Ali’s Notes

THOSE YOUNG WOMEN I’LL NEVER FORGET
I see Bindiya Dutta, once a star called Bindiya Goswami (now charming but fat and full of life Mrs JP Dutta), pretty, young and always cheerful, a fantastic hostess to look after the home of a rare good man, JP. And I remember some actresses of her time, all of them retired and living lives of their own, living lives they all wanted to live. I remembered Rameshwari who really made it big with her very first film, Dulhan Wohi Jo Piya Man Bhaaye and was always known as the dulhan girl and who will always be rememb as the dulhan girl. I remember Poonam Dhillon, the Noorie girl who made it as a star but could never do anything significant because she was not given a chance, frankly. She is the mother of two children, a boy and a girl, separated from her husband and trying to live a life on her own terms, taking interest in a number of social activities. I remember Asha Sachdev who once said "I am the Marilyn Monroe of India and was a sex symbol of the seventies. I remember Ranjeeta and Kajal Kiran and Deepti Naval and Kiran Vairale and Namita Chandra and Divya Rana and Shoma Anand and Reeta Bhaduri and Rehana Sultan. I remember them because they were good girls better than the actresses today. It was such a great pleasure spending time with them, times which will never come back again. I don’t know why my tears border on my eyelashes when I think of these great girls, according to me.
I don’t know if you remember me, my friends, but I will never forget you, ever because you were made like that, because they don’t make girls like you anymore.

DEBASHREE KI DESTINY
DESTINY, yes destiny, really plays a part in every life. Call destiny by any name but you can’t call it off, give it up as nothing. You can’t. Take any life and you will see the importance of destiny. From emperors and presidents, poets and philosophers down to the man in the streets or the man in the fields, they are all victims of the power of destiny.
Take the case of an actress called Debashree Roy, for example. She made her debut in Shashi Kapoor’s 36 Chowringhee Lane but was overshadowed by the performance of Jennifer Kapoor. She was good in some bad films which didn’t help. She realised her position in time and rushed back to Tollygunge where she gradually rose to become one of the leading female stars, still is. It is difficult to believe that the Debashree today is the Debashree of the dismal and depressing Debashree yesterday.

NEENA, WE NEED NEENAS
WHAT a life it has been for Neena Gupta.She came from Delhi with all her talent to make it as an actress, even a star if it was possible. But life was different for her, tough, the kind of life that tempted her to run away (like so many girls like her have). Neena stayed back to fight. She did the odd roles which kept her going. Then she grabbed the heart, fell in love with the legendary cricketer of the West Indies, Vivian Richards. The birth of Mashaba sealed the matter of the heart, Neena did what millions of girls all over the world couldn’t dare do. It could still be all over for her but she never gave up even if it was good to do the Choli ke peeche kya hai “item” in Subhash Ghai’s Khal-Nayak. And some other stupid things but they brought the ‘Pav-roti’, ‘dal chawal’ home. Then the divine spirit blessed her and she was inspired. She worked in some of the best TV serials of the time. She then went several steps ahead, took great leaps. She decided to direct serials on her own. She made Sahaas. It was magic. The ambience, the performances, the writing, the courage to tackle a subject arrested the attention of millions all over. Sahas became the breath (saans) of hundreds and thousands wherever it was shown. The writer had worked wonders and I don’t want her to stop working wonders. Neena Gupta adds to my belief in women taking over the world, forcing the world dominated by men so long and literally snatching it away from them. Neena is one more soldier marching to fight to make the world a tough, beautiful, loving, principled and peaceful place. It is the Neenas who, I am sure, are going to lead the millennium that is on and the many more millenniums to come. And when you make it really big, Neena (of which I am sure) remember me as a man who had firm faith in a woman like you, a woman so dynamic, so dedicated, so different.

