ALI'S NOTES

Come on, Ms Mannequins
Isn’t it high time all those girls who are trying their best to make it big in Hindi films took themselves a little more seriously? Isn’t it high time those pretty little plaster of Paris and plastic mannequins realised (and realised fast) that what they are doing in the name of acting doesn’t give them the status of an actress? A mannequin, a beauty queen, a glamour doll, a Barbie doll, a fashion parade, anything but an actress.

I ask all the young actresses of today (with the very rare exceptions of Madhuri Dixit, Manisha Koirala, Kajol, Tabu, Juhi Chawla and who’s there?) to put their right hand on their hearts and ask themselves if what they are doing in the name of acting is acting. Let them ask themselves and let them tell themselves the truth about themselves. And the truth will strike them in their beautiful faces and tell them: “no, no my dear, you’re not an actress. You can’t dare to call yourself an actress. You can’t claim all the limelight, the status, the dignity, the class of an actress. You don’t have it in you to be known as an actress. You have not changed and you will not change soon. And if you don’t change they’ll force you to change and if you still don’t change they will force you to change your profession, your life and that will be a sad day. Take heed. Take care. Take all the precautions if you care for yourself because no one will care for you if you don’t care for yourselves. You will have to work very hard, very very hard. You can’t fool people. You can’t fool those around you and you can not fool yourselves.”

These are just some of the lines that will leap out of your hearts (if you have true hearts, honest hearts) and leave you stunned. So here’s an SOS going out to all those glam girls going nowhere from a man who cares, from a man who wishes you well. The time has come, yes your time to change is now. Change now or get set to land on a planet called nowhere.

I call upon Sonali Bendre to add more life to her performances. She was at her best in Duplicate but her best is nowhere near the best an actress has to reach.

I call upon all the beauty queens, Aishwarya Rai, Sushmita Sen and Namrata Shirodkar to understand that acting is a different and difficult hall game altogether. It’s not a walk down the ramp. It’s a walk through the lanes and bylanes of the heart. It’s not a matter of dressing up at your best. It’s a matter of dressing up the soul, the heart, the mind.

I call upon all the Shilpas and Raveenas and Mamtas and Twinkles and Poojas and Priyas and Mahimas to tread carefully, to take every step consciously, conscientiously. It’s all very well to strut around, pirouette and preen. There’s nothing wrong in that, nothing that anyone will mind, nothing that will hurt anyone’s sensibilities. But you call yourself actresses. You are paid astronomical prices because you are actresses. You are pampered and placated and pleased because you are actresses. But are you actresses, really? Have you seen actresses like Nargis, Madhubala, Waheeda Rehman, Meena Kumari, Nutan, Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil, Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla act? They are actresses. They are genuine actresses. They were not born actresses. They made themselves what they became. They slogged. They succeeded, They swam against every tide. They sacrificed. They were the last of the great actresses. What about you, little Miss Mannequins? Isn’t it time you discovered yourselves? And haven’t you seen Father Time watching? He can be very kind. He can also be very cruel.

Listen, Mr President Listen, every Indian
The critics, the pundits, the know-alls and even his fellow-filmmakers branded him as one more peddler of technique, some of the most modern techniques which Indian films had rarely used. They said Ramu (Ram Gopal Varma) was all razzmatazz in the name of good cinema. They predicted a very short life span for him because he did not have the substance, the soul, the spirit to survive. Some of the greater pundits said “Ramu to diwana hai, aaj aaya hai, kal kahi andheri galiyon mein bhatkega” (Ramu is a mad man, he’s just arrived, he will soon get lost in some dark and dreary lanes). Ramu proved them wrong with Rangeela. He showed them that razzmatazz also could have soul. Then Ramu made them scoff at him again when he made Daud, a film which had everything to keep the audience running out of the theatres. And I wondered and a major part of the world wondered how the young man who made Rangeela could also make Daud. Ramu himself seemed to have realised he had made a mistake. He went to work again on one of his favourite subjects, the underworld. He didn’t want stars. The only exception was Urmila Matondkar who had to strip herself of her stardom to play a stark, true-to life role, a role which was turned down by the very choosy Mahima Chaudhary. The others were actors like Chakravarthy (from Telugu films), Manoj Vajpai, Govind Namdeo, Saurabh Shukla (who is also the writer) and some other unknown faces, strong, sensitive and sensational actors. This time, Ramu is sure to stun all those who still have a corner of their conscience left, all those who can still feel, all those who can still think.

