SRK, Salman, Aamir: Who's the flavour of the season?

K and Aamir. So what is their USP? Who's the reigning king of Bollywood? Who's the producer number one? Who's the actor numero uno? We pose these questions to four leading movie experts.

Not just acting, all the three Khans have donned producer's hat this year. Aamir Khan's Delhi Belly will hit the screens soon. SRK is set to release his ambitious venture RA. One this Diwali and Salman is also co-producing a kiddie flick Chillar Party.

WHO'S THE BEST PRODUCER?

Taran Adarsh, Movie Critic, Bollywood Hungama: All the three films are different in terms of genre, budget and market. The only similarity is all the films are produced by Khans. Aamir has been producing films for a long time. SRK is also making films for a while now. Salman's family has been involved in film production. But this is the first time that Salman Khan has ventured out to produce a film on his own with Chillar Party. He has walked in only after the film was completed. But the fact that they all support small films is very good.

PODCAST: Taran Adarsh on SRK, Salman, and Aamir

Mayank Shekhar, National Cultural Editor, Hindustan Times: All the actors in Bollywood turned producers about 3-4 years back because they realized that the income potential from these films is actually good enough to sell territories and rights. Audiences are going because a particular actor is producing a particular film. There was a lot of money, and a lot of pre-sale. Salman Khan has been a producer forever. It's just that it was a family enterprise. It is the first time that he's actually bought a film. Chillar Party is a kids film which is getting a lot of attention in the mainstream because of the names involved.  There is an item song by Ranbir. Salman is promoting the film as a co-producer. It's a genre specific movie. It's not a mainstream universal picture in that sense. Aamir Khan has made films like Peepli Live, Taare Zameen Par, both these films were commercially successful.

PODCAST: Mayank Shekhar on SRK, Aamir, Salman

Aamir has a 100 per cent track record as a producer. Delhi Belly has a mainstream actor Imran Khan. The songs have been extremely popular for whatever reasons. This is exactly the kind of buzz that you need to bring the crowd from the first Friday. Popular soundtrack, a star and the producer with some sort of credibility; all the basic factors work for the film in terms of opening. Whether all of them will like the film and will be as excited after watching the movie is a different question.

The X Spot: Death by X-Spot

For whatever reason, when I wrote academic papers, or parts of the dissertation, some of the people featured in those pages croaked within a few months or so. I chalked it up to coincidence. But now, the phenomenon seems to have followed me into cyberspace. Some of the people I’ve mentioned here were alive when I posted about them, but have since passed away.

Let's see, Foam. Counting this up, I see that you've given me sixteen answers, eleven of which are correct (I'll take Mary for Mary Travers, Gates for Daryl Gates, and Key for Brian Wilson Key). Although Arthur Schlesinger passed away after I began The X-Spot, I've never mentioned him, either on the main page or the comments (until now). By the same token, I've never mentioned Bea Arthur (that should narrow it down, though). Lee Oswald and Brian Epstein died four decades before the X-Spot's first post (besides, Epstein was a good manager). And though you've narrowed the list of answers to number 10 down to two, only one of the men you mentioned died after the inaguration of this site.

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