So many
cowards
Are we a country of sheer cowards, cowards who can put the greatest
cowards anywhere in the world to shame. Shouldn’t we bend
our heads down in shame? Shouldn't we cry out like a mother
seeing her only child being held at ransom and hung over fire?
Can’t we, as a people who go on creating more and more
people (aren’t we the country with the second largest population
in the world today, a population which I fear will soon have
a very drastic roti, kapda aur makaan problems and will turn
into hearts tearing and eating into each other, biting into
each others’ flesh and drinking each others’ blood!
with the population growing the way it is, only thoughts that
can come to my mind) and yet we, this great country which we
calls itself Mahaan, have been dancing before a lean man who
looks like Razzak Khan, the comedian in all those TV serials,
the only difference being his giant sized moustache, dancing
before a man called Veerappan who single-handedly has held hostage
one of the greatest actors this country has produced, Dr Raj
Kumar, the superstar of Kannada cinema. This curse called Veerappan
is a brigand, a jungle thief somewhere on the border of Mysore.
He demands from two governments and every powerful authority
and they fumble before they take any decision, however powerful
the leaders who lead this country are, SM Krishna and M Karunanidhi
and the entire country, the entire armed forces, the entire
police force, the entire law enforcing machinery. It is ten
days since Dr Raj Kumar has been taken hostage and our politicians
are busy playing all kinds of dirty, dicey political games which
do not serve any purpose in the case of Dr Raj Kumar, a man
whom his admirers worship like God.
This country of some of the "great" people can flare
up if a statue is garlanded with chappals! It can burn people
to ashes, raze down schools and temples and colleges on flimsy
grounds, but, for the life of me, I still can’t understand
what this country which has seen some of the greatest warriors,
generals and true leaders are doing about this delicate case
of Dr Raj Kumar. The brigand has made all kinds of unbelievable
demands. I am waiting to see how we as Indians react to his
demands. Some years ago we gave in to a female dacoit called
Phoolan Devi who had killed innumerable people in cold blood
and given her a seat in Parliament. Let us see what honour it
does to this brigand among brigands who can keep an entire nation
on tenter hooks. Let us atleast think about this problem because
there is a man who is as good as a saint (Dr Raj Kumar) who
is involved in it. Stars like Rajnikant, Jayaprada, Ambrish
and the entire fraternity of stars are willing to do anything
to save their "God". But till the time of writing
there has only been talk, talk and more talk while the brigand
plays his games with the “saint”. Sorry, this can
happen only in this country, this great country called India.
Jayesh and me,
Jayesh shines
The first time we met, Jayesh Seth was just a photographer and
me, an insecure journalist, but we decided to take on a challenge
given to us by my editor. The big stars were not too willing
to cooperate with us. They wondered what these aaj ke chokre
would do with their wonderful faces, but we finally succeeded
in gaining their cooperation and inspiration of two young actors
who were on the rise, Mithun Chakraborty and Govinda. They were
also strugglers like us. Colour photographs were just coming
up as a fashion or a medium of expression and Jayesh Seth said
he was sure he would be able to do a good job. I staked my job
(which was my life then). We took Mithun and Govinda far away
into the forests, far far away from Mumbai where the only company
we had was poverty-striken farmers, animals, monkeys and huge
trees. Seth said this was the ideal location to shoot these
two strong new men. We shot, the results were fascinating, my
editor was thrilled, the issue sold out, both Mithun and Govinda
still remember those two blow-ups like they never remember any
other photographs.
Time passed. Seth went grey, had a stroke, became a better photographer,
built his own studio, was in demand by all the big stars and
reached a stage where he got bored of just doing photo sessions.
He took the right decision at the right time, he decided to
go into making tele-films. And he was very lucky in finding
his first subject. He shot Vaada, a composition of poems written
by Gulzar and composed by Ustad Amjad Ali Khan. The tele-film
is the talk of the tele-film business which means Jayesh has
made it. So get out of the way, Jayesh Seth, the fashion photographer,
and make way for Jayesh Seth, one of the best tele-filmmakers
of the country. My best wishes are with you, Jayesh, like they
always were.
Let Dilip lead
And all these fifty years we have kept crying for a lobby for
cinema in Parliament, a pressure group which could cast the
search lights on the various issues faced by the industry, some
of them virtually eating into the very vitals of it. This lobby
to talk on behalf of the industry, to fight for it, to serve
the various complaints of the industry on a rested platter before
the government which was in the dark about most of the problems
of the industry. The first winds of change came when actors
like Sunil Dutt, Vyjayanthimala and Deepika Chikalia (the Sita
of Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan) went to Parliament in 1984.
