‘Brand in a Star’ is something unheard of in the past or in marketing terminology. Marketing text book defines brand as “a name, term, symbol, design or a combination of them, which is intended to identify the goods and services of one seller and to differentiate them from those of competitors.”
A brand emerges from an organized industry, promoting names like Lux, Xerox, Titan etc. Till the late nineties, the craft of film making in India was yet to be transformed into a wholesome industry. Some eminent producers, like, Prakash Mehra, Manmohon Desai, Mukherjees of Filmisthan, Kapoors of RK studio and others used to decide the destiny of the film as well as the stars that would shine the Bollywood skies. There was nothing like IPOs in the film industry which encouraged public to participate in the entertainment sector.

Thus, like the Hollywood, India was no exception to Star System. As per Wikipedia definition, “the star system puts an emphasis on image rather than on acting, although discreet acting, voice, and dancing lessons were a common part of the regimen. Women were expected never to leave the house without makeup and stylish clothes. Men were expected to be seen in public as gentlemen.”

The heroes in the star system of Indian cinema had its own life cycle. The film personas namely Ashoke Kumar, Prithviraj Kapoor, Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar, Dharmendra, Rajendra Kumar and many such artists were the milestones in the star system, some of them were even super stars. But once their star system’s life cycle was over, they were not keen to sustain and promote their strength as a strong brand conforming to the needs of the time. Their presence in the film in a character role was recognized but they were aware that their dominance in the film was less important as it was when they belonged to the star system.

Mid 60s introduced Rajesh Khanna whose popularity in the film ‘Aradhana’ released in 1968, hit the households of cinema lovers. Till early 70s, Rajesh Khanna was the buzzword in Bollywood circle. His hairstyle, mannerisms were the items that young generation was out to copy and became the role model of an upbeat lover. His popularity index at that time was the highest of all, if one can correctly recall.

During the 70s, the parallel cinema surfaced with Shyam Benegal’s ‘Ankur’ and ‘Nishant’ when the country had been gradually sliding from one party rule to coalition concept under political doldrums. It is viewed more as a movement in the cinematographic art than having commercial appeal. Parallel cinema also contributed in a ‘middle class star system’ in Bollywood, largely by introducing co-stars. Potential and powerful character actors like Naseruddin Shah, Om Puri are the products of such movement.

Enter the Angry Young Man
In the early 70s, being a film buff, I was keener in digesting the star-studded pages of Filmfare than mugging Bohr’s theory of Atom in the text books of chemistry. I remember one issue of Filmfare during the 70s where first couple pages were having photographs of new faces in Bollywood. One of the new faces I can still remember is an actor named ‘Amitabh Bachchan’ sitting on the ground in a white kurta and trouser.
 
But, Rajesh Khanna once again spread sensations in ‘Anand’, where Amitabh Bachchan co-starred as his doctor friend.
Amitabh played with utmost perfection. The audience could not forget Amitabh’s role in the movie who positioned himself successfully in the Bollywood world with his voice, height and serious personality. I think till now these remain to be his key USPs for settling in the industry. But at the end of the day, it was Rajesh Khanna who wore the crown of glory with his last words in the tape recorder.

This was how it all began. The rest of the story is known to the world, memorable milestones of movies like, Namak Haram, Namak Halal, Sholey, Don, Kalia and so on. The filmmakers leveraged his voice, height, personality to portray the role of an angry young man who is out to punish the evil at the same time a smart and handsome lover.

Even late Satyajit Ray was so impressed with his voice that Amitabh read the narration at the beginning of Shatranj Ki Khilari. I still remember Big B’s career profile marks with spectacular rise till mid 80s when he occupied the cover page of India Today with the caption:  ‘One Man Industry’ - so busy in domestic market that he did not even have the breathing space for Hollywood. That was how it went on in the first lap of his stardom. Perhaps ‘Akhri Rasta’ was his last memorable milestone in the late 80s in his first lap of filmdom as an angry young hero.

Beginning of Setback
Entire 90s did not fetch success for Amitabh and he had to sustain the ruthless spells of physical, financial and social turmoil. His names getting associated with Bofor Scandal, his accident while shooting ‘Coolie’ were the chain of events that rocked his peace.

Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Ltd (ABCL) was launched to distribute movies, promoting actors but that did not work even after hiring the people having IIM and MNC experienced personnel. ABCL sank like Titanic after hosting Miss Universe Contest in Bangalore.

There were efforts in some quarters to promote Amitabh, but then the wind was not blowing in his favor. He even released a video music album called ‘AB Baby’ (as far as I remember). This too was a flop. Some of the reasons of his professional set back could be due to his involvement in politics after Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s death. Secondly, the failure of ABCL was a great setback. He invested his life time wealth in it and its failure impacted his morale.

It was during those darkest days JNU scholar Ms. Susmita Dasgupta decided to write a thesis on Amitabh Bachchan, titled: Sociology of Hindi Commercial cinema: A study of Amitabh Bachchan.when he himself discouraged Susmita from working on him. I admire her foresight; perhaps, she sensed a new kind of brand in AB that is going to emerge out of his setbacks and which spoke of confidence, learning, hardwork and ‘never-to-give-up’ attitude.

