WATCH THIS TUSSLE!

The time has come, yes, the time for "the Big B" and "the small Big B", " the ageing but still ever roaring tiger and his raring-to-go young son, Abhishek Bachchan to face each other for the first time. Their first film together is expected to start towards the end of this month and the two are taking all precautions that they both emerge winners. In a battle it is normally it is one man who wins but this is one unusual battle where every one right down to the referee want to see both the fighters to win.

The father and son have not faced many good times recently. Almost ll the films done by "the Big B" after he made his comeback (except Mohabbatein) have failed to make him stand like the Colossus he was before his sabbatical. For Abhishek, too, it was just his first film , Refugee which did him some good (with "JP" at the helm of affairs, you can even make a drying, dying tree act as is believed by a large section of the industry). The father and son are not talking about the film to start but the rest of the world is anxious, interested, excited, even tense. They want to see what happens, how the two go about facing each other, how tough they can be to one another and then leave it to the audience and their judgement on one of the most sensitive and stormy tussle of talent between father and a son. I don’t think it has happened before. Enlightenment, anyone?

THAT RARE RESURRECTION
The man they had committed, condemned and nearly crucified (like Jesus Christ) has also risen from the "dead", like Jesus Christ. I am talking of Sanjay Dutt, the son of Sunil Dutt, MP, who is gradually growing into a messiah among men. The Jr. Dutt whose body was reduced to skin and bones and mind befuddled during the two and half years in jail is now the toughest man in the world of films. Just have a look at the ripples in his muscles, one look at the spring in his walk and watch him drive on his motorbike in the darkness of night and you will wonder whether this Sanjay was the same Sanjay of 1993.

And, more surprisingly look at the change that has come over Jr. Dutt, the actor. His growth started with some incomplete and downright bad films which led him to a film called Vaastav and then followed films like Khoobsurat, Mission Kashmir and Kurukshetra and today Jr. Dutt seems to have started life as a brand new genuine actor, ready to take on any challenge of the muscles or of the mind. There are people who call this change a miracle. There are others who call it the blessings of his father, his sisters, Priya and Namrata, his brother-in-law Kumar Gaurav, his two little nieces, the intense prayers of his wife Rhea and above all the showering of blessings of his mother, Nargisji, above, who unfortunately, couldn’t live to see the day her son crowned as the prince of the industry. Cruel destiny, what else can I say?

SO MANY DESIRES
I am sure her grandfather, Premnath, one of the most colourful, controversial and talented actors to have made the history of Hindi films interesting would have danced with delight and told the whole world the reason for his going mad with joy---his grand daughter, Aakanksha (desire) making her debut as an actress.

I have seen the one-time gorgeous actress, Bina Rai, best known for her role in "Anarkali" who had gone into isolation, far away from the world, after Premnath died, coming back to life and living a happy and normal life, wiping out her state of a meaninglessness life and bringing meaning and joy back into her life, taking very keen interest in her granddaughter, Aakanksha’s life and career. I have never seen Prem Krishan, Aakanksha’s father, the big boss of Cinevista, the leading television company, sounding as exciting as a little boy who has found his favourite toy. I have never seen Umesh Mehra who is Aakanksha’s father’s best friend since the time they were little boys, so excited about making a film with a newcomer like Aakanksha "because Aakanksha is a delight to work with. She has gone through the grim struggle an aspiring actress has to. She is so young and yet has the power to come up with some of very difficult scenes. I have tried and tested her time and again and have discovered a very fine actress for the future. Truly, they say, it is all in the blood."

Aakanksha who was always interested in following in her grandmother’s footstepts, grow up and make it as an actress is grateful to her father, Prem Krishan, first and then her entire family for giving her the permission to fulfil her desire (Aakanksha). She says: " I was very keen to make it as an actress ever since I saw my grandmother in all her glory in her various films I saw on TV. The more I saw her the more my ambitions grew and one day I told my father about my desire and I was surprised when he told her that he would go all out to see that she made it as a good actress. I told him I would try my best. I had my grandmother as my ideal and I had confidence in myself and such a helpful, loveable and confident director in Umesh Uncle who is my father’s dear friend. What could more I ask for?" Akanksha has brought light into the lives of the Premnath family. She promises to keep the light glowing and she knows that the glow can only come with growing and working very very hard at a time when the competition among actresses is so very tough.

Umesh has made her first film all the more tough for her by selecting a subject which is a love story, "which is different but not different in the way people call each and every film different these days. A major part of the film will be shot in Kashmir and both the heroine and the beauty of Kashmir will vie for honours. It is a soft film with tough tones, too, one of Umesh’s most difficult films in his twenty- year old career. And he is confident that he will be able to make the really different film he desires to make, make a film that will satisfy every desire."

THE CRUSADER CARRIES ON
Only a Shabana Azmi could do what Shabana did recently, adding one more crown to her over-crowded crowned head. She was offered one of the chat shows by a leading satellite company. She considered the offer for a while and then sent in her terms and conditions which sent the makers of the programme reeling. She said she would do the programme only if her own remuneration for every single episode would go to one of the many genuine charitable trusts or causes all over India. It came to huge amount if calculated by the year and the number of episodes they wanted her to sign a contract for. Shabana didn’t stop there. She then said that her programme would not be a programme full of fun, frivolity and fantasy. The crusader in Shabana saw the programme as a very good source of spreading the awareness of her growing number of projects, help her in bringing up the down-trodden, the slum-dwellers and a series of other social causes, diseases and general awareness among the people. She said anything she would do for the programme would be for the welfare of the common man. The men at the head of the channel went staggered when they heard her demands. That was not all. She further went on to say that thirty percent of the contestants would be women who she firmly believe have not been given the place they deserved in the last fifty years. The channel finally came to the cunning or clever conclusion probarily that she was using the programme and changing it into a political-cum-social programme. They wanted entertainment plus, not dry and boring social programmes with a dash of enlightenment for the sponsors. The channel seemed to have surrendered since the programme is nowhere to be seen or heard of.

That’s Shabana. She makes a commitment, carries out a crusade, lends a clarion call to alleviate all the wrongs that have been heaped on women during the last fifty years. Incidentally Shabana Azmi, MP, at fifty, has her hands full with work not only in the country but in backward countries in different parts of the world. Today, at fifty, she looks sophisticated, very dignified and fully qualified to be one of the best Members of Parliament.

She is, undoubtedly, still one of the best actresses the country can be proud of, according to all the best filmmakers. But she has other goals, other missions and other issues to tackle, issues which men have neglected at the cost of neglecting women in general. Shabana waits for more and more women to join her in her crusade to fight for women. Women, who she feels are still been treated like rugs and doormats, Something which ignites the fire in her burning like it always has been and I am worried of the day when her fire breaks out into a major explosion.

Ali Peter John