Subhash K Jha

The success of the small-budget supernatural thriller Raaz. with relatively unknown stars has triggered off an economy-consumption drive in the Mumbai film industry.

However, the year 2002 does seem to be strewn with multistarrers.

While all the major films of 2001 barring the mammoth Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, were non-multistarrers, some of the super-biggies this year are going all-out to woo audiences into theatres with a line-up of big stars.

The star-trek begins in the first week of April when debutant director Vipul Shah's unusual thriller Aankhen cast its spell on the boxoffice. For a beginner, Shah assembled a startlingly impressive cast of Amitabh Bachchan, Sushmita Sen who plays Big B's right-hand person, Arjun Rampal (as Sushmita's beau), Akshay Kumar, Bipasha Basu and Paresh Rawal.

Then there's Sanjay Gupta's ensemble thriller Kaante, which again features a line-up of marquee names led by Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Sunil Shetty, singer Lucky Ali, Kumar Gaurav, filmmaker Mahesh Manjrekar, among others.

After Aankhen and Kaante in April, Raj Kumar Kohli, who in many ways spearheaded the multistarrers trend with a series of such films in the 1970s, is ready with Jaani Dushman: Ek Anokhi Kahani, featuring Sunny Deol, Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, Aftab Shivdasani, singer Sonu Nigam, Rambha and Manisha Koirala.

There are more such films lined up for the rest of the year. Enterprising producer Vashu Bhagnani is shooting his multistrarrer Om Jai Jagdish round-the-clock for a June release. The film marking the directorial debut of actor Anupam Kher features Anil Kapoor, Fardeen Khan and Abhishek Bachchan in the title roles of three brothers. Mahima Chaudhry, Urmila Matondkar and debutante Tara Sharma play their respective sweethearts while the legendary Waheeda Rehman is cast as the three leading mens' mother.

Bhagnani says multistarrs can never go out of fashion: "But the film should not be an excuse to flaunt the stars. Every star should have a clear cut, well defined role. Most multistarrers just bring stars together without rhyme or reason. My Om Jai Jagdish demanded the stars it features."

Indeed, successful Raaz director Vikram Bhatt whose first multistarrer, a comedy, Awaara Paagal Deewana, is being readied for release later this year, says, "The stars in my film --- Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, Aftab Shivdasani and Paresh Rawal --- have all got wonderful roles to perform. The comedy could not have worked without them."

Sanjay Leela Bhansali who has cast Shah Rukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit, Aishwarya Rai and Jackie Shroff in his eagerly awaited Devdas was not thinking he was making a multistarrer. He agrees the cast must be dictated by the script.

Thirty years ago, Manmohan Desai's Amar Akbar Anthony and Naseeb featured a gallery of biggies from Amitabh Bachchan and Vinod Khanna to Hema Malini and Shabana Azmi. But the scripts justified their presence.

With escalating production costs and major stars claiming minor fortunes as fees, the multistarrer died a quiet death. Until Karan Johar's Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham revived big names in the credits.

Now, J P Dutta is ready to unveil the biggest multistarrer of all time. His underproduction war epic LoC about the Kargil tragedy features a breathtaking lineup of 26 leading men including Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgan, Suneil Shetty, Abhishek Bachchan, Akshaye Khanna, Saif Ali Khan, Nagarajuna and Himanshu Malik.

"But none of these stars are STARS in my film," says J P, who has made some of the most majestic multistarrers of the 1970s like Batwara, Hathyar and Kshatriya. "My boys play true life soldiers who fought in Kargil. The characters chose the actors, not the other way round."

Multi-starrers down the years-A Slide Show