Blog: An open letter to Govinda 
By IndiaFM News Bureau, December 21, 2006 - 04:42 IST
Today is Govinda’s birthday. Here is wishing him a very happy birthday!
Readers may wonder that out of all the filmstars, why would I wish Govinda? Firstly, it’s his birthday. Secondly, I am a huge fan of Govinda, notwithstanding his loud dressing style (which he has improved over the period of last few years) and his large girth. Lastly and most importantly the man’s on the verge of proving himself all over again.
The man has been down and almost out for over a few years now. He’s had a disastrous run at the box office. It’s not surprising that Govinda’s last hit was, Haseena Maan Jaayegi (1999) directed by David Dhawan with Sanjay Dutt, Karisma Kapoor, Pooja Batra, Paresh Rawal, Anupam Kher and Aroona Irani as his co-stars.
After that, he’s had string of flops. Believe it or not, he’s had 21 flops in a row.
Will the king of comedy be able to make a come-back? Will he be able to do a better job in his second innings as an actor? Will he be more selective about the movies he does? Personally, I feel a strong yes for all the above three. Because all said and done, the man is talented, natural, hard working and inspite of his problems he’s been having over the last 7 years, he still has some good friends in the film industry.
What do you guys think?
Be that as it may, now the man seems to have cleaned up his act and seems to be raring to have a second go at his profession. He’s currently riding high on two new releases. First to hit the big screen tomorrow is Bhagam Bhag directed by Priyadarshan and also starring Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal, Lara Dutta and Tanushree Dutta. Of course, in Bhaagam Bhaag, Govinda’s doing what he does best, comedy.
The second movie which would be released after Bhagam Bhag is Nikhil Advani’s Salaam-E-Ishq. This movie is a super-star-studded with Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor, Akshaye Khanna, John Abraham, Sohail Khan, Govinda, Priyanka Chopra, Juhi Chawla, Ayesha Takia, Vidya Balan and Isha Koppikar. The music of the film is by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and the movie is clearly one of the most eagerly awaited movies in recent times.
Another big mistake he made was choosing wrong films and filmmakers. I have read in the media that Subhash Ghai had offered Govinda was offered Anil Kapoor’s role in Taal. The movie had Akshaye Khanna and Aishwarya Rai in the lead. However, since he did not want to play second fiddle to Akshaye Khanna, he refused the film.
Another role that he refused was that of Chunnilal in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas which was eventually done by Jackie Shroff. Devdas had the enviable star cast of Shahrukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit. Although his role may not have been anything to write home about, it was a big hit nonetheless and he would have had another feather in his cap. Another notorious habit that had all the producers fuming at Govinda is his habit of coming famously late on the sets. They would have had to incur huge losses due to his problem with keeping time commitments.
Thereafter, he had problems on his personal front with rumours of his marriage being on rocks, his alleged affairs with his leading ladies and the fateful accident his family met while on their way to Ajmer Sharif this year. In the interim, he also entered politics and won the general election from Mumbai by defeating a Bhartiya Janata Party heavyweight Ram Naik. All was not good on that front as well as there were rumours that he’s neglecting his constituency and not doing much as a politician.
And the reason for the movies to flop was because he did the same thing again and again and the audience just got bored of him. I don’t think he was criticized for his histrionics and dancing as he was for being repetitive. Govinda has one of the best comic timings in the film industry today. And inspite of his weight issues, he’s one of the best dancers we have in the industry. His acting, like his dancing, is effortless and he’s a complete natural.
Consider this - in 1998 when he starred with Amitabh Bachchan in Bade Miya Chote Miya, directed by David Dhawan, Govinda completely overshadowed Amitabh Bachchan in the film and was considered the next big actor of that decade. However, that was then when he was having the time of his life and probably became over-confident that nothing could go wrong with his career. And that’s when the worst happened. The phase from 1999 – 2006 must have been the worst seven years of his life.
Munnu Mobile’s blog can be accessed at http://munnumobile.blogspot.com/
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