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Ali's Notes

Come on Tabu, grow up
Thank God, the outstandingly talented Tabu didn’t fall for the fascinating temptation of getting married three years ago. Thank God, she did not get married at a time when she had reason to, she was not getting the kind of work that her talent deserved and she had wasted a long time doing insignificant roles in insignificant films (ruk ruk ruk, arre baba ruk, o my darling, give me a look -- what utter rot for a talented actress like her), she had almost reached a stage when she believed that the industry didn’t want her, it didn’t have a place for her and the competition among the mannequins and stuffed up and padded up dolls was too tough.

Then, thank God for Shabana Azmi, Tabu’s aunt, for recommending her to Gulzar as the leading lady of Maachis. It was the chance of a life-time. When did one find the opportunity to work with a woman-specialist like Gulzar? Gulzar met her, saw her talent and signed her and that was the beginning of a new Tabu. She was "outstandingly brilliant" in the film. She literally squeezed out every ounce of the role and the result was wide-spread recognition which resulted in her winning the National award for the best actress for the film. It was the talent of her triumph. It proved once again how good Gulzar was at getting actresses like Jaya Bachchan, Sharmila Tagore, Waheeda Rahman, Dimple Kapadia, Rekha and Hema Malini act like geniuses at work.

Maachis changed life for Tabu. It was about the same time that she stood out in films like Sazaa-e Kaala Paani, Haqeeqat, Viraasat and even in David Dhawan’s films like Saajan Chale Sasural and Biwi No 1. There was no stopping her now, neither marriage nor any other thing in the world could. Acting was the only thing that mattered to her. And Tabu proved she was good at anything she was asked to do. She tried, mastered (or was already the master -- a born actress) the art of playing any role, the toughest, the most stupid or comic and come out trumps. Tabu today is one of the rare species of actresses we have, a species we can be proud of. She is a director’s delight, a delight for anyone who cares for talent.

Look out for Tabu in Mahesh Manjrekar’s Asthitva, a "strange, stunning film" completed in less than thirty days. It is Tabu’s film all the way and Mahesh is sure if all things work out well in the world, specially in India, Tabu will walk away with all the awards for her brilliant performance in Asthitwa. She has proved her critics how really brilliant an actress she can be. I had expected great things from her. She has given me the world to be proud of. She is an actress ahead of her time, absolutely brilliant material to be moulded into the kind we rarely have these days." There are many other good films and good roles coming to her on merit, on talent alone and the truth is spreading.
Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if Tabu had got married and settled down with two children and a forgotten past. Today, she is one of India’s treasures, a prized possession.

P.S.: The only flaw I find in dear Tabu is her childishness when it comes to awards time. She feels she deserves some major award or the other and gets seriously depressed when she doesn’t and makes her desperation so obvious. There is place for only one at the top, Tabu. What a wonderful world this world would be if all of us would be winners and what a boring life it would be.
You are gradually growing into a living wonder, Tabu. What more do you want? What is more important to you, a statuette and a round of applause whose sound will reverberate in your ears for a while or eternity, that forever feeling which is naturally so essential for an artiste like you. Think Tabu, think, think and then feel. You’ll feel better, greater.

Ali and Alibaba
Last February, just one year ago
I don’t know why
I met this man
They called Alibaba of Alibag
They said he predicted things
They said he knew
What was gong to happen to whom and when
I talked to him
Just because they wanted me
To talk to him
He was the pride of their place
He talked very little
He said the world was passing
Through troubled times
He said the progress
The world was making
Was not progress but "regress"
He "knew" Clinton would
Get "caught" in a sex scandal
He knew Amitabh Bachchan would get in
And get out of trouble
He knew Madhuri Dixit
Would marry a doctor
From America, had already married him privately, in fact
He knew Amitabh’s son, Abhishek
Would be a big star in 2001
He knew nothing about a surprise called Hritik
He knew Jaya Bachchan, the actress would be back
He knew I would pass through a crisis
And came out of it
He knew many other things
But he had no time, he had to go to meet his ‘Maha Maya’, his ‘guru’
This February, I went looking for him again out of curiosity
He had vanished one night, the locals said
Alibaba had vanished from Alibag
And Alibag was not the same any more
Strange things and strange beings
Happen to me so many times
Nothing, no one, no happening touches me any more

Farewell Captain
How does one think of life and death? What does one say about the truth about life? Why does life give you everything one day and then ruthlessly snatches your life, your breath, your wife, your children, take them all away from you? Why does life act so good to you and then suddenly act so cruel within moments. Take the case of Captain Peter Chhal. He was a Wing Commander in the Indian Air Force before that (one of the best). He was the brother-in-law of the much-talked about Rikku. He had two sons who he had sent to America for higher studies. He loved life. His brother-in-law, Rikku, helped him love life all the way. The last party he attended was the party he loved when Madhuri Dixit (he often wondered how God made girls like Madhuri so beautiful). He told her that he was having a swinging time and blessed Madhuri. Some months later he was rushed to hospital. He had a stroke. He kept fighting life like the fighter he was but life never let him win. It had planned nasty things for him. Captain Peter died a few days later. That night and for several nights after that night (and days too) I wondered how life was so much stronger than death. How could it let down Captain Peter so badly?

