Ali's Notes

Shashi talks and...

ON a Sunday afternoon as I battle with a whole bundle of newspapers (some of them just that, bundles as in corny or fake or fraud, a word common in Mumbai which is fast growing into Bundle Mumbai) I am about to give up going through the papers before being called to get ready for a sumptuous Sunday lunch prepared by my darling wife. I come across a line from Shashi Kapoor, one of the most lovable actors who we don't meet very often because he hates moving out of his house and knows very little about the mad mad ways of the world of films which once raised him to the position of a prince charming and then reduced him to a near pauper for mistakes made advertently and inadvertently all those arty arty films. He was Shashi Baba (even when he was a young Kapoor little girls used to call him Shashi Baba though he was a dashing debonair young winner of millions of hearts). "Thank God, he (Prithviraj Kapoor, Shashi's father) came to India and started Prithvi Theatre, otherwise I'd be a hawaldar, wearing baggy salwars in Peshwar," Shashi said in one of the many papers. That morning Shashi was speaking on the twentieth anniversary of Prithvi Theatres, the theatre he founded with the active and amazing inspiration of his wife, the late Jennifer Kapoor. And even as I read those lines I really wondered what these Kapoors would have done, where they would be, what they would do with their brood of children if Prithviraj Kapoor had not came to Mumbai and worked like a man whose passion set him on a rare fire to start Prithvi Theatre. It grew into a house for some of the most talented actors, directors and artistes from all over the country. It was literally a theatre of the people, for the people and by the people. Prithviraj had a group of like-minded men and women who joined him in his passion to sacrifice, excel in theatre.

Prithviraj himself gave to theatre and to cinema three great sons, Raj Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor. Raj grew into the greatest showman India has ever produced, Shammi became the rebel star, an actor who started a school of acting all his own, a school many tired to follow (and are still trying to follow) but miserably failed. Shashi Kapoor also became a handsome young star who made a name for himself both in India and abroad. The Kapoor family further flourished when Raj's sons followed in their grand-father's and father's footsteps. Raj's sons, Randhir and Rishi grew into major stars. Randhir also turned into a successful director and Rajiv Kapoor, the youngest made a daring debut first as an actor and then as a director with Prem Granth and now Rishi, the most successful star-son of Raj, has just directed his first ambitious film, Aa Ab Laut Chalen but will be back as an actor soon. How? Shammi's only son Aditya Kapoor tried to get into the business of entertainment but has still to find his roots. Shashi's sons Kunal and Karan tried to make it as stars but they were too `English' to be accepted as Hindi film stars. And now Randhir's daughter, Karisma and Kareena are both in films, something which was against the tradition of the Kapoor khandaan but with time, what can you say about time!

Somewhere in the seventies Shashi and his wife Jennifer decided to build Prithvi Theatre of their own. They were discouraged by many. The land on which they wanted to build the theatre was prime property in Juhu. They could have made crores of rupees selling it. Jennifer (whose entire family, the Kendals were madly dedicated to theatre) who was involved in English theatre) however was determined to build Prithvi Theatre and Shashi inspired her with all the help she needed to help her dream come true. Prithvi Theatre started on a small scale. It then grew and flourished and today it is one of the major landmarks of Mumbai.

At times I wonder what Hindi theatre would do without Prithvi Theatre. I wonder what so many young and talented young men and women from all over the country would do without Privhti Theatre. It is this very Prithvi Theatre which has given so much talent to theatre, films and in very very big way to television. Prithvi is a blessing to the starving for talent Mumbaiwala.

There was a time when Shashi lost interest in Prithvi, especially after he lost his wife Jennifer who was the central pillar of Prithvi Theatre, the woman who looked after Prithvi like her own child. Shashi was stopped from doing such a cruel thing by his son Kunal and daughter Sanjana. Today, both Kunal and Sanjana are taking care of Prithvi Theatre and taking every step to make it a major institution in Mumbai. They have vowed to keep Prithvi Theatre alive which means keeping so many hundreds and thousands of hopes and dreams and inspirations alive.