Return of Big B
What amazes me is the time span across which he has reigned, almost unbelievable 35 years. Even in my 28 years of IT Profession, I find very few handfuls who could maintain consistent performance over such a wide time span.

Imagine in film industry, particularly in Indian scenario, where traditional star system recognizes heroes who lead the film with his cherubic smart youthful look, the angry young man of the past still makes his presence felt strongly among the new generation, opening a new window to have re-look at life and profession.

Amitabh did not give in to the adversities of life and sink in desperation. His struggle to re-establish and re-assert himself in the industry leaves a message of ‘never to give up’ to anyone and every one irrespective of any profession.

In year 2000, there was Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC). Those in Star Channel who considered him as an anchor, at that point of time, had taken a great risk. But after the first show they were sure it had paid off. Amitabh did not have to look back and in his second lap of race in the Bollywood arena, he was once again reincarnated as Big B. 

Iconic Brand
Big B is now the hallmark of confidence, professionalism, and learning leaving age no bar. Once we probe into the mystery behind his great comeback, we shall understand how he transformed into an Iconic Brand by himself.

Now what is Iconic Brand? According to Douglas Holt, to systematically build iconic brands, companies must reinvent their marketing function. They must assemble cultural knowledge, rather than knowledge about individual consumers.

They must strategize according to cultural branding principles, rather than apply the abstracted and present-tense mind-share model. And they must hire and train cultural activists, rather than stewards of brand essence.

Managers require knowledge about their brands and their consumers to develop strategy. For cultural branding, this knowledge differs dramatically from the standard kinds of brand and consumer knowledge that managers now rely on to guide their branding efforts.

• Cultural knowledge focuses on the major social changes impacting the nation, rather than on clusters of individuals
• Cultural knowledge examines the role of major social categories of class, gender, and ethnicity in identity construction rather than obscuring these categories by sorting people into “psychographic” groups
• Cultural knowledge views the brand as a historical actor in society
• Cultural knowledge views people holistically, seeking to understand what gives their lives meaning, rather than as customers of category benefits.

Cultural knowledge seeks to understand the identity value of mass culture texts, rather than treating mass culture simply as trends and entertainment. Big B re-worked his career to achieve success and whether knowingly or unknowingly, his effort covered all the points that elevates one to the level of an Iconic Brand.

Firstly, KBC was a great turnaround for him. KBC deal was perhaps one of the biggest one financially that helped him overcome his financial setback and he was very serious to make it a success and worked in all the episodes from the heart. In the process, he came close to common people; he understood them from close quarters. Being an intelligent person, he could assess their likes and dislikes. In fact he developed a wholesome deeper bond with common people.
I can remember in one of the episodes, a participant inadvertently dropped his handkerchief on the sets while going back.

Big B’s gentlemanly act was reflected when he stooped down to pick it up from the floor and handed back to him. He sensed and experienced in totality the ‘Life Line’ of his audience. The entire exercise on the sets of KBC infused cultural knowledge in him and he used this knowledge with a different packaging in his acting career that followed next.

Secondly, what boosted his morale was the way the participants looked at him, spoke to him – he was still their favorite.

This established the fact that he is still the historic actor of his audience. Thirdly, Big B never suffered from any inhibition or ego when the director was a very young person. He co-operated with Aditya Chopra for making ‘Mohabbatein’. I chanced to see one short documentary on the making of Mohabbatein.

In a sequence there was a shot where Shahrukh Khan offered him an umbrella in the rains. Big B modified the sequence by declining Shahrukh’s offer and he did justice by value adding to the ego which was portrayed in that role. He lives more under the DNAs of the character roles he takes up; he endeavors to understand its nuances in a very hard way. Such learning process definitely calls for exerting oneself to reach the height of excellence. Back in the recent past, once this hard work, took perhaps a toll on his health.

Last but not least important is his family image which indirectly garnered lot of support from the Indian audience for his rise and acceptance. A loving father, loyal husband are the perceived images that reign at the back of the mind of Indian audience. This family man image of Big B has contributed much for his successful comeback.

Conclusion
Now that Indian film industry is more of an organized sector where competition is open, the actor has to perform his best.There is media explosion and multiple channels invite talents who are visible and do not have to depend on the destiny or blessings of some godfather in the industry. Although, the star system still works today but with much limited freedom and flexibilities.

Films are produced and distributed by many corporate sectors. Talent hunt is totally process driven. Now there is opportunity for one having talent, luck plays very little part which was not the case in the past. With such sea change in the industry, Big B is still there at the top, not as an angry young man, but an immensely talented professional of 60 plus, with whom the sponsors value the box office success, even amidst a band of capable and talented heroes and heroines.

The entertainment industry is now one of the key components of synergized ‘ICE’ (IT, Communications and Entertainment) sector involving large corporate like Tatas, Ambanis. In the current scenario, Big B is still the one man whose presence boosts the confidence of investors in the industry because it signifies an iconic brand with a difference.

- Dr Supriya Biswas

Reference:
What is Star System,Wikipedia.com

Ramaswamy VS and Namakumari Definition of Brand, Marketing Management – Planning, Implementation and Control, Third Edition, Macmillan

Holt Douglas, How Brands Become Icons: The Principle of Branding, Harvard Business School Press, September 2004