Digger, the upcoming Hollywood movie featuring Tom Cruise as eccentric Texas oil tycoon Digger Rockwell, is deemed experimental. The film's trailer has sparked a debate among Indian movie buffs. If Cruise can do a dark satirical sci-fi comedy despite being a commercial superstar, how come Indian actors like Shah Rukh Khan do only out-and-out commercial movies? Here is what netizens are saying.
1. Hollywood giants like Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt have the freedom to experiment with stories without fearing box office failure, while Indian giant like SRK remain shackled by commercial pressure, unable to break free from the weight of numbers and this is the saddest part.
2. Hollywood stars also care about a film's hit status, but they are not chasing monster box office numbers all the time. Tom Cruise knows the box office potential of The Digger is different from Top Gun or Mission: Impossible. Hugh Jackman knows Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Movie has a different box office potential than his Wolverine films.
3. Make no mistake, while this is true Pitt and Cruise are not doing this to fulfil any artistic fevour they have. They have only one goal with these movies, awards, specifically the Oscars. If India had an actual equivalent of the Oscars, you would see actors like SRK experiment more.
4. SRK is the prime example of an Indian trapped mindset. However rich or famous you become, it doesn’t matter. You just trapped in that rat race mindset. Because you always feel insecure.
5. I think SRK did try with Fan, Zero, and similar films. But those movies failed because the writing itself was weak. Indian stars should take an honest look at Malayalam cinema and learn how they manage to do it so effortlessly.
