| Mumbai - February 16, 2001. |
Cover
Story
 Diary |
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This was not
something that was part of his nature when I had joined him but
it came to him like a curse late in life. Abbas also went out of
his way to help an actor like Raman Khanna who saw dreams of becoming
another Rajesh Khanna "or atleast one third of Rajesh Khanna
who was the ruling superstar then". The man couldn’t act
he had nothing that would make him an actor any where near Rajesh
Khanna but Abbas made a film with him called Faasla with a new actress
Shabana Azmi who showed sparks with her very first film. Abbas wrote
some reviews for books, films and documentaries which were not worth
a look and I never understood why he praised them till the very
end. I once made bold to ask him why he had praised a book which
was nothing but muck which was what most critics said about it.
He very clearly told me that he did it against his conscience to
help the author sell some copies of his book. “I feel bad when
a struggling writer or a struggling filmmaker comes up to me and
makes a plea to write a preface or an introduction to his work.
I feel extremely bad to go against my conscience but I believe in
humanity, in helping human beings more than all lofty values and
principles. It only gives me more pain to add to their pain when
I even try to reject or say no to some of their requests. I love
all kinds of artists, writers and film makers. I feel helpless when
they even fall at my feet to help them in some way. I sometimes
feel a little encouragement from me may help them may progress in
future. But unfortunately I have never heard of them again and that's
when I feel I should call my self Abba-ass. Some one has to encourage
them inspire them as much as they can. that's what I do at the risk
of my reputation. What is my reputation if it doesn’t help
another person who is struggling to make a reputation for himself.
Frankly I don’t care for name, fame and reputation when it
comes to helping others, specially the young.”
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