PREM’S STRANGE LOVE STORY
I enter the gates of Natraj Studio, hungry, thirsty, drenched to the skin. It is around 8.30pm . I had my first assignment with cinematographer Prem Sagar, the gold medalist from the Film and Television Institution. And I had to submit my ’copy’ to my editor at 10 the next morning. My struggle started with Bahadur the gateman of the studio. He would not just let me in. I tried to plead my pathetic condition to him till I could almost feel warm tears forming around my eyes. But Bahadur proved he was Bahadur (brave) till the last minute. Till at a particular time marked by destiny Bahadur’s hard heart melted and he said “acha acha zao zao jaldi se nikale jaoge to mere sath beth ke ek kop garam chai pio nahi to tum thandi main mor jayega” I was never so grateful to a man for a long time. I made my way towards the office of Prem Sagar. I had started trembling by than. A door opened and a handsome young man walked up to me and asked me what I was doing outside his office. I told him in the same trembling voice that I had come to meet Prem Sagar on an assignment marked by my editor and it was my first assignment which I had to complete and submit by next morning. He walked upto me, embraced me, led me to his cabin and immediately sent for his boy Shamu and asked him to order for two hot dahi missal and two hot coffees. He asked me for my background and then gave me his ,which surprised me. He was the Prem Sagar W. I. C. A I was looking for all evening. He said he could give me only ten minutes as he had to go for a very urgent meeting. By the time the dahi missal and coffee cam,. Prem entertained me with all kinds of stories and jokes and told me to forget all about the interview. I was scared since it was my first assignment and I did not know when or how the editor would strangle or sack me the next morning. “Relax, Ali, I will talk to your editor and all your problems will be solved. Your editor and me have been close for years. He will certainly forgive me this one mischief”. The ten minutes which he had promised me has lasted for 26 long years. I have the privilege of knowing, caring and understanding Prem more than many other of his best friends and relatives, I am sure.

Prem continued his good work as a cameraman till on that drastic afternoon when he crashed with his entire unit and broke almost all his bones. He lay in hospital for six months. All kinds of medical treatment was tried in different parts of the world and used different kinds of medical therapy. But nothing seemed to work. The only thing that kept working was Prem’s will and he gradually got up from his bed, picked up a walking stick and took his first few steps. It gave him courage. He kept on walking. He is still in deep pain even after several years after the accident and the only thing that keeps him going from strength to strength, courage to courage and success to more success in his sheer will power.

By this time the Sagars had taken to television with Ramyan which created television history and went on to make television an effort of the Sagars into an industry of its own which encouraged many other filmmakers to go in for television. The Sagars divided their jobs into various sections. Ramanand Sagar was the boss, the other boys, helped the boss in making his company among the best in the field of television in India and even abroad. It was this “ abroad” which caught the fancy of Prem Sagar. He decided to try out a new idea. He took the blessings of his father and in spite of all his physical problems ventured out into the world working out on the marketing of all that was produced by Sagar T. V. and Prem was surprised to see the response to the serials made by his father, his brothers and himself. Within a matter of time he was the master at the art of marketing. He was so good that he could even talk a stark communist into buying bulks of his products on the Ramayan. Today, Prem is known in the field of marketing as a genius who comes out with ideas which he describes as “only God- sent”.

Prem as a man is a man who cannot go unloved. He makes it a point without making any conscious efforts to see that his company, Sagar Arts, is one of the most respected companies in the industry.

Discipline, dedication, determination and overall the decision to try till you succeed or not do it at all, are values, are the hallmarks of the company, which has taken it from a stage when it was looked down upon by the industry and given up as a lost and made it an empire. And it gives me great satisfaction to know Prem as the man who gave me an entry into his office on that rainy day twenty five years back is one of the strong (even if broken) backbones of the empire. I am proud of you, Prem and will always be.

A DEAR OLD FRIEND LEAVES
Can a lack of love kill? I am sure it can, I am very sure it does. Can the breaking up of a couple which went strong for fifty-seven long years lead to the complete break up by the villain called death? Can an actor called P. Jairaj who was known for his acting, his tremendous knowledge. Both from books and from experience and his zest for life which he lived fully for ninety one years crumble within just one year, with his heart broken, first because of the death of his wife, Sita and then the harassment of his only son (what a son!) just over a piece of property die and be cremated at the Shivaji Park crematorium in Mumbai without the honour the man deserved for all that he had achieved in cinema during the sixty-seven years he was active in cinema. Jairaj the actor who was in action ever since 1929 during the silent era and continued to be a leading actor. He had an urge to act even while he was the student. His love for acting made him reject all other temptations and he fell for acting whole heartedly. He went on to create a record of working as the hero in all kinds of films. From 1929 to 1965 Jairaj played the leading man in a record number of 110 films. He then switched on to play strong character roles in 92 films till he retired in 1994. His contribution as an actor led to his winning the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1980.