I would like everyone, from President KR Narayanan and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and all our honourable leaders and all our learned judges and teachers to find time off from cutting ribbons and making speeches before people who need so much more than just speeches on which they have thrived for fifty years. I want people from every walk of life to see Satya, Ramu’s attempt to find the truth about a malady which is mauling the vitals of a nation on the move nowhere (that’s the position now). Ramu’s discovery about the truth about today’s turbulent youth perched on a time bomb is a greater discovery than discovering a cure for AIDS. Yes, it is, Mr President and Mr Prime Minister and Mr Every Indian. Ramu’s discovery of the truth is more powerful than all the investigative stories, all the inquiries, all the commissions.

Ramu’s truth can save the youth of this country. It can, it will. That’s why it must be seen by every Indian who still loves the truth, by every Indian who still swears he is an Indian. I am obsessed by Ramu’s Satya because I am obsessed by the bitter truth.

A’s for Akshay
There has been no decline in the popularity of Akshay Kumar, the star. I have watched him shooting on locations, I have seen him at work in the studios, I have travelled with him in his own car and I have seen people thronging to see him, to show him how much they love him, how much they care for him, how much they pray for him.

But then what happens to these very people when it is time for an Akshay Kumar film to be released? Why have these very people consistently betrayed him at the box-office? Why aren’t they buying tickets and going into the theatres showing Akshay’s films? One reason that comes to mind in a flash is that Akshay is not bad but his films certainly are. Not one of Akshay’s films released in the last two years have done well inspite of Akshay putting his whole life into it, just the way he used to when he rose to become one of the most wanted, loved, in demand, rising, selling star. And almost all the films, without any doubt, were bad films, films which were an insult to the intelligence of the audience. They were films Akshay had signed without putting any thought into them, just signed them for the heck of it, for making hay while the sun was shining just for him or so it seemed.

Akshay is still the most disciplined, well-behaved, producer-friendly star but his luck is playing some nasty games with him right now. It happens in the life of every star at some time or the other. Akshay is sure his bad time too will end. He has some good films like Vidroh, Barood, Angaaray, Aarzoo and Raftaar coming up. Then there is a new lot of challenging films coming up, films he has signed after learning lessons the hard way. And I don’t know what the others are saying about Akki but I know what his mentor who discovered him one winter morning (Pramod Chakravorty) says. He has absolute faith in his Akki. “I discovered Akki in Deedar. I am sure the people will rediscover Akki after my film Barood,” the mentor says. His predictions for Akki have come true till now. His prediction faces the greatest challenge this time when Akshay needs all the prayers, all the blessings, all the people’s love to give him the courage to carry on.

Some strange bonds
There have been some strong “relatives” of some living stars walking on Pali Hill, a place where Dilip Kumar stays with his wife, Saira Banu and Sunil Dutt stays with Sanjay Dutt and his sister Priya.

These “relatives” swear they belong to the families of the stars and they are willing to do anything to prove they are their “long last relatives” who have been forgotten, neglected, thrown out by their own people, their own khoon (blood) just because they have become stars and are living in bungalows surrounded by security men who take vicarious pleasure in keeping them away from their khoon and even ruthlessly throw them out, sometimes even handing them over to the police who take pleasure in ridiculing them, scaring them, throwing them out of the city.

The first time I met Shah Rukh Khan’s “mother” outside Dilip Kumar’s bungalow. She said Shah Rukh was actually her son, Allasaab, who had run away from home when he was eight. She had some photographs with Allasaab sitting on her lap with a cutout of the beautiful Taj Mahal in the background. She had some of her other “relatives” who swore that Shah Rukh Khan, the star was Allasaab.

Shah Rukh’s real mother died in Delhi some years ago, a shock from which he has not fully recovered. Shah Rukh’s “new mother” went to court and the court found her case “too fickle” and flung it out of a dirty window.

Some time ago a woman stood outside Sunil Dutt’s bungalow and claimed she was the wife of Sunil Dutt. She came there every evening and said her name was Nargis. It was a tough job for Sunil Dutt’s security to help her come out of her dream world and face reality. She vanished after a while.

Sanjay Dutt found a “brother” when he came out of his traumatic experience spending two and a half years in jail. He was lucky. He met Sanjay. He told him he was his long lost “brother”. He was willing to do anything for “Sanju Baba”. He was even willing to go to jail in his place. Sanjay met him once, gave him some money for a few days but the “brother” refused to leave. Then who knows what happened but the “brother” was not to be seen again.

And then there was Dilip Kumar’s son. He just walked upto the gate one morning and asked “Baba hain?” The security men questioned him. And he kept saying he was the only son of Mohammad Yusuf Sarwar Khan, Dilip Kumar. He was handed over to the police. He came back but he still couldn’t find his “Baba”. He said he would not give up. He would go to a dargah and ask Allah to return his “Baba” to him. Then one day he vanished, leaving his “Baba” in peace.

Such relations come in when you make a name, when you have a lot of money, especially when you are a star. “Aajkal to maa baap beekte hai har nukkad par”, a security man said. It was thought enough for me to think about all night. What’s the world coming to?