UNI

Mumbai, Jul 10: The mega stardom of Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan might be garnering praise and accolades all over the world, but not many are aware of the hardships or the 'darker side' which the stars face to become icons.

With Bollywood full of 'behind-the-curtain' stories of how the actors, filmmakers and singers have struggled to make it big, the filmmakers today make the youngsters cautious in the beginning only to prepare them for a tough life ''to shine on the silver screen.''

They are trying to make the debutants aware of the fact that in Bollywood is not just glamour, glory and grandeur. It has a dark side also, and people who have gone through the grind know about it.

Filmmaker Akbar Khan, who has made the magnum opus 'Taj Mahal' and is preparing for his next venture 'Changez Khan' told UNI that, ''Everything that glitters is not gold.

Same is the case with Bollywood. Behind the scenes are the toil, challenges, hardships and rigours. It is a labourer's job and here, one has a mental pressure equivalent to that of an executive in a corporate.

"It is more of a creative pressure. One is yet not sure whether the film will succeed or not. The filmmakers live from project to project, they are as good as their last film. Their stocks keep changing in the market, coupled with the outlash of the media and the critics. Respect comes after a lot of toil and hard work. It is not as rosy as it looks,'' he maintained.

However, Khan said the pressure on a filmmaker is more than on others. ''The advice I would give a newcomer is he should have done self-analysis that he is ready to go through what it takes. They should know that they are not here as starry-eyed people or for the glamour.''

''Nowadays, I see that the youngsters who come in the industry are all graduates. They have an education to fall back upon, unlike the things that were in our times. The advice I would like to give is they should have an alternate plan to fall back upon, rather than put all eggs in one basket,'' he suggested.