Sunil Dutt believed to he was elected to be a "saint"
and went around doing the kind of jobs no other MP anywhere
in the country was doing. His efforts at helping his fellow
Indians in various fields are well-known to every Indian by
now. Vyjayanthimala believed she was there just to look after
the dirt on Marina Beach in Chennai. And Deepika believed the
best thing was to do nothing. She was the “Goddess”
in the serial Ramayan. She continued behaving like a goddess
in real life too. There was only one occasion when Deepika raised
her voice wand that was when she with a group of other vociferous
lunged for the saint for using a word which they said was blasphemous.
Nitish was Bharadwaj was there for sometime. He walked in and
out of Parliament and finally walked out. This was no way of
making a lobby work. Then there were other stalwarts from the
industry who went to Parliament. We now have one of the greatest
speakers in the country representing the industry in the Rajya
Sabha, Mr Dilip Kumar. We also have great speakers like Shabana
Azmi, Shatrughan Sinha, Raj Babbar, Jayaprada, D Rama Naidu
and some other MPs from the South. These are the men and women
who have to form themselves into a lobby and raise questions
and issues about the industry in Parliament. If they don’t
do it, who will? Let these new leaders take their jobs seriously
and not just make it a hobby and make the best of the bungalows
they are provided with in New Delhi. It is high time a man like
Dilip Kumar led this lobby and stormed Parliament with his speeches
against the problems of the industry and let his colleagues
join him with one voice. Then and only then I think it is worth
their going to Parliament. Let them remember that they have
not gone there as decorative pieces but as men and women to
serve an entire industry which is going through a very dark
phase these days.
The Kher family - A Kheri-cature
There is a Kher-ecter artiste with a lot of Kher-ishma called
you know who. Know where Kher goes to his favourite islands
- the Kher-ibbeans, he can’t but miss his favourite state.
"Khair koi baat nahin," he often says. Just Kher-Kher
mein that is and likes it. Kher-the Kher-naar, the rabble-raising
pre-Kherious of suffering people is always his first Kher. In
fact, his wife Kiran anKhers a television show in which she
goes hammers and tongs against the Kher-acteristics of the society,
both good and bad. Sometimes his inspiration takes a break and
there is a rukawat ke like Kher hai. Just the other day while
singing a song on Kher-aoke, Ker commented that his innings
have just begun and The Kher-Show has a long way to go and so
he has to take Kher very Kherfully.
This Kher-icature of Anupam was created by the genius of Anupam
within minutes. He was sitting and thinking about a beautiful
girl he wanted to cast in his film with Anil Kapoor. No, the
girl was difficult to find. He feels the balance between the
beautiful and the not-so-beautiful is not right so he starts
thinking of something else and comes up with these strange Kherisms.
This question of beauty is one worry which he shares with his
friends Yash Chopra and Javed Akhtar who are also worried about
God’s being so indifferent to the creation of the beautiful
girls which are "so essential to make this world a paradise
on earth which is otherwise gradually turning into hell. One
beautiful face a day can keep the doctor away, says Kher and
keeps waiting for the beautiful girl he is waiting to cast in
his film which he is going to start in another two months. Till
then he can go on creating some more Kherisms. And I am sure
Kher will certainly come up with something better.
Asha And You
Asha was your favourite, a part of your life
Asha Parekh, the actress
You loved her liveliness
You loved her dancing
You loved her eyes
You loved the way she talked
You loved the way the faces she made
You saw every film she worked in
More than thrice and because and only because
You loved Asha Parekh
I loved Asha Parekh and everything
Asha Parekh was
You sent me like a slave from Studio to Studio
To get you an autograph signed by Asha Parekh
I got them for you thrice
I don’t know how many times
Till she started recognising me
But never signing your autographs
Time passed and look what’s happened
You, the Asha Parekh fan
Have become a nun
A servant of God
The chosen one of God
Asha Parekh has become
A fiery leader
Chairman of various associations
I follow Asha Parekh to all her meetings still
I follow her because in her I see you
Because I know I can’t see you because
You are God’s chosen one
And God is very possessive about
His chosen ones
But I will not give up
Because the way I chased Asha Parekh, the actress
To get you those autographs
Made me a great fan of Asha Parekh
One of the last great entertainers
A woman of substance
A woman with a soul
I would not have known this woman, Asha Parekh
If you would not have known her
If you would not have loved her
I don’t know if this is against the religion I practice
But I still see you in Asha Parekh
And I love Asha Parekh
Because she is you for me. |
Cover
Story
