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Ali's Notes

WHAT IS FEAR?
Forget the fear flying in from the Big D and his desperados from the hell where he and his men have been holed (I sometimes find it baffling to find out who is more scared, they or we, who have really nothing to be scared about, really). Forget the fear of all those extortions and threats from all those men from within the country who have made extortion and threats their full-time profession. Forget all the enemies for the time-being, however, scary they may sound, feel or look nearly death-like (why are we Indians so scared of death? Death has to come, it will come whether it has to come from the Big D and his hell or from any of his small scorpions hiding in filthy holes full of stinking fire). Forget the fear which is gradually leading us to the path of destruction. Forget all the external enemies threatening us from round every corner. How long will we go on living dying like this? What kind of life is this? Didn’t Shakespeare, our old friend, say a coward dies a thousand deaths...

And only remember that we have forgotten how to make good films which will fill the hearts of our people which are already heavy with a burden they are finding it difficult to carry. Only remember that we have hundreds of writers who call themselves writers and write anything that can be called writing.

Only remember that our writers have forgotten the art of discovering subjects, the grammar of writing good scripts and the way of presenting them. Only remember that we have artistes who firmly believe that to act only means to move and shake and sway and swing and dancing around all the best trees of as many beautiful countries around the world. Only remember that we have music directors who believe that the music some of the great masters of the past composed are now all theirs (unka sara maal ab apna hain). Only remember that we are only interested in making films which are not a waste of reels and reels of celluloid. Only remember that we have started making films with some of the greatest directors of our times with some of the greatest stars and greatest directors without giving a thought to what would happen to them when they are released and because of them to the entire industry. Forget all that I plead with you to forget, so what, if it may sound eerie at times and only remember what I plead of you to remember. That’s the only way to save ourselves from what from a distance looks like doomsday.Let us join hands, forget fear, because, if we don’t remember what we are supposed to remember, what I see is much more frightening than the feeling of fear spread by the Big A, B, C, D or whoever the devil may be, wherever his fear may be. We have to stop being our own enemies. That’s the only way we can save ourselves.

I KNOW TIME FLIES, WHO DOESN’T?
I know how time has flown since I knew time
I know that time has never flown faster than it has in the last 25 years
But I really realised how fast it has
When I saw the ‘Guddi’ of my times grow into the ‘Buddi’ of these cruel times
I saw Jaya Bachchan giving up everything
To look after her father, her in-laws
Her children, Shweta and Abhishek
I saw her bringing them up under the best traditions
I saw her enriching their values that would last them all their lives
I saw her taking charge of the house when her great husband took that five-year long break to trap rats and clean the house
Look after his sick parents
Spend time with Shweta and Abhishek
He was not the superstar Amitabh Bachchan for five long years...
I saw Jaya taking active part in whatever happened or didn’t happen at ABCL
I then saw her showing interest in acting all over again
She was open to scripts, listening to some of them
Everyone wanted her, naturally, she was ‘Guddi’ after all
They had not forgotten that a good actress is for all time
She finally signed Govind Nihalani’s Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa
And found that she had aged and acting came to her easily
That she was ready to take on any roles which suited her age
She proved that the actress in her was still very active, very alive, very alert
She was a Maa you felt clinging to
With strong values, values she didn’t give up even to the end
She was brilliant in Maa Retire Hoti Hai
The play travelled all over India and abroad and Jaya Bachchan rose like a phoenix again
To conquer with her histrionics, her talent, her natural acting
Which just came to her - naturally, everything about ‘Guddi’ was always natural
She soon did another play, Dr Mukta where naturally she was Dr Mukta again
I was one of the privileged few to watch her perform at her dress rehearsal before the unit of Dr Mukta left for America on a long tour
The hall was throbbing with life, Jaya Bachchan was the only reason
The only light
Jaya is now back and no one can stop her
She has signed some of the best films she’ll do in the months to come
She is working with some of the best directors
She, I am sure, will come up with some very big surprises, soon
She would not come back if she had nothing special in her bag full of surprises, otherwise
She has taken the Big B and her son Abhishek by sheer surprise
She will soon take all those who know what great acting is by greater surprise
I, who once stood outside her apartment for hours to have a glimpse of her
Am more than glad that I have so much, so much to see of her now
I must thank God for that
Very few small people like me get a chance to fulfill a dream like this during his life time
Thank you, Jayaji, what more can I say?

DO POETS WOUND?
When a genuinely good, genius of a poet like Gulzar is hurt for reasons that stand no solid grounds it is like stabbing him in his heart every moment, stabbing the glorious, always green poet in him, the poet who has brought glory and joy to millions of lives during the last 40 years. I felt he had forgotten the wounds inflicted on him by an enlightened and a very very mature poet like Kaifi Azmi, who in an interview given to a journalist who is a ‘guru’ in playing mischief called Gulzar ‘a fake poet’. Said a still very disturbed Gulzar: “I could have had the ambition to be anything in life. I had qualities to take up any other job but my ambition inspired me, encouraged me to be a poet and nothing but a poet. I became a poet and was accepted, accepted by all kinds of lovers of poetry all over. My profession accepted me as a poet. Yes, I would have given a senior respected poet like Kaifi Sahab the privilege to call me a bad poet, an indifferent poet, an insipid poet in today’s times who played with words and meanings which according to him made no sense. I bet no one can call me a fake poet. I am a poet, they can call me a good poet, a bad poet, an indifferent poet, but for the life of me, I cannot understand how anyone could call me a fake poet after I’ve proved myself for the last 40 years. Bahut dard hota hai jab koi kisi ke kaam par waar karta hai. Ghaav to bhar jaayenge lekin aise ghaav ka dard kabhi kabhi ubhar ke aata hai aur phir dard bahut zyada ho jaata hai. Kabhi kabhi kuch bade aadmi aise chhoti chhoti harkaten kyon karte hai? Kya duniya itni tezi se barbadi ki ore badti jaa rahi hai? Samjha karo, Gulzar Sahab. Gussa bahut aata hai, mujhe jab bhi Gulzar ko fake poet bolte hai. Hum Kaifi