akshay Kumar and Ranveer Singh, were hurt by setbacks last year. Aaryan, however, thrived. Anees Bazmee’s ensemble cast horror comedy Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 was a blockbuster. He also appeared in Shashanka Ghosh’s psychological thriller Freddy, a direct-to-digital film streaming on Disney+ Hotstar. In Freddy, he is a socially awkward scientist looking for a life partner who gets attracted to a girl — and reveals his dark side later. The performance earned him new admirers of the kind that watches offbeat films on streaming platforms.
Challenge for Shehzada
Although 2022 was a good year for Aaryan, Shehzada will be a crucial release for the actor. The Rohit Dhawan directorial, a remake of Trivikram Srinivas’s Telugu language action drama Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo starring Allu Arjun, will hit the marquee on February 17.
Fans of Aaryan and Arjun, who play the same character in the Hindi and Telugu versions, started comparing their performances immediately after the release of Shehzada’s trailer. Moreover, Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo is available online, and quite a few non-Telugu viewers have also watched the film.
After the dubbed version of Sukumar’s Telugu actioner Pushpa: The Rise – Part 1 became a hit, Arjun acquired a significant fan following among viewers of Hindi cinema. Whether or not Aaryan has matched the swagger of the South Indian star will become a bigger topic of discussion on social media after Shehzada’s release. The initial feedback will play a significant role in determining the film’s fate at the box office.
Pathaan is slowing down
Pathaan, a January 25 release, had a fantastic start and went on to break several records. When Shehzada hits the marquee on February 17, the Shah Rukh Khan starrer will be three weeks old at the theatres. If the new release sustains the momentum after a good start, it should be able to combat the challenge of Pathaan at the ticket counters.
Shehzada’s relevance in Aaryan’s career
Aaryan has earned the love of many film-goers in a short time. Some of them will watch Shehzada without waiting for feedback from others and contribute to box-office numbers at the start. However, the film must appeal to these viewers because their feedback will play a key role in determining whether or not it will become a long-distance runner at the ticket counters.
Shehzada’s performance will also prove whether or not Aaryan is convincing as a singing-dancing hero, who can be riotously funny — and also thrash his enemies in gravity-challenging action sequences. The young actor is gifted for sure, but how much he will score in his new assignment remains to be seen.
The author, a journalist for three decades, writes on literature and pop culture. Among his books are ‘MSD: The Man, The Leader’, the bestselling biography of former Indian captain MS Dhoni, and the ‘Hall of Fame’ series of film star biographies. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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