Ranbir Kapoor, Tiger Shroff and Abhishek Bachchan: the struggle of Bollywood’s ‘star kids’

Ae Dil Hai Mushkil showing Anushka Sharma and Ranbir Kapoor. Courtesy Fox Star India

Nobody needs a hit more desperately than Ranbir Kapoor. The 34-year-old actor, scion of Bollywood’s blue-blooded Kapoor clan, has suffered several lean outings at the box office that have severely compromised his marketability.

If all goes well, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, his romantic drama opening today, October 27, directed by Karan Johar, and co-starring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Anushka Sharma and Pakistan's Fawad Khan, might just give his career the fillip it needs.

But if the film flops, he will have to withstand a deluge of criticism on social media. It is the curse of being a “star kid” – or second-generation Bollywood actors – in the 21st century.

Online critics, especially on Twitter, can make it hard for young actors to gain a foothold in the industry, despite starring in big-budget films by famous production houses. Then there is the pressure of measuring up to expectations.

No one has felt this more acutely than Ranbir, and, before him, Abhishek Bachchan, son of actress extraordinaire Jaya Bachchan and superstar Amitabh Bachchan.

The 74-year-old Amitabh is India's most famous celebrity export, an icon who is loved so much that an entire nation collectively prayed for him in 1983, when he sustained life-threatening injuries after a botched fight sequence in the film Coolie.

The 40-year-old Abhishek, on the other hand, despite being a decent actor, is faulted for everything, from his talent to his looks. But perhaps the most vicious trolling is saved for his marriage to India’s most beautiful woman, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who was crowned Miss World in 1994.

Nine years after their fairy-tale wedding, Abhishek’s critics continue to be astounded that she consented to marry him, and frequently take to Twitter to vent their feelings.

Like Abhishek, Ranbir carries on his shoulders the legacy of his family – his grandfather was filmmaker, producer and actor Raj Kapoor, and his parents, stars Rishi and Neetu Kapoor, have enjoyed decades of fame.

His cousin, Kareena Kapoor Khan, is one of India’s highest-paid actresses today. But Ranbir – an intuitive actor with a questionable choice in picking films – remains the most-trolled.

After his 2015 movies Roy and Bombay Velvet tanked, the Twitterati got busy with taking well-aimed pot shots, such as: "The periodic table has more chemistry than Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma #BombayVelvetFlop"; "Ranbir Kapoor delivered Roy so that people could prepare themselves for bigger disappointments like Bombay Velvet"; and "Producers of Bombay Velvet to now charge celebs who watched free previews to recover losses."

Then there’s Tiger Shroff, one of Bollywood’s new crop of actors-slash-martial arts experts (and there are many).

The 26-year-old Tiger’s claims to fame are his father, veteran actor Jackie Shroff, and his willingness to perform daredevil action sequences without a body double.

His most recent film, the 2016 superhero comedy, The Flying Jatt, crashed at the box office.

Twitter trolls were baying for his blood even before his first film, Heropanti, was released in 2014.

Last week, after being presented with India’s GQ Youth Icon award, the nimble Tiger took to Twitter to share a picture of himself attempting a vertical split, and instantly became the subject of various memes – one picture had a cut-out of his toned frame superimposed on a clock face, his legs marking the time (five minutes to six, if you must know).

Not far behind is lackluster newcomer Harshvardhan Kapoor, 25, who made his debut earlier this month alongside the equally wooden Sayaami Kher, in Mirzya, a mega-budget romantic tragedy directed by flamboyant filmmaker Rakyesh Omprakash Mehra.

Harshvardhan's Bollywood lineage extends to his father, the indomitable Anil Kapoor, who is internationally renowned for his role in 2008's Slumdog Millionaire, and loved at home for his charisma, and his sister, Sonam, who is more a fashionista and less an actress.

Mirzya was a box-office debacle, and brought the lead actors a lot of flak.

But perhaps the harshest criticism, which encapsulates the kind of instantaneous reproval stars face, came from Karan Talwar, the perspicacious, potty-mouthed host of YouTube comedy channel Bollywood Gandu.

Talwar tweeted a picture of himself fast asleep beside his pet, with the caption: "Watching Mirzya with my dog."

He followed this with a one-line review of the film, which referenced a critically acclaimed 1987 black comedy by filmmaker Kamal Hassan: "Mirzya is like the scene in Pushpak, where Hassan puts tatti [faeces] into a box with a bow and sprays it with perfume. EOD, it's still tatti."

Ae Dil Hai Mushkil opens in cinemas today, October 27.