RISHI KAPOOR

FROM A CHILD ARTIST TO A ROMANTIC HERO TO A DIRECTOR AND TO A LEADING CHARACTER ACTOR--WHAT A JOURNEY IT WAS BEEN FOR RISHI KAPOOR

BY ALI PETER JOHN.

Who, I ask who could have ever seen the Chintoo Baba who first made his debut as the child Raj Kapoor in “Mera Naam Joker” and then grew to be one of the most popular and wanted romantic heroes who did more than ninety-films as the romantic hero with more than twenty-six different heroines would one day play a ninety year old man in a film interestingly called “Kapoor & Sons”?

The romantic hero who can beat any of the heroes in the number of romantic films without the audience reacting to what is called over exposure and “too much of the same things done by the same actors”. He could know that this image of his could not last forever and cleverly took a break and directed “Aa Ab Laut Chalein” which turned out to be a disturbing experience for the man who had seen so much of success. He looked for subjects to direct other films but all his efforts to find the subject that could satisfy him failed and he had all the time to reinvent himself. It was at this time that Rahul Rawal, a very old friend who was a senior assistant of Raj Kapoor when Rishi was only an apprentice desperately interested in having something to do with films suggested that he try his luck as a character actor. He showed his typical anger at such an idea initially but finally saw reason. After all, he was not growing younger any longer and would not he accepted as the great romantic hero again...

He let people in the industry know that he was interested in playing interesting character roles and there were some of the best filmmakers who were willing to take him seriously as an actor who could put life into unusual characters and Rishi himself was surprised with this new lease of life as an actor he had been lucky to receive. What would he have done otherwise, sat at home with Neetu, woke up late, had a few beers, a good lunch, a long siesta and then a long evening with his only constant friend, the bottle, then dinner and finally to bed to woke up to follow the same routine all over again?
No, he would hate a life like this which would make him grow older than his age. He accepted as many good character roles as they came along and he was again almost as busy as he was when he was the romantic hero.

Ever since he realized that he would have to play character roles, he has had the best of roles in films like “Yeh Hai Jalwa”, “Hum Tum”, “Fanaa”, “Namaste London”, “Love Aaj Kal” and “Patiala House”. He also appeared in the British films “Don't Stop Dreaming” and “Sambar Salsa”. He was paired with Neetu Singh in the film “Do Dooni Chaar” (they had done some fifteen films as the romantic lead and also in some of the most prestigious multi-starrers). Their worst film together and character-actor was “Besharam” with their son Ranbir Kapoor in the lead. I as a friend and a great admirer of Rishi failed to understand why he should have done a “shameless” film like that. He however gave me a fitting answer when he played “Chintu Ji” in a film which was inspired by his own life and lifestyles. He surprised me the most when he played the Dawood Ibrahim like character in “Agneepath” and then in “Houseful 2” in which he was seen with his elder brother Randhir for the first time.

Rishi, the character actor now faces a test by fire when he plays a ninety year old grandfather in the about to be released “Kapoor & Sons”. His make up in the film to look like a ninety year old but with his spirits very much young is only the second film being talked about for a complete change in the looks of a popular actor, the other being Amitabh Bachchan for his look in “Paa”. He is not just a grandfather in the film but a strong fulcrum round which the story of two brothers revolves.

The actor who started at twelve and played the romantic till he was almost fifty is now willing to play not just a grandfather of ninety but a character full of life at an age when life makes no sense for most people. If I know Rishi Kapoor well, I am sure he would love to live the kind of life he lives in “Kapoor & Sons” without all the drama and hungama that is a part of the film.
I have been very happy with the change that has come over Rishi after he has stopped being the romantic hero. He is more active now in fields other than films. He is associated with a number of organisations which work for the betterment of the downtrodden and it was a revelation for me to see him leading the residents of the posh Pali Hill against the move to have a footpath on Pali Hill where vendors from places like Linking Road and Irla could shift their business. Rishi was the leader who made that big difference and Pali Hill was saved from turning into a market place, the same Pali Hill where legends like Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu, Sunil Dutt and his family, Rajendra Kumar and his family, Gulzar and many other celebrities from various walks of life lived a peaceful life for years.

Where will my friend, Rishi Kapoor go from here? The road to greater success as a character actor is endless like his best friend and co-actor Amitabh Bachchan has proved and is still proving. Amitabh and Rishi have the record of working in eighteen films together and they still have cherished memories of those glorious times when the world was so very different, when they could walk around easily and embrace each other without any fear, now all that has changed with a group of dangerous looking men carrying guns walk with them wherever they go. But I would certainly like to see Amitabh and Rishi together again in a film which has to be memorable. Aisa mauka fir kahaa, aa ab laut chalein thodi der ke liye hi uss duniya mein jahaa pyaar zyaada hota tha aur bandookein kum ya hoti hi nahi thi.