Thank you, Jennifer

I still remember that memorable evening at Prithvi Theatre. It had just been inaugurated. Not many people knew about it, not even all those who should have. It was Shashi Kapoor and Jennifer Kapoor's gift to Mumbai, it was their house for the talented who had no place to stand in a crowded city like Mumbai and prove their talent. It was their own little way of keeping talent alive, of keeping theatre alive, of keeping young artistes and directors and artistes alive. It was their way of thanking theatre for making them, Shashi and Jennifer and their families what they were.

That evening as Shashi sat nursing his Vodka he wondered about the future. He wondered whether they had taken the right step, he wondered if people would patronise a strange theatre like this, a theatre which could take only two hundred people on a first come first served basis, a theatre which could sometimes become a part of the set. He wondered if the theatre would serve any purpose. And Jennifer kept cheering him up. She asked him to give Prithvi Theatre some time. She told him people would come, she was so optimistic she told Shashi that she saw a future when Prithvi Theatre would become a landmark in the city. She said she saw groups of lovers of good theatre thronging the place. She said she saw Prithvi Theatre as the breeding ground for talent from all over the country, talent that would spread its light not only all over the country but all over the world. She told Shashi Prithvi Theatre would give talent, good talent, great talent to films and to television which was still to take off those days. Shashi loved his wife's optimism as much as he loved her and left everything in her hand. And Jennifer made all out efforts to see that she made everything that she told Shashi that evening come true. Prithvi Theatre has had the privilege of seeing some of the most outstanding talent in acting, direction, acting and other crafts associated with theatre find hope at Prithvi Theatre, spread hope.

Then Jennifer suddenly died leaving Shashi shattered and so many other dreams she had nursed being threatened all the time but neither time nor clime has affected her mission of love. Mumbai is grateful to you Shashi, Sanjana and Kunal. And Mumbai is lucky a woman like Jennifer, a woman with a vision walked this city, worked in this city, loved this city, gave this city more than this city deserved.

Madhuri's loves...

ASK some of the most popular stars which their favourite place in the world is and they will rattle of names like Switzerland, Paris, Holland, Rome and London. Ask Madhuri Dixit, the reigning actress the same question and she will say Mumbai, India, "the city where I was born, the city which has made me whatever I am today." She may make an exception and say America but that is because her two sisters and only brother have settled down there.

Ask some of the other girls who their favourite people are and they will tell you millions of stories about their favourites from Hollywood and the latest man in their lives. Ask Madhuri and she says she can only think of her parents in India and her sisters and brother and their children and no one else.

Ask Madhuri what her idea of an ideal day is when she is not shooting and she says "just staying at home, lolling around lazily without any need to put on any make up (that's the time when she looks her glorious best, a painter's delight, a poet's ecstacy, God's glory and the devil's envy) without having to go through the hassles of dressing up, especially wearing a sari to go out, making meaningless conversation with people who talk but don't mean anything, smiling away, without wanting to, shaking hands, getting mobbed, growing miserable on the whole, doing everything that she doesn't like. Only sitting at home, catching up with some reading if possible and then gorging on good food. If there is one thing Madhuri loves with all her heart it is good home made food made by her mother. She loves fish but fish is not the only thing, anything good is good enough. I have seen other actresses envy her appetite even when she is shooting. "I love eating and I'll eat till eating really eats me."

I have seen Madhuri and all her moods because I have been watching Madhuri ever she was six, a school girl in Divine Child High School. Madhuri is my hobby.

The enigmatic Mr Reddy

THE man's activities and his emerging influence in different spheres of life continues to baffle me and many other ordinary mortals like me. It can baffle any one. I am talking about Dr T Subbirami Reddy, industrialist, tycoon, chairman of any number of major companies, one of the nation's large-hearted philantropists, a filmmaker who has always made award-winning films made in various languages, an exhibitor (his two theatres in Hyderabad Parmeshwari and Maheshwari are examples of what an ideal theatre should be) and a Member of Parliament (Congress I) who has done more for his constituency than any other MP, I can bet.

The man means many things to many people. The party he hosted at the Rendezvous at the Taj to celebrate his wedding anniversary (he always celebrates his wedding anniversary in Mumbai at the Taj on February 6) and the gathering of VIPs from various fields and spheres was proof if proof is needed to prove how popular, how powerful he is. Reddy is an enigma difficult to solve, an enigma who is best left an enigma. The Reddys of the world add salt and spice to life. I like them. They make life interesting.