Jairaj had the rare distinction of directing Dilip Kumar in Dilip’s first film Pratima and Bharat Bhushan in his own first and only film which he produced , Sagar. He also directed films like Mala, Mohar, and Rajghar, among others. He also worked in a number of Marathi and Gujarati films. Jairaj was also known for his excellence in an Indo-Soviet production, Pardesi directed by K. A. Abbas, his friend for over forty eight years. He also acted in MGM’s Maya and Twentieth Century Fox’s Nine Hours to Rama which was banned in India.

He was among the first stars who took up any cause which needed help and got around his colleagues to be of help.

Jairaj was known for his great love for books from all over the world. He had such a rich collection that he had to donate or just give away some of his books regularly. His zest for life was well known among all his friends. He was the life of several parties even after crossing eightyfive. He could jump into an over populated second class suburban Railway even till last year. His love for good clothes, attending parties and even make an attempt to dance also lasted till two years ago. He was always the first V. I. P. guest to attend our Screen Videocon Awards ever since it was founded. It was only last year when the courier service failed to reach his invitation and he could not attend the awards function. He cared for Screen so much that he flew into a fit of rage when he realised that he was not invited. It took me months to make friends with him again.

Our friendship, part II started somewhere last year when he and his wife invited me to lunch at their Smoky Heights at Pali Hill. Little did I know that it would be the last time we would meet. His wife left soon after and now he is gone. But thank god for men like him, they leave behind millions of memories. They live life even as we live - with us. I am sure they must be having lunch together in little bungalow gifted to them by God for the good life they had lived while they lived on earth. Jairaj was the tough man, tough in every way, the kind of man who can not leave so easily.

REMEMBER, MR. JAIRAJ, LAST YEAR WHEN WE MET OVER LUNCH IT WAS THE FIRST TIME THAT I HAD SEEN YOU SHEDDING TEARS. THAT WAS NOT THE JAIRAJ THAT I KNEW. THE JAIRAJ I KNOW LIVES IN MY HEART. DIDN’T I TELL YOU THAT MR. JAIRAJ ? YOU ARE ALREADY THERE WITH YOUR WIFE, NO LEASE, NO LICENSE, NO REGULATIONS, ALL FREE FOR YOU BECAUSE YOU WERE A FREE SPIRIT. BORN ONCE IN MANY MANY YEARS

BEAUTY IS A BLESSING!
Never say die. Never say no Never say no to something you can or will have to say yes to one day and hide your face in shame or at least in embarrassment- just one of my beliefs.

Take the case of the beautiful Aishwarya Rai. Her first film in Tamil Iruvar was given up as a gone case and critics and cinegoers alike said these beautiful girls who come as models and beauty queens will never know the ABC of what good acting is. Her second film in Hindi, AUR PYAR HO GAYA, directed by Rahul Rawail flopped miserably. Life continued and I kept saying yes, yes. She had it in her to make everyone sit up and say yes one day.

And now look what is happening to Aishwarya while the other girls are watching. What is happening to Aishwarya after her brilliant performance in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s HUM DIL DE CHUKE SANAM which was followed by Subhash Ghai’s TAAL which gave her a new rhythm (TAAL). She was also good in films like Rishi Kapoor’s AA AB LAUT CHALE. And then came JOSH she was growing better with every film she did. And look where she is today and where she is going to be in the time to come, the time when the whole world will be forced to say a big YES, YES to Aishwarya Rai and Aishwarya will, I hope, never give the dirty group of pessimists a chance to say NO to her again.

LOVE, PYAR, ISHQ
From the beginning of time all man has ever wanted is to love and be loved. And from the beginning of time man has done every thing in his power to make it impossible to do that. Sex is an extraordinary experience of life- love of another, love of self love, love of life. You ought to therefore love it! And you do- you just can’t tell any one you do, you don’t dare show how much you love it or you will be called a pervert. Yet this is the idea that is perverted.

Another gem of that great of collection of quotes love, that one feeling on which quotes can and will never end. Source - Divya Dutta
Thank you, Divya Dutta, Keep loving love and love will make you love life, make life better. Divya, you deserve a very good life as an actress. I know you have been made for success as an actress. I also know that you will make it to your complete satisfaction one day. I know you will because I know talented girls like you have an advocate above fighting your cases all the time. Don’t give up, Divya, throughout the thought of surrendering even before the mightiest monster of failures, till that divine advoca te Himself gives up your case and as you know very well you are his chosen one. He will never let you lose. So you don’t have any reason to lose heart. Strengthen your heart, soothen it when hurts and fight it out, to the finish when it depresses you. That’s the only way to survive.