STRIKE SUSHMITA,
STRKE SUSH
IT’S been a great resurrection for the beautiful woman who won the Universe and did Bharatmata proud. I am talking about Sushmita Sen, the beauty who almost lost ground, lost everything in films but fought back desperately. She believed in winning step by step and showing signs of playing winning high, winning all that she had lost again. And it took her just three films in a row to prove that she was not just all beauty but brains too. She told the world very clearly that it was too early to give her up. She had fought her way and was crowned Miss Universe amidst tough competition (these days every second girl God creates seems to be a beauty) God seems to be in a good mood. Thank you, God, and keep being in the same mood). Sush says she is determined to win the race among actresses and it’s not easy to take girls like Sushmita lightly. She, who conquered the universe can easily conquer the world of Hindi films. All she needs are the opportunities. She has already proved how very good she was in Dastak, Sirf Tum and Biwi No.1. She is an ideal actress, more than ideal she is a natural actress. She is also an ideal thinking actress of the times. She is only doing films she wants, roles she can believe in. She is not flooded with offers because she does not want to get drowned. She is happy the way she is playing, the role of a tough female cop in Dr. D Rama Naidu’s Aaghaaz (The Beginning). No Tom-foolery for her. She will always strive to be a winner of hearts, win more men, women and children in the universe which she had already conquered once. I saw her doing some of her natural scenes in Aaghaaz (The Beginning) and I am sure the real big beginning has still to come. And what I like about Sush is her genuine affection for the poor, for the downtrodden and more than anyone for the little street children and sick children, no one cares for. There was a time when some of her rivals made fun of her when she promised to help the cause of Mother Teresa’s mission. They felt it was only said to make an impact. Sush is going all out to prove them wrong. You have to just see her carrying three naked, dirty children with their noses running, starving till she meets them and treats them like her very own.

ZABARDAST JADOO
I hate loose talk, gossip, rumours. It is a different life because I have to live with them all my life, they are such a part of life. The only satisfaction is that there are times when I am tempted, teased and even threatened by the heart to love some, believe some which make life spicy sometimes. Like this latest story about Javed Akhtar demanding and getting a lakh of rupees for a jingle and getting it. He even got a lakh for the title song he wrote for a serial recently. Javed Akhtar has done great service to the cause of the "business of good writing," who has always been neglected, the poor man, who stands in a corner, smiles sadly while everyone strides away with the applause, the accolades and the money.

This Javed Akhtar is the same man who together with Salim Khan (Salim-Javed) gave the Hindi film writers the kind of respectability, status and money writers had never got before them, something for which writers will and should always be grateful to them.

If everyone else can talk money, make money, why not the writers, why not the lyricists who are as important as everyone else in the making of a film? That’s Javed’s argument and he is not prepared to give up on that. It gives hm a good cause and he will give it to you without charging a naya paisa (why do you call it naya paisa since 1957 when the naya paisa first came into the market?)

KAHAN HO TUM, VANI?
Where is Vani?
Where is she hiding, Mr Ali, a rude sarcastic letter reads. One of those letters which teaches you so much, that’s the way I take them
I find out, I always like finding Vani
She was missing, yes she was and I was worried
She was somewhere in the hills of Himachal Pradesh
Doing some film which is more than an ordinary film
Doing a film which has given Vani more satisfaction than most of her work
She has done back in Mumbai
Working, working, working from 7 am to 2 pm every day
Every moment in the service of entertainment
Or the service of the sick, the lowly and the downtrodden
My admiration for her grows
Whatever her critics and my critics say
I am amused at one of my readers comparing Vani
To my muse, my Madhuri Dixit
It’s difficult to understand people’s minds
I admire Vani because she is intelligent, hardworking, on her way, up
Working 12 to 14 hours a day,
Working to make a living
Working to make a name
Working to give the Vani in her the soul satisfaction
The Vani within wants
I reach home and meet a friend
Who I had lost for years
She said she’d come all the way only to thank me
For encouraging girls like Vani
Kaun sochega Vani ke baare mein
Ek tum ho jo kuch to sochte ho
Kuch to samajhte ho
Hamara zamana to beet gaya
Vani, ek naya zamana laana chahati hai
Usse yeh log rokna kyon chahate hai?
Usse yeh log jalte kyon hai?
Tum chalti raho, Vani
Tum ladti raho, jhoonjhti raho
Tumhare mein humne ek kashish dekhi hai
Jo maine aur kisi mein abhi dekhi nahin
Tum kaamyaab hongi
Tumhe kaamyaab hona hoga
Log to kahenge, logon ka kaam hai kehna
Tum aage bado, main tumhare saath hoon
Tum mere se bahut hi choti ho
Lekin main phir bhi tumhe
Guru maanne ke liye taiyaar hoon
Kyon ki tum mein maine ek asha ki kiran dekhi hai
Ek asha ki kiran - Vani