Pushpa, I hate biopics

When the lives of Rajesh Khanna and other heroes are being co-opted by filmmakers as bait for a public OD-ing on nostalgia

I heard with horror recently that a biopic of Rajesh Khanna was in the offing. And that perhaps Farah Khan could be helming it. Why? Because she made a ‘retro’ movie likeOm Shanti Om in which Shah Rukh Khan was made to do Rajesh Khanna (and Jeetu, Dharam Paaji et al) in a song? I can’t think of a single reason why else. While I was wondering whether Akshay Kumar would play him (as Kaka’sdamaad, he gets dibs) or whether Mata Kanganaben Ranaut would stake a claim with a windowpane-shatteringly shrill ‘enough with the nepotism’ battle-cry, I heard that there was a biopic of Kapil Sharma being planned, too. Yes, you heard me right. That’s the range we have going today for biopics.

Perhaps Navjot Sidhu would play Kapil Sharma. Why not? And when Sidhu’s biopic is being made simultaneously, perhaps Ranveer Singh could, in turn, play Sidhu. After all, he has experience playing a cricketer from the ’80s. And Singh could juggle between this role and the one where he’s playing Govinda in a biopic titledChi Chi Number 1. I mean, sartorially, who better than Ranveer Singh to portray Govinda.

I think this nonsense has to stop. Not because biopics are bad per se or that Rajesh Khanna doesn’t deserve a biopic but because of where we are heading with regard to wallowing in past glory. Not to mention the lazy, diabolical intent with which the lives of ‘heroes’ living, dead and just born, are being co-opted by third-rate filmmakers as bait for a public that’s OD-ing on the hallucinogen called ‘Those were the days’.