Rani can rule
Life once again comes to normal (it has to if you are fit) and I go for a morning walk and see Rani Mukerji going past -- yes. The same Rani Mukerji was last in the news because of her life-like romantic scenes with Kamal Haasan in Hey! Ram. That early morning I was baffled by three wonderful girls like Rani and the sizzling sexy scenes they did with or without reasons. Then I had some more thoughts to think. But, I thought about Rani. It took her just one film (Raja Ki Aayegi Baaraat) to gain recognition as an actress and be forgotten. It also took her just one film, Ghulam with Aamir Khan to be born again. She was more than the Rani she wanted to be. She was the actress on the rise, an actress who could rise further if she recognised herself if she knew her true worth Rani is still the Rani of her little kingdom. She will have to build a kingdom of her own which she can rule all by herself, according to her own rules, her own dictates. She can do it if she wants.

Who’s Shatru’s shatru?
I seriously believed the Bharatiya Janata Party believed in gratitude. Then I thought if it could not do justice to one of its most ardent disciples, Shatrughan Sinha, how could it think of doing justice to anyone? Shatrughan was the lifeblood of the BJP during its fight for survival. He addressed one hundred and forty meetings which made a distinct impact on all those who attended his meetings only because of him. He was both enlightening and entertaining. His party won. It came into power and people like me wonder why the experienced and learned Atalji, the prime minister, could not and still can not find a place for him in his cabinet, atleast as a deputy minister (only because he is young!). Shatru would have done much more justice to any department than so many other ministers who are experts in shouting, sleeping, snoring or creating roudy scenes. And then politics is a different dirty ball game.

Shatru Bhaiya has still not found the place he deserves. Why? I protest, Atalji. If Shatru Bhaiya is not capable then I don’t know who is. If Shatru Bhaiya doesn’t deserve gratitude, appointed as a deputy minister in the least, I don’t know who must? Raise your voice, Shatru Bhaiya. If uncouth, illiterate and crude criminals who are also politicians can raise their voices and break tables and heads you can do much better, why can’t you? What’s stopping you? Who’s coming in your way?

What’ll we do with Hritik?
I’M sorry if I’m still talking
About Hritik Roshan
But tell me who,
Who really is not talking about Hritik
From Dilip Kumar and Amitabh
From Rekha to Esha
From Subhash Ghai to Khalid Mohammed
From AR Rahman to Anu Malik
From Kabir Lal to Ashok Mehta
From Anand Bakshi to Sameer
From the distributors from Indrapur to Jhumri Talaiya
From every aspiring writer to every aspiring director
From every family, community, club, maidan, market and basti
From every corner of India
From faraway places abroad too
They all want to see Hritik
They are willing to make every "offering" to the handsome God
Just to have a glimpse
Just to share a smile
Just for a few lines
Just a wave of his hands
Just flexing of his muscles
It is difficult for Hritik
It is difficult to make so many happy
It is doubly difficult because of the security offered after what happened to his good father
It is difficult to deal with so many "lovers",
It is very difficult, very difficult but Hritik will have to manage
Because this is not the time when he cannot break hearts
Because this is the time for him to win more and more hearts
A time like this comes once in a hundred years or more, Hritik

Mr Adventure
There is this dashing young man called Firoze Nadiadwala. He loves playing with adventures. He takes great delight in taking risks no ordinary giants of men can. He is passionately in love with cinema and he can do anything to bring perfection to whatever is associated with his name. He is in constant touch with all the latest developments in films all over the world. His quest to learn to excel takes him across continents and countries like we ordinary human beings travel between Kurla and Chunabhati railway stations. "I believe in the best. And you can’t get the best without lots and lots of hard work," Firoze says. The daredevil producer has just about completed his film Hera Pheri with Akshay Kumar and Sunil Shetty. And the promos he has made directly under his supervision are already being talked about as things that have never being tried before as promos. They are the kind of promos that have never been seen on TV screen (those who don’t believe in the result of Firoze’s hard work can only be called cynics). The promos are teasers, tantalisers, treats. They try to tell you so much in such grand, superlative ways and still keep the basics under wraps. That’s what Firoze believes in. You’ve to see his promos which will go on changing and go on for weeks till the release and even after that to know what his love for adventures, for risks is all about.