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Ali's Notes

DEBASHREE DESTINY ROY
Destiny, yes destiny, really plays a part in every life. Call destiny by any name but you can’t call it off, give it up as nothing, you can’t. Take any life and you will see the importance of destiny. From emperors and presidents, poets and philosophers down to the man in the streets or the man on the street, they are all victims of the power of destiny.

Take the case of an actress called Debashree Roy, for example. She made her debut in Shashi Kapoor’s 36 Chowringhee Lane but was overshadowed by the performance of Jennifer Kapoor. She was good in some bad films which didn’t help. She realised her position in time and rushed back to Tollygunge where she gradually rose to become one of the leading female stars, still is. It is difficult to believe that this Debashree today is the Debashree of the dismal and depressing yesterday.

WHAT LYRICS!
Some absolutely amusing, unbelievable and sheer nonsensical things happen in the name of lyrics today.

The otherwise rough and tough police officer Aamir Khan falling for the charms of Sonali Bendre and going crazy with her in a “wet wet very wet” dance number, changes costumes and colours and showing off as much as her body as possible (especially Sonali) in Sarfarosh. Two songs are meaningful. The rest are meaningless in a meaningful, memorable film.
A fifty-four year old Amitabh Bachchan singing about first love to Soundarya, who is less than half his age. It was one of the reasons the otherwise reasonably good film was not accepted as it should have.

These days lovers too have a very serious problem. They don’t have romantic songs to sing to their beloved. And so do the beggars in trains. They are still singing Mother India and soulful songs from Dus Lakh and Saajan and Aashiqui. Have mercy on these lovers, beloveds and beggars, all you lyricists. Have mercy on them. They need songs just like the desperate producers want them. Jago, utho, likho, kamao, kamake khao, khaane do, churao, churane do, yeh duniya ki reet hai, aaj kal chalti hai to aise chalna hoga. Bakwas chalta hai, purana chalta hai, chalne do...

IT’S GONE, IT HURTS
Some scenes in different parts of Bombay, now Mumbai, once known as “the queen of the suburbs”, scenes which fill the heart with all kinds of feelings, scenes that still prove that the heart can feel, scenes that almost break the heart.

Scene no. 1. the bungalow built by Sunil and Nargis Dutt demolished. This was the bungalow where Sunil and Nargis Dutt dreamt all their great dreams. This was the bungalow where Sanjay, Priya and Namrata were born. This was the bungalow where Sunil and Nargis had some of their most talked about parties. This was also the bungalow where Sunil Dutt sat alone when all his so-called friends deserted him when he went bankrupt after the flopping of Reshma Aur Shera, one of the better Hindi films made in Mumbai. This was the bungalow where Nargis Dutt lived as “Mrs Dutt” after giving up a glorious career. This was the bungalow which saw the rise of Sanjay Dutt as a star. This was this bungalow which saw the three consecutive entries of Sunil Dutt as a Member of Parliament. This was the bungalow which saw the tragic death of Mrs Nargis Dutt. This was the bungalow which saw all those horrible times when Sanjay Dutt was groping in the greatest crisis of his life. This was the bungalow to which he had brought his first wife, Richa and then his second wife Rhea (after the tragic death of Richa). This was the bungalow which was a symbol of love, peace and harmony, a place of solace for people in trouble. Now there was nothing. All that and a million memories were mingled with dirt and the debris the bungalow was reduced to. Soon there will be a huge building, one more monstrosity, a multi-storeyed structure which will smear the face of the ex-queen of suburbs.

Scene II. 34 Pali Hill, the house where Dilip Kumar lives with his “begum” Saira Banu. It looks like a part of Kargil or a war-torn area. There are countless policemen in every corner. In fact, the strict security starts right from the corner of Dr Ambedkar Road.

SHASTRIJI, TERA KYA HOGA?
Come back, come back Shastriji
I will not laugh at you
I will not punish you
I will not tell the world the truth about you
I will not tell all your other fraud friends that you are a fake
Come back, dear Shastriji, I’ll embrace you, I’ll touch your knees only, Shastriji not your feet, certainly not your fat feet
And your biradari of frauds don’t deserve that honour, certainly not
Pichale saal tumne kaha tha
You predicted the industry would come to an end in 2000
It is 2000 AD, we have passed 2000 AD, we have survived
We have succeeded, we are striving, we will succeed, come what may
We have had a few major miracles, a miracle like Hrithik Roshan
And many other miracles which will baffle you
Come, Shastriji, come walk with me
Take a look at the industry, the same industry you said would die an ignoble death
Come, Shastriji and see the industry thrive, come and see our stars charging
Crores, working day and night, working madly, working only to make money
Come, my dear Shastriji and see every department doing well, aiming higher
Yes, even the frauds are doing very well
Come and see 2000 AD ushering in a new era of
Hope, of prosperity, of Hrithik Roshan, of Abhishek, of Kareena, of Esha
Come on Shastriji, grow out of your pessimism
Come and see the triumph
Worked out by a group of optimists who never give up
Shastrijis have come and gone and said things about the industry
Things which depressed us, wondering where we would go
But, no, Shastriji, nothing like you said last year is coming true, sorry
Aaiye Shastriji, padhariye Shastriji, apne aap ko sudharo Shastriji, you are the
People who take the world back when we are fighting to take it ahead
Change your ways, change your methods, change your selves
Ask your “frauds” (friends) to change if they can because you have no future
As long as we have fighters who will fight to the finish