Irrfan Khan

IT'S NOT FAREWELL, BUT FARE WELL PADMA SHRI
IRRFAN KHAN

THE ONE - TIME CRICKETER WHO DARED TO DEFY THE DEFINITION OF ACTING

Ali Peter John.

The morning Irrfan Khan was declared dead after a two -year long battle with neuroendocrine tumour, life and death were hauled up in the court of Time like two petty criminals who had committed a crime and they didn't know how to hide their faces and snached away the masks of two other criminals who were wearing them because of the on-going pandemic to protect their faces. The charge against life was that it didn't give Irrfan Khan enough time to prove his talent to its full extent, and the charge against death was that it had played a nasty game with Irrfan Khan and was in an unholy haste to take him away and had taken him away when he had almost won the battle .By evening, when Irrfan Khan was buried at the Versova Kabristan, the court of Time had found both life and death guilty and pronounced the verdict that they be hanged but left hanging and still alive till the end of time....

Some men (and women)are born to be a part of a crowd and vanish without their lives making any contribution to life. Some are born to be neither here nor there.Some others are born to be experts at fence-sitting which doesn't matter much, and is even dangerous. And there are some who are created to stand out and shine in all their splendour and sometimes even make their Creator wonder how he had created them or whether he had created them or some power greater than him had created them. Sahibzade Irrfan Khan certainly belonged to the last category and left his mark on the world, a mark I am sure generations to come will keep a track of and remember him whenever there is talk about great man and especially great actors....

Irrfan was born in a middle class family in Jaipur. He received a sound education, thanks to his mother and decided to play cricket for India as a career to earn his livelihood. And when he saw that he couldn't make any headway in cricket, he decided to be an actor and joined the National School of Drama, again with the encouragement and blessings of his mother, Saeeda Begum....

He had found his true calling and within months after joining the NSD ,he was recognized as an actor with tremendous possibilities and potential. Like most young and talented actors, Irrfan too took the Rajdhani Express to the city of dreams.And like most other actors, it was also a season of a grim struggle for him, but his talent assured him that he would make it in the city if he had faith in
his talent and the courage and the patience to fight his way to success.....

His talent was right. He soon found work in TV serials and within a matter of time, he was one of the most wanted actors of the small screen and was excelling in a wide variety of serials like "Chandrakanta",
"Chanakya", "The Great Maratha","Jai Hanuman","Banegi apni baat" (it was during the making of this serial which was also directed by him that he married Sutapa Sikdar ,who was the writer and they had two sons, Wabil and Aayan)and "Bharat Ek Khoj ".He made his debut in films in a miniscule role in Mira Nair's "Salaam Bombay "which brought him into the limelight and that was the real beginning of the birth of a volcano of talent. It was Irrfan Khan who was going to rule the waves in Hindi films and in films made in Hollywood in the years to come. And among the films his and his amazing talent made a big difference to were ,"Haasil", "Maqbool ","Life in a Metro ", "Paan Singh Tomar","The
Lunchbox ",Billu Barber", "Piku","Talvar","Hindi Medium"and "Angrezi Medium",which turned out to be his last hurrah and was also the highest grossing film of his career, in spite of the pandemic and the lockdown (the film was a flop because of the Corono Virus and was a hit when released on the net during the early stages of the lockdown ).And among the Hollywood films he excelled in were,"Slumdog Millionaire",
"Spider-Man", "Life of Pi ","Jurassic World ", "Inferno " and"No Bed of Roses".Among the major directors who loved to work with him were Tappan Sinha,Shyam Benegal, Mira Nair and Danny Boyle .He has by now won a National Award,several other major awards and the Padmashri in 2011.

He had the uncanny knack of getting into the skin of any role and breathe life into it .He could peak up a character like a barber ,a taxi driver or a slumlord and even a character from mythology and make it look believable. He could stand supreme or even stand as an equal when sharing screen space with actors like Amitabh Bachchan ,Shah Rukh Khan, Naseeruddin Shah,Anil Kapoor and Deepika Padukone. He still had ambitions and dreams and plans and projects in his over worked- mind,but like I said in the beginning, the two "criminals",life and death had hatched some kind of a conspiracy against him which they put into practice with some kind of a sinister hurry and their conspiracy succeeded...In one of his last talks, Irrfan had said , "I was on some kind of a fast train with all my ambitions, plans and dreams, when I saw a man tapping me on my shoulder. It was the TC .He said my journey was over and that I would have to get off the train at the next station ".Little did people who read this statement know that Irrfan was indirectly making a reference to his hectic and successful life till then and how the tumour had put an abrupt halt to his journey...

