Missing in Action

A: As any fanboy can plainly and scornfully tell you,why,its the Proto Goblin,of course.

For those that do not know,the self-same fellow is the villain of the piece in the Spiderman reboot,the fourth part of the mammoth Sony franchise which will have a new webbed hero,and a new bad guy. And the latter,weve been hearing in varying degrees of rising hysteria will be none other than our very own Irrfan Khan. Drum roll.

Really? Is the chance to play bad,hidden beneath unrecognisable latex,such a big deal? Why would Irrfan,one of the finest performers weve got,be happier in Hollywood unless hes been consistently given short shrift in Bollywood? Sure,working in a big Hollywood production is every actors dream,and it cannot get bigger than Spiderman,but it seems like a travesty that were not seeing as much of him on our screens as we should.

In the process of ticking off my favourite performances of last year,I was reminded of those that have gone missing in action. On top of that list was Irrfan,whos been gathering a good buzz in the US via an HBO show,and whos currently filming Ang Lees Life Of Pi. On the home front,though,Irrfan hasnt been as visible. His much-in-the-news biopic on dacoit-turned-athlete Paan Singh Tomar is still awaiting release. He will,finally,be on next month,in Sudhir Mishras Yeh Saali Zindagi,if it opens on schedule.

Why has he disappeared? Does he suspect,as we do,that mainstream Hindi cinema will be hard put to give him the kind of starring role his talent deserves because a) of his non-chocolate-y,and thank god for it,looks and b) because he can act the socks off any Khan or Kapoor? What can you do if you have the deeply interesting face of an Irrfan: Bollywood will give him soggy parts,which he will cream,and then he will look around for more,and find none. In which case,I guess,squaring up to Spidey is preferable to trying to make a dent in the star system in Bollywood.

I missed Tabu,she who can gloriously disappear into a part when shes got a mind to it. Last seen,she appeared in a no-account film in a terrible elder-sister role,being laughably bad and not caring who knew it. Where are the roles for our best female performer? Bollywood,it seems,has none; it will continue to soldier on with those who can fill out sheer body suits in appropriately pneumatic proportions,and expect them to be able to act too. So Tabassum Hashmi aka Tabu is to be found skulking in home town Hyderabad,waiting to be snapped up by,yes,Ang Lee,to get back in the company of Irrfan,in,yes,Life Of Pi. Oh,how the two made Maqbool sing.

Where,for that matter,are the meaty roles for such real actors as Ranvir Shorey? Last year,he had one outing as a corrupt cop in a film that came and went: it was called,appropriately,Emotional Atyachar (his accomplice in the film was his long-time partner Vinay Pathak,who also gets overlooked in the movies he ought be seen in). The one film Shorey did get a full-fledged part premiered on TV late last year: Kaam Ka Plot deserves a full-fledged theatrical release.

Also on my list is Sharman Joshi who did have a film (Allah Ke Banday),which did have him in a part that didnt,hallelujah,require bringing up the rear to Aamir Khan,something he did superbly in both Rang De Basanti and 3 Idiots. In Allah Ke Banday,Joshi got drowned trying to rise above a story which had no hold. The same goes for actors like Deepak Dobriyal who let their work talk for them. His strong role went largely unseen in Bela Negis Daayen Ya Baayen,an indie film that received such a minuscule release as not to matter. Dobriyals the guy who made Saif Ali Khan look good in Omkara,and Saif was no slouch in that film himself.

Speaking of which,I felt Saifs absence in the past year. This is one star who tries getting into character,and does it with élan,when he wants to. Will his still-in-production Agent Vinod be the one? Come on,roll out,roll out. Play it again.

shubhra.gupta expressindia.com