Originally posted by: hotchoco
KJo lost his mind thinking he is a kingmaker and started believing his own hype. He thought he will create his own stars and have them working underneath him like those old Hollywood studio systems of the 1930s and 40s. I don't know why he expanded so quickly - he was making like 10 movies a year and even started a talent management company Dharma-Cornerstone during the pandemic.
Producers usually never lose money even from flops because you can recoup it back through streaming, satellite and music rights. I don't know how it makes any sense that he's having so much financial trouble.
Even now, why can't he sell 49% and keep the majority stake and the power in his own hands? That would free up money for him to make more movies.
The studio system of Hollywood from the 30s-40s is a very apt comparison. Each studio took pride in having the biggest stars with MGM in particular claiming it had more stars than there were in the heavens. The big difference between then and now is that all those stars were self-made. Cinema was in its infancy so there was no generations of film families with star kids who could reap the benefits without the hard work. All the major stars were generally dirt poor and established entirely new identities to escape their pasts (Cary Grant, Joan Crawford, Barbara Stanwyck, etc.) If you had charisma and talent, you could become a star overnight (Judy Garland, Rita Hayworth, Doris Day). The few star kids that existed were usually the children of silent film stars and they never made it as big as their parents.
What KJo has done is create his stable of stars but based entirely on family pedigree and who is backed by who. Nothing to do with talents, personality, or even looks.
Also KJo selects the "stars" himself. He doesn't go by public approval. The big Hollywood studios would groom actors into becoming big stars and wait to see if the public would accept them or not. There were many Greta Garbo/Marlene Dietrich knockoffs that lesser studios tried to make into big stars but failed. These knockoffs got the grooming and star treatment but after 3-4 flop films in a row, that was it for them.
Meanwhile in Bollywood, the likes of Jhanvi has gotten dozens of films and never proved herself in even one of them. Hollywood let the public make a star, but KJo believes it's his right alone and the rest of us should take whatever he says. That we the audience don't know what's good for us, only KJo knows and only he can provide the material. His arrogance has backfired on him.
Part of the reason his early films were accepted is because they didn't make stars. They were already cast with stars like SRK, Kajol, the Bachchans, Hrithik, etc. They already existed and were famous and popular without KJo pushing them. The only one he can be argued as giving stardom was Rani Mukerji. Even then, KKHH gave her the initial push but she was languishing for years after that until Saathiya and YRF cemented her as a leading lady. Ever since the 2010s, KJo has been relying on making new stars and force feeding us them rather than using established ones.
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