If what happened to him between last year when he came back home after he was almost cured and what happened at the Kokilaben Ambani hospital on the fateful morning of April, 29,was not a conspiracy between life and death, tell me what was it !

I have not had any respect for what politicians say, but when politicians like Arvind Kejriwal, Prakash Jawadekar, Ashok Gehlot,Vasundhara Raje,Shivraj Singh Chauhan and other politician paid their tribute to Irrfan, I wanted to believe what they said....I have no scientific reason to believe in heaven, but when thousands of people who were admirers and lovers of Irrfan wished to see him in peace in heaven, I wanted to believe that there was a heaven, at least for Irrfan....

I am slowly loosing faith in even some of my best friends in the industry, but when they praised Irrfan on the day of his death, I wanted to believe what they all said about Irrfan...

As they were burying Irrfan in the old Kabristan in Versova, near my house, I once again realized the hopelessness of the big struggle called life and how it all ended in just a few feet of dust or went up billows of fire and smoke, depending on the quality of wood used and the ghee poured into the logs of wood between which the bodies of the most mighty and powerful and the poorest and even the beggars are pushed into to be burnt fast or as soon as possible, so that the living can go back and gossip about the dead and start their business and other important and not-so important activities all over again....

As they buried Irrfan in that Kabristan, I could hear the wind blowing and howling as if it was crying. It may sound like my imagination going wild, but I would love to believe that the wind was crying at the passing away of a giant of a talent like Sahibzade, Irrfan Khan...

A passing thought of my own...I had heard and believed stories about how close the bonds between a mother and her son could be. It was proved again in the story between Irrfan's mother and Irrfan .The ninety two year old mother, Mrs.Saeeda Begum kept waiting for Irrfan to come back home to her in Jaipur and kept saying that her son would win the battle against his disease and return like a son returning from a war .But ,that dream of a mother could not come true and she died a disappointed mother and Irrfan couldn't even bid his mother a fond good bye. And less than a week later, the loving son left the whole world behind to join his mother.

It Seemed like the whole world was crying with the wind over Irrfan and as I finish writing my tribute to Irrfan, my friend Zain from Dubai calls and adds these lines with which I complete my tribute, the lines are ,

BICHDAA WOH KUCH ISS ADAA SE KI RUTH HI BADAL GAYEE
EK SHAQS SAARE SHAHAR KO VEERAN KAR GAYA

CRICKET AND CINEMA ARE LIKE BROTHERS....

The first time a cricketer of international reputation fell in love with a Hindi film actress was when Garfield Sobers, the Captain of the touring West Indies team was attracted by Anju Mahendru, but the affair fizzled out...

The handsome Indian Captain, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi fell in love with Sharmila Tagore, married her and they had two children who are now Saif Ali Khan and Soha Ali Khan ,both actors....

Years later, another Captain of the West Indies team, Vivian Richards fell in love with the actress Neena Gupta and left her high and dry, but she preferred to be a single mother and brought up their daughter, Masaaba who is a leading designer today and is married(?)to the producer Madhu Mantenna .

One of India's great all rounders Salim Durrani made his debut as an actor with Parveen Babi in B.R Ishara's "Charitraheen"and was not heard of again after the film flopped....

The Little Master Sunil Gavaskar made his debut as the leading man of a Marathi film, "Premachi Saavli "and that was the end of his dream to be an actor.

Sandeep Patil who had broken all records when he hit six sixes in an over and became a hero in the world of cricket made his debut as a hero in a Hindi film called "Dimple "which was produced by Bhagyashree's father,Vijay Singh Patvardhan, who was the prince of Sangli in Maharashtra and was also the music director .Sandeeps acting career ended with "Dimple ".

Vinod Kambli who could have been as great as his friend Sachin Tendulkar ,But couldn't, ended up playing the villain in some bad Hindi and Marathi Films and that was the end of him as an actor.

The off-spinner Harbhajan Singh made headlines when he played himself in a film and so did Yuvraj Singh. Harbhajan even married the actress Geeta Basra ....

And Sachin and Mohammad Azharuddin and M.S .Dhoni even had biopics made on them which were huge successes. There is a biopic being made on Kapil Dev with Ranveer Singh playing Kapil Dev.There is a biopic even being made on Mithali Raj ,the captain of the Indian women's cricket team .

And there have been some other well-known names who couldn't make it in cricket and turned towards films and made it very big in films.

