Dead-end hat-trick

Aamir Khan is all set to complete a death hat-trick on-screen with his next release, writes Piyush Roy.

Aamir Khan is all set to complete a death hat-trick on-screen with his next release, Fanaa. The film is the third within a year, after Mangal Pandey and Rang De Basanti that has Aamir’s character getting killed in the end for taking the law in his hands.

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Not discounting the fact that Aamir’s debut as a hero happened with a Romeo Julietes que Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988), is Aamir in contest for the title of Gen Now’s tragedy king (Shah Rukh Khan is the only other current star to have died so often)?

Writer Kamlesh Pandey of RDB says: “Since Dilip Kumar’s deaths guaranteed box-office hits in the 50s, directors cashed in on the trend. The act of death became romantic.” However, Aamir’s onscreen deaths in the last two releases have not been romantic.

They are in fact giving a twist to Manoj Kumar’s Mr Bharat genre, using the act of dying to highlight a failed cause and reawaken India. “Be it DJ (RDB) or Mangal Pandey, death becomes a statement,” says Pandey. Aamir’s death in Fanaa, sources reveal, is courtesy his character of a hero who takes to terrorism.

“You are bound to die if you play certain doomed characters,” says Dinesh Raheja, veteran filmwriter. “Romantic heroes have always carried death scenes better, especially Dilip Kumar and Rajesh Khanna. However, Aamir’s take on death is unique.” Raheja terms Aamir’s death trilogy as “sheer coincidence because Aamir is too intelligent an actor to fall into box-office stereotypes.”