Clockwise, from top left: Raymond Lauchengco, William Martinez, JC Bonnin, Aga Muhlach and Herbert Bautista
The ongoing “Pinoy Boyband Superstar” search has put into play again the starmaking prowess of boy group tilts.
On the local show biz scene, it had one of its most successful outputs decades ago, when Premiere Productions decided to group young male comers under the screen barkada name “The Lo Waist Gang.”
The barkada ended up including the likes of young and frisky stellar comers like Fernando Poe Jr., Zaldy Zshornack, Berting Labra, Boy Sta. Romana, Bobby Gonzales, Tony Cruz, Mario Antonio, Butch Bautista and Boy Francisco.
FPJ was only 17 years old when he starred in the first “Lo Waist Gang” film in 1956. It was a hit and led to the production of around eight more frisky, teen action-comedy capers that the viewing public gobbled up with relish.
What “clicked” with the viewing masses were the film series’ street-smart, ornery “antics and romantics” of the young lead characters, who kept getting in and out of two-fisted trouble with other, envious barkadas.
Zaldy Zshornack also benefited from the exposure he exuberantly got from the film series, and the contrast between him and “shy” FPJ was striking. He went on to stellar status, making a lot of solo outings with his “signature” screen (and life) partner, Shirley Gorospe.
Decades later, the boy group’s starmaking prowess was again famously put into play when Viva came up with the 1984 teen flick, “Bagets,” starring Aga Muhlach as Adie, William Martinez as Tonton, JC Bonnin as Toffee, Herbert Bautista as Gilbert, and Raymond Lauchengco as Arnel.
Other young comers included Jobelle Salvador as Melissa, Eula Valdez as Janice, Yayo Aguila as Rose, Irma Alegre as Fe and Chanda Romero as Christine.
The girls may have been promising; but director Maryo J. delos Reyes clearly intended “Bagets” to be a male teen showcase, so the boys got the main focus from the production and benefited a lot from it.
The big winner was Aga, who did so well and made such a strong impression that he went on to make many other hits.
Currently, he’s losing weight to get back to shooting form, but has remained popular and is productively biding his time by serving as a judge-mentor on “Pinoy Boyband Superstar.” Talk about coming full circle!
Around 14 new young male comers could potentially benefit from the ongoing boy band search, and the five winners will definitely do so. But, winning is only the beginning, because they will still have to “prove” both as a group and individually, that they can become popular and develop a stellar following.
At the moment, that’s not a sure thing. The 14 finalists look too “generically” cute and frisky, with few uniquely individual standouts.
Let’s hope some of them break (out of) the mold real soon, and show what they’re really made of. What Aga has now could be theirs too—but, only if!