Vishal Bhardwaj was almost included in the Indian Team, but when he couldn't, he came to Bombay and worked as a composer on some serials made by Gulzar who gave him his first break as composer for films in his film ,"Maachis"and today, Vishal Bhardwaj is a trend-setter in modern Indian cinema.

And this story about the bond between cricket and cinema in India can not come to an end without mentioning the name of Irrfan Khan.Irrfan wanted to be a cricketer and dreamt of playing for India and it was only when he realised that he couldn't make enough money in cricket that he changed his dream and dreamt of becoming an actor and what an institution of acting he grew into in less than thirty years !

SHOLAY

THAT INDEPENDENCE DAY, FORTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, WHEN THE FIRE REFUSED TO BURN FOR "SHOLAY "

ALI PETER JOHN

It was August,15,1975. I had turned twenty -five in June and had fulfilled a promise I had made to myself .I had found a steady job in "Screen "weekly after spending two of the most glorious years of my life with the greatest one -man institution called Khwaja Ahmad Abbas (K.A.Abbas) from whom I had learned more than all I had learned in all the years before I was extremely blessed to meet him and work with him . I had told myself that I would give my life some meaning before I was twenty five or I knew I would not do anything in life.This was not a thought that came from any book or from any guru, it was a thought that came to a boy from a village who had decided that he would pursue a goal and not given up from what or who may .It was Abbas Sahab who got me my first assignment to write the cover story of a leading magazine called "Debonair" and I don't know how I excelled in it and the management held a party to celebrate the success of the sales of the magazine which they said was because of my story . The party was held at The Oberoi and the best thing for me was the presence of Abbas Sahab (who I have always referred to as Abbas Sahab ) and the response I received from some big people was so heady that I was found dead drunk by a police constable on a wooden bench on a faraway railway station and had to pay the constable a hundred rupees to sleep on that bench till the first train came ....

I had written my first ten articles in "Screen" and one of them was a long article on the veteran actor and villain Jayant , who had died of cancer and the article was based on extensive talks with his son , Amjad Khan, who was all set to make his debut as a villian in Ramesh Sippy's eagerly awaited film , "Sholay". The article was liked by all , except by some of my seniors who believed that they were better equipped to write the article ...

I was following the making of "Sholay " very closely and was even excited as the date of the release came closer . I had known all the actors working in the film in some way or the other, but I knew Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Amitabh,Jaya, Sachin,A.K.Hangal, Jagdeep and now Amjad Khan better and I knew R.D.Burman and Ramesh Sippy , but I was aware of the good work done by every member of the unit, which included the two cinematographers Dwarka Divecha and K.Vaikunth, lyricist Anand Bakshi and composer R.D.Burman and my friend Jalal Agha and of course Helen without whom no one could imagine making a big Hindi film those days ...

It was August, 15,1975 and there was excitement all over the country. It was Independence Day and it was also the day when "Sholay" was to be released .A grand premiere was arranged at The Minerva in Bombay and like all big premieres the industry was invited , but I was not a part of the industry and I was a no body to be invited to such a grand event, but I wanted to be present at this one event. I didn't sleep that night and kept making hopeless plans about how to enter the Minerva.I reached office a little early and was surprised to find my editor, Mr.S.S.Pillai in his cabin .He had been kind to me by giving me the job in "Screen" ,he had been kind to keep me in the job even when I failed to keep my promise of learning typing (something I have still not learnt after fifty years and will repent all my life),He had given me the kind of assignments I couldn't dream of , he had sent me to outdoor locations by air and made me live in five star hotels at a time when I was living in a "jhopda",he had paid me four hundred and fifty rupees when I was expecting only hundred and fifty rupees !. On my way to his cabin ,I wondered if he could work one more miracle for me and arrange for me to attend the premiere of "Sholay".He made me sit and asked for two cups of tea and then with a twinkle in his eyes he asked me if I would like to go to the premiere of "Sholay". What could I tell him ? Before I could answer him, he placed his own ticket in my hand and said ,"take this money and go in a cab or you will get late" for several minutes I forgot all about "Sholay" and wondered what my life would have been without great men like Abbas Sahab and Mr.Pillai .

My still young eyes were dazzled when I reached Minerva . The film started . It was supposed to be a 70.mm print, but the print had not reached in time and a 35.mm print was screened . It was shocking to see the audience growing restless and by the time it was interval , people had already passed judgment on "Sholay". it was a flop , they said and there was no chance of it being saved . The judgment was very severe and kept growing more severe with every scene , dialogue and song .The worst happened when people from the industry refused to even greet the members of the unit . There was the silence of the graveyard all around .

