Five days ago, it was the 76th birthday of Sir James Paul McCartney. While he spent it touring the city of his birth and the beginnings of the greatest band ever, I chose to spend it watching A Hard Day's Night, an eternal classic of rock and roll and repartee and, arguably, the most thrilling celebration of the days of Beatlemania. And it was then, on watching my four favourite pop and rock icons have a boisterous ball of a time in jamming, jeering, jesting and then jiving together on the stage, that an idea, albeit one that can never really happen, struck my mind.
What if Bollywood had its own Beatles?
And by Bollywood's Beatles, I did not mean four stellar artists who could produce marvel after marvel of musical revolution (because that would be well nigh impossible). But rather, I meant four Bollywood leading men, who could come together on the screen to play four more-or-less brilliant lads who also happen to share an infectiously hilarious and heartwarming dynamic.
It could be helmed, in an alternate universe, by a filmmaker who really gets comic camaraderie right without playing out the usual cliches (I choose either Raj & DK or Vikramaditya Motwane over Farhan Akhtar and Abhishek Kapoor) and it should also have a cast of not just good-looking lads but rather men who can embrace their own goofy charm and still look like dashing rockers in Beatle-cuts and even those legendary suits and ties. Not to mention, also embody everything that made each of them unique.
So, let's find out who really makes the cut.
Being Richard Starkey aka Ringo Starr is not that easy as it sounds. Unfairly overlooked by some, who are too busy swooning at the other three, Starr was nevertheless not at all the underdog of the band. Called by Lennon as 'a star in his own right..even before we met', Starr's drumming talents and funnyman charm are what lends much bouncy mirth as a foil to McCartney's prodigious skills, Lennon's wry wit and Harrison's laconic introspection.
My first choice was Harshvardhan Kapoor, partly because of his fine tooter of a nose (a signature Starr feature) and partly because the actor likably low-key charm that feels goofy without looking gimmicky. And that toothy grin makes him look like a quiet guy who also wants to have a bit of harmless fun. But on second thoughts, I can see only Rajkummar Rao, with that disarming Cheshire grin and his infallible comic spontaneity making him perfect to play the Beatle who can look both befuddled and cool when making both the sharpest wisecracks and drum smacks.
Being the quiet Beatle and the cosmic-cool thinker of the band, George Harrison is altogether a trickier choice. Instinct demands that we should settle with Ranveer Singh, given that we need some serious edge when carving out the most level-headed member of the group and I almost imagined the naturally fiery Singh nailing that enigmatic stare to perfection.
But being Harrison also demands a cooler, more subtler charm and while there is no doubt of the actor pulling it off, I find the ever-versatile Vicky Kaushal to be more of a fitting decision. Harrison was the dexterous guitarist, the radical and introspective songwriter and the laconic charmer of the gang all wrapped into one and it is only the chameleonic Kaushal who can do justice to all these dazzling facets at the same time.
Every Beatles fan will reckon that there is a lot more to Paul McCartney than just those delicious, molten chocolate boy looks. The man has not been knighted for just making all those screaming girls drop to their stockinged knees more than 50 years ago. Right from winning over the others with his left-handed guitar skills to doubling up as the drummer right down to his unrivalled flair at both melody and orchestration, this man was chock full of daredevilry. Not to forget his vocal range or those memorable bass-lines.
We need a lad to whom there is more than what his sugary looks suggest and the obvious choice has to be Varun Dhawan. Since McCartney was also about boyish mischief and tender affability, we can expect Dhawan to bring those in spades. But he will also bring in the bravado and the unexpected depths of conviction that the star brought in his work to prove the fans of his undeniably more charismatic counterpart wrong.
That brings me to the most crucial bit of casting. I am talking about John Winston Ono Lennon.
Prankster. Poet. Philosopher. Romantic. Raunchy. Rebellious. Lennon was the most outrageous, audacious and awesome Beatle, arguably the most unforgettably sensational Beatle of them all even with the tough competition. He was the guy who could do the most annoying gags and write In My Life, the guy who reads Lewis Carroll and would be cavorting in orgies, who would make the most revolutionary music and sing gibberish like a chipmunk, the guy with a lot of personality but also a hell lot of controversy.
And there is only one man who can essay it all. A man who can be both a bushy-tailed mischief maker and a melancholic dreamer. A man of ladies and yet one who always sings about being lonely and needing help. A man who can crack the most scandalous jokes and spout the most revealing truths of life.
Yes, I am talking about you, Ranbir Kapoor.
So there, we have it. And shoot me but imagining a fantasy list of the most fabulous musical icons having an equally fabulous time on the silver screen is any day better than imagining Bollywood's superheroes and secret agents. Give it a try and find out for yourself.
No comments:
Post a Comment