KYA AADMI HAI, BONEY SAHAB
There are times when I wonder what the following God’s good people would do if life would not have gifted them with one Boney Kapoor, the ever ambitious, adventurous Boney Kapoor, one man who can do what many men cannot do together (opinion strictly mine).

Like what would my jolly-good-old-young friend Surinder Kapoor who was Shammi Kapoor and Geeta Bali’s secretary and who later became a small-time producer making films with Dara Singh and an unknown “purple actor” (the description of the late Raj Kapoor for Mithun Chakraborty) do without Boney. Boney soon found out that things were not going right. He decided to take things in his young hands. He started working as an assistant director and learnt the ropes of the game and soon made his father a producer with a film called Hum Paanch with artists like Naseeruddin Shah, Raj Babbar, Om Puri, Deepti Naval, Shabana Azmi and Amrish Puri, artists who at that time cared more for good work than money. He made the film his way, just as he wanted - meaningful films. The film was a surprising hit.

Boney Kapoor established his father’s banner again and within no time was a young man to respect. What would Anil Kapoor, his younger brother do if Boney had not inspired him to try the talent he had seen in him as an actor and given him his first break. He was the “sole manager” of Anil’s career at every step. He never let Anil fall or fail even when he fell and failed. He found the ways and means to make Anil stand up again, face the competition or consequences and come up trumps time and again. What would Sanjay Kapoor who kept trying as an actor and failed do without Boney’s advice? Boney has now come to the conclusion that Sanjay can not make it as a leading man and so has advised him to turn a villain and Sanjay Kapoor as usual has taken his advice seriously. And I am sure Boney’s advice and striving went a long way in helping Sridevi during her mother’s serious ailment. Their relationship as everyone knows ultimately ended in a controversial marriage. It was in a way Sridevi’s gratitude and love for what Boney had done for her and her mother. What would so many artists, directors, writers, technicians, music directors, lyricists, distributors, financiers, so many men and women connected with films do without Boney Kapoor? They could do without Boney but with Boney they can work greater wonders, they all know.

All this is what Boney has done at such a young age. He has bags full of ideas already waiting to go into action. And what he has in mind for the future for him, for his family and the industry, Tauba tauba! Mind-boggling man.

SUCCESS, SO SWEET
It's been some sort of a resurrection for the beautiful woman who won the Universe and did Bharat mata proud. I am talking about Sushmita Sen, the beauty who almost lost ground, lost in films but fought back desperately, winning step by step and showing sighs of aiming high, winning all that she had lost again. And it took her just three films in a row to prove that she was not just all beauty but brains too. She told the world it was too early to give her up. She had fought her way and was crowned Miss Universe amidst tough competition (these days every second girl God creates seems to be a beauty, God seems to be in a good mood. Thank you, God, and keep being in the same mood). She says she is determined to win the race among actresses and it’s not easy to take girls like Sushmita lightly. She, who conquered the universe can easily conquer the world of Hindi films too. All she needs are the opportunities. She will not rest till she finds them and makes the best of them.

IT’S JAVED, AGAIN
I hate loose talk-gossip, rumours. It is a different life because I have to live with them all my life of the lyricist. The only satisfaction is that there are times when I am tempted, teased and even threatened by the heart to love some, believe some, makes life spicy sometimes. Like this story about Javed Akhtar demanding and getting a lakh of rupees per song. He even got a lakh for the title song he wrote for a serial recently. Javed Akhtar has done great service to the cause of the “business” who has always been a neglected man, the poor man who stands in a corner, smiles sadly while everyone else strolls around with the applause the adulation and the money.

This Javed Akhtar is the same man who together with Salim Khan (Salim-Javed) gave the Hindi film writer the kind of respectability, status and money writers had never got before them, something for which writers must always be grateful to them.

If everyone else can talk money, make money, why not the writers, why not the lyricist who is as important as everyone else in the making of a film?