On the way to the Grant Road station, some learned critics were heard talking about how the film was poor copy of some western films of the other or even a copy of a black & white film called "Khote Sikkey" made with Feroz Khan and directed by Narinder Bedi , the man who after seeing "Godfather" had openly said that he could make ten films based or inspired by it . And some even went to the cruel extent of comparing the climax to the climax of a Dara Singh film. And some lashed out at Ramesh Sippy for his choice of Amjad Khan to play Gabbar Singh and felt that his original choice of Danny Denzongpa or Shatrughan Sinha would have been far better.There were the trade magazines of which "Trade Guide" and "Film Information " which were considered to be the last words when it came to the box-office and their editors,
Mr.B.K.Adarsh and Mr.Ramraj Nahta said that "Sholay " wouldn't run for more than three days....

Yes, they were right."Sholay"didn't run for three days.it picked up on the third day. And then didn't stop running for the next five years and still keeps running to full houses whenever and wherever it is released .

It is forty - five years now and Sholay is history itself. G.P.Sippy, the producer made many other films before and after, but he will always be remembered as the producer of "Sholay". Ramesh Sippy, his son has directed films like "Andaaz" , "Seeta aur Geeta","Shaan", "Saagar", "Shakti","Akayla"and other films and major serials like "Buniyaad "and only recently directed "Shimla Mirch"a small film which went entirely unnoticed, but he will have to live the rest of his life as the maker of "Sholay".Salim and Javed have split a long time ago . Sanjeev Kumar, Jalal Agha,A.K.Hangal,
Mac Mohan, Major Anand , Viju Khote and Amjad Khan are all now a part of history and so are R.D.Burman, Anand Bakshi and Dwarka Divecha and K.Vaikunth .The only witnesses to a grand slice of history are Dharmendra,Hema Malini, Jagdeep , Sachin and Amitabh and his wife Jaya .

Why have we not been able to make another "Sholay" in the last forty -five years? will this question be answered of will this question reverberate through the corridors of time and the pages of history???

DEV ANAND

DEV’S PENTHOUSE WAS MORE LIKE THE PALACE OF A KING ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD

BY ALI PETER JOHN

Now that the world has finally let him go, go up in flames making the flames as dynamic as he was and even making them holy……
My mind is still filled with hundreds of memories of the man who I know I will never see alive again but who will always be alive for me, I can only call him and he will be there for me, I know
I can write books on every meeting I have had with him and all that he had shared with me, some secrets which the world will never know because I will never let the world know
But if there is one thing I would like to share with the world, it is the description of his penthouse in a bungalow appropriately called “Anand”, Dev’s Pent House the house of endless enthusiasm, limitless joy and brimming with ideas which ran ahead of his time
The story goes that the bungalow was presented to him by Mr. Holmes Larsen of Larsen & Toubro; it was out of his admiration for the man with the unbelievable zest for life that the man had parted with his favorite bungalow and handed it over to his best friend…

The bungalow on Pali Hill coincidentally was just two bungalows away from a bungalow where some of the greatest minds of the early fifties met and planned out ideas for a better India, minds like his brother Chetan Anand, KA Abbas, Balraj Sahni, Zohra Sehgal and her writer –husband, Sahir Ludhianvi, Rajinder Singh Bedi and Dev was just a struggler waiting to catch the attention of one or all of those great minds…
It was exactly the kind of bungalow he had dreamt of having when he was just another dreamer with no work on hand, he ran around the entire bungalow and the garden and knew that this was the place for him to live out all his dreams….

Dev had become a major star and had a sprawling bungalow of his own, Iris Park in Juhu where he could live like a star but he wanted a place of his own where he could fly like a king who had the amazing wings to fly and reach out all over the world…..

He thought of having a Pent House of his own in the new bungalow now called “Anand” and he let his fancy fly free when he designed the Pent House which was going to be his house of creatively for more than eighteen hours a day when he was not shooting, come Sunday, any holiday, come any strike in Mumbai or any bomb blast in the city, he was there every day from two in the afternoon till past midnight when he mostly drove his own car with his son Suneil or his chauffeur Prem sitting by his side, he was still in action and went to bed only after it was past midnight and he had seen the last bulletin of BBC….
And what a Pent House it was, I have seen many places where people in power and in all their glory live in but I have still to see a Pent House like the one designed by Dev Sahab…..

