The rise and fall of Anupam Kher

Victoria 203, Buddha Mar Gaya, Jaan-e-man...three box office disasters with a common factor, the actor, Anupam Kher. Film enthusiasts are tut tutting over how perhaps one of the finest actors of our times, seems to have lost it. Literally. With a choice of films that would leave any self-respecting actor red-faced, Anupam Kher's career graph, at this stage of his long and illustrious life, seems to have nose-dived.

In Victoria 203, Kher takes on Ashok Kumar in the original. In Buddha Mar Gaya, he plays the dead man. In Jaane-e-man, he plays a dwarf. Each of these films is marred by OTT performances and shoddy direction.

It is difficult to believe that this man stormed the industry more than two decades ago with the super-hit film Saaransh. A low-budget film with no star cast, Kher carried the film on his able shoulders. Post Saaransh, he was flooded with both awards and offers. And he made the most of it. In fact Kher was the first person in Bollywood who started charging on a daily basis. So, whether the hero failed to show up or the heroine threw a tantrum, Kher refused to waste a day. The result was that monetarily Kher really benefited a lot but his obdurate stand generated a lot of grouse with the producers.