How does one describe his Pent House which was beyond description? Where does one start and with what? Let me first tell you about the special “throne” on which he sat, it was nothing less than the throne of any king or emperor, it was in this chair that he sat and thought out all his ideas, it was in this chair where he sat and scribbled out all his dreams all the time, there were other “royal” chairs and sofas just placed randomly on which he made his guests, big and small sit while he talked to them, it was in this chair that he sat and met all the most important people who came looking for him like they came looking for a miracle……

There were huge racks stacked with some of the best and the most expensive books and magazines and maps and other kinds of books which he placed according to his own thinking, in these racks were thousands of negatives of photographs presented to him and what was magical about him was that he could point out exactly where he had placed a particular book or under which rack he had placed one of the thousands of his negatives or some note he had made once upon a time….
There was a table which looked as if it belonged to the time when civilization began and on that table too there were the best of the latest books mingled with the latest awards he had won, some fruits, specially apples and grams (chanaas) which were sometimes his only lunch which he popped into his mouth whenever he felt the need and when I once asked him what was so special about those “channas” (grams) he said “they are the secret of Dev’s energy” and winked his famous wink…
It was in this Pent House that I had most of my meetings with him for the last thirty years, it was here that he talked to me about what he was doing or what he was planning to do, never talking about the past and even if it was necessary he excused himself and went into his wash room from where he did not emerge till the thought about the past was wiped away from his face and mind…

It was this Pent House where he met politicians, presidents, kings, poets, musicians, painters and even the most common fans and strugglers, his security and reception had strict instructions not to stop any one and once he met the most ordinary man he neither forgot his face, his name or his voice…
This Pent House was also his battle ground where he fought his own inner battles before he could take decision on any subject, it was the only place where he could be free to be what he really was, the only place which gave him all that he wanted in life…….
And I sometimes wondered what he would do if he did not have this empire of his own and one morning my fear came true, a man who I had first sent to him for a job because he said he was dying to serve Dev Sahab broke the news to me about “Anand”, the best recording studio in Asia Dev had built and above all his Pent House coming down under the bull-dozer, “Anand” was sold for a whopping price for a multi-storey building to come up and the “king” was shifted to a “hole” of a room in some corner where I saw the “king” literally crumbling, he could not be the “king” he was in his Pent House, from afternoon to midnight he just sat in an ordinary chair before an ordinary table, he tried avoiding meeting people as far as he could, he acted like the Dev Anand who was the real Dev Anand when he was in his Pent House, he was growing weak and he talked to me about how he was feeling restless and stifled and even suffocated in that “hole” and he was waiting for the builders to give him possession of a floor which they had promised to build into an exact replica of his Pent House, I don’t know why I feel the beginning of the end for the endless Dev started soon after he had to leave his Pent House on the advice of some friends and fake admirers, one man specially who comes to my mind like a curse every time I think of a world without Dev, that man was the same man who used to hang around Vijay Anand and when he suddenly died switched over to Dev Anand and made the best of life because of his association with a great, simply great man like Dev who I believe was innocent of the wild and materialistic ways of the world…

And what I feared week after week took a very dangerous turn when on the eve of the release of “Charge Sheet” he had a large press conference in the morning but asked me to come an hour earlier because he wanted to spend some “quality time” with me, it was the suite at the Sun N Sand Hotel where he had lived for more than twenty years once, that morning I met a very different Dev Anand, I could feel the change when he embraced me and I could feel every rib in his body and I looked into his eyes and there was a certain deep sadness in them, but he tried being the same Dev, but he could not hide this new Dev from me, it was the first time he spoke about fear, the fear of not being able to go to his Pent House, the fear of not being able to work the way he wanted, the fear of not being able to fulfill all his dreams, it was painful to know this new Dev and yet when he came out to meet the massive crowd of the media he was full of optimism and talked about starting a new innings in a new Pent House which he said would be ready soon, but the builders were like any other builders, sharks, they kept delaying their promise made to him and he had to leave for London after the release of “Charge Sheet” he wanted to be alone, he was granted his wish and spent his times with the “Dev” above being very happy about what his Dev on earth had achieved and wanted him to come back home to Him to receive his applause, when last heard I came to know from reliable sources that the “Dev” above was planning to build a special Pent House in heaven where Dev would find eternal happiness as the king of happiness where there would be no problems, no worries, only anand, anand and more anand……… 

WHEN SANJAY DUTT CHASED PADMINI KOLHAPURE AND..

Sanjay Dutt was in deep trouble over his double addictions, drugs and alcohol, but he was still being signed as the leading man of several films. There were times when he started his day with an entire bottle of Scotch and his secretary of those days, Shakti used to literally drag him to the day's shooting and there were times when Shakti even brushed his teeth and washed his face for him. He was often in such a bad state that he didn't know whether it was morning, evening or night. The scene in his life was growing dark and deary and even dangerous. He was doing films with all the young heroines of the time and had affairs with some and behaved wildly with many....
There was a big party at the Sea Rock Hotel. It was the launch of a film and there was a crowd of both celebrities and gatecrashers. Some expected Sanjay to arrive at anytime as he was to be the hero of the film to be launched.
He had done films with Padmini Kolhapure, the prominent ones being“Vidhaata",“Do Dillon Ki Dastan"and“Bekarar".
There was a commotion all over the hotel. Sanjay had arrived with a group of hours friends and all of them seemed to be very high.
The real problem started when he took out a knife and chased his heroine of three films, Padmini and she kept running and screaming for help, but no one came to her help. The incident created a very bad atmosphere and the report of what had happened reached Sanjay's father who is said to have taken a decision to send him to a rehab centre in America. He was flown to America after a day and had to live in the rehab for several weeks till he came back to normal.
There were any number of stories about his wild behaviour, but the one which shook up many was the scene in which he is supposed to have aimed a gun at his father and threatened to kill him.
There must be some force that has been leading Sanjay out of one crisis after another, but it is good to see an old but very mature Sanjay who is totally responsible to his family, his sisters, Namrata and Priya and is back to work in a much more serious way and is even finding the kind of roles that suit his age.

DILIP KUMAR

THE TRAGEDY OF THE TRAGEDY KING

-Ali Peter John

It was one of those fraud award functions and the fraud organizers wanted me to get Dilip Kumar as the chief guest. It took me a lot of convincing to do before the emperor of acting could agree to my request. He kept asking me why I was getting involved in such“stupid things". I told him the truth. The main organizer would provide me with my evening drinks for the rest of the year. He in his usual style said,“I can do that for you in a much better way". I told him that I had already made a commitment to the man and he only said,“remind me two hours before we have to go". When I reached 34, Pali Hill, he was not at home and I panicked. His man told me that he was supervising the dubbing of Saira Banu's TV-serial,“zara dekho toh inka kamaal". I called him desperately and he thanked me for reminding him and came back home.“suit pehno ya aise hi chalu"? I said,“suit ho toh behtar hoga". He ran up the stairs and came down in a dark blue suit. He was getting into his Mercedes presented to him by one of the sheikhs of the Gulf when I saw his shirt hanging out of his trousers and pointed it out to him and he said,“phir dekhta kya hai, ander daal". He wanted me to tuck his shirt in and I don't know how many feelings crossed my mind while I did it and he stood still...
On the way, he said,“please sit in the front row and keep a look on me when I am speaking and look at me when I come to mentioning the name of your friend and keep repeating the name Ram Jawhrani to me till we reach the hall". That time came and he remembered all the other names but clearly forgot the name of my friend who looked as if he was struck by some great shock. I had never seen him forget a name on stage before...
I was at a musical night arranged by my friend Manohar Iyer whose friend Dr Nayampally, his personal doctor had invited him. He was expected to talk about the music, especially the music of the good old times, but he went on a tangent and spoke about how he played cricket during his college days in Bombay and no one could stop him or tell him that he was going away from the main subject he was to talk about....
He was considered to be the lucky mascot by Sunil Dutt whenever he had to open his election office or launch his campaign for the North Bombay West seat in Bombay. He was doing it again and there was the kind of crowd I had never seen before. All the other leaders had spoken and it was his time to speak. He normally sang the praises of Dutt Sahaab during every such meeting, but that evening he went on a flash back and talked about the Indo-China war of 1962 and how the industry had stood like one man to support the families of the jawans who had fought and died on the border. He was now becoming a source of concern because he was always known for his memory being very sharp...
He was invited as the chief guest at a massive rally of film employees at the Andheri Sports Complex where Mithun Chakraborty who was the president of the employees union almost cried while welcoming him, but he was lost in a world of his own. Aamir Khan arrived, reached the stage and embraced him and he starred at him with a blank look. Saira kept telling him that it was Aamir and he is reported to have said,“Haan, yeh wohi ladka haina jo hamare ghar par kaam karta tha aur bhaag gaya tha". Aamir had heard stories about the shahenshah losing control over his memory and took the incident in his stride. But the worst was still to come. Sahaab as we all called him with all the respect started taking off his tie and coat before the large audience and Saira had to make some excuse and take him home..
The one time he embarrassed someone the most was when an ardent admirer and his wife, Trinetra Bajpai and Kanika who used to visit him every evening were sitting with some of their close friends whose dream it was to see“The Dilip Kumar". When someone asked Sahaab who Bajpai was, he very casually said,“haan inko hum kaise bhool sakte hai? Yeh toh hamari film,“Ganga Jamuna"ke UP ke distributor the". Bajpai who was writing a book on him was bewildered and stopped writing for some time, but after knowing the truth about his all time favourite actor's mental and physical condition, he has been working doubly hard to complete and release the book....
This tragic condition of the one-time and all-time great actor and Tragedy King has dampened the spirits of even some of his greatest fans like Manoj Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Salim Khan and even Subhash Ghai who had once written a thesis only on Dilip Kumar's performance in“Devdas"and all of them feel frustrated and pained when they know that they would love to see their hero, but feel hopeless and sad when they come to know that he has now stopped recognizing anyone and is in a very bad condition at the age of ninety-seven and comes down from his bedroom only once in the evening with the help of his caretakers when it is time for the evening namaaz...
If there is one person who has been by his side all the twenty-four hours of the day, it is his wife for more than fifty-nine years, Saira Banu who I personally believe deserves the highest award for being a very dutiful, sincere and totally dedicated nurse.
Who would have imagined that the man whose life made such a big difference to the lives of five generations, the country and the world would have to have such a painful life to live. Where are you, Oh God, the master of all lives whether it is Ali Peter John or emperor Yousuf Khan?????

LOCKDOWN !

HOW A FLOP FILM LIKE
"ENGLISH MEDIUM" CHANGED ITS MEDIUM OF RELEASE AND CREATED BOX -OFFICE HISTORY
DURING THE
LOCKDOWN!

Ali Peter John

Sometimes the cruelest and crying circumstances can come up with the most unexpected solutions. History is replepe with stories to prove this reality of life ...

This is the story of a film called "English Medium " starring Irrfan Khan , Radhika Madan , Kareena Kapoor , Pankaj Tripathi and Dimple Kapadia among others . It was a sort of a sequel to the earlier film "Hindi Medium "which also had Irrfan Khan and had created a stir among the discerning audiences and even at the box office ."English Medium "was directed by Homi Adajania.The film was shot without a break and completed within the stipulated time and before the makers could think about releasing it , Irrfan was diagnosed for a rare kind of cancer and had to spend several months in hospital in America and the release had to be held back .

Irrfan had not fully recovered , but his interest in the film was so complete that he came back in time for the release . He couldn't take active part in the promotion of the film , but he made sure that he took to his twitter handle make an emotional appeal to audiences about "English Medium" .The appeal was so moving that it had more than twenty nine million views and the makers were excited about releasing the film . But , by then the first signs of COVID 19 invading the world could be felt and India was not far away .

Producer Dinesh Vijyan and Director Homi Adajania , however went ahead and their distributors released "English Medium"on March 13 ,2020 and were in for a big shock when the film fell flat on its face on the very first day and did not recover for the next three days and had to be taken off the theatres it was released in . It was a major set back for all , but the biggest shock was for Irrfan Khan , the sick actor who had put his life into the film.The makers who had invested thirty six crores in the making couldn't even recover thirteen crores and were caught in a bad fix What could they do to save the film and themselves ? There were other big films like "Sooryavanshi"and "Sardar Uddham Singh" were held back because of the scare of the word of mouth appeal of "English Medium "and the growing and deadly scare of COVID 19 ...

Vijayan and Adajania did not lose hope in their favourite "child" (English Medium). They thought of re-releasing the film, but on second and many thoughts later , they realised that re-releases didn't work .They finally decided to release "English Medium"online.They got to work seriously and soon had Adobe premiere pro and Amazon prime video OTT , some digital platforms , Disney hotstar and Disney OTT working full time to get "English Medium"released online . All the publicity material that was used for the release of the film , including the appeal made by Irrfan was used for online too . All this worked like magic and people who were lost in because of the pandemic showed great enthusiasm in watching the film.To add to their enthusiasm ,was the offer of monthly and annual subscription. When last heard of , "English Meduim"is reported to be one of the biggest hits online and has raked in crore of rupees .Is it the making of the crores that is more important or the clever decision taken by man with cool minds under the most tough circumstances ?

English Medium and its release online is going to be a subject that will be talked about in the time to come.There are any number of big and good films lined up for release . And going by the way things are(Lockdown has been further extended till April 30), there is no remote chance of any of these films being realised in theatres soon. The filmmakers who have spent crores of rupees making their films , will have to spend many more rupees in paying the intrest taken on that money.Why not forget their egos and do what Dinesh Vijayan and Homi Adajania have done and changed a "flop film into a film that brings not only big success , appreciation , praise from the press, but even the big bucks ?
There is a saying in hindi,"Manushya paristhitiyon ka dass hota hai "which means man is a slave of circumstances.Why not be a good slave of the circumstances (COVID 19 ) we are all living in today , my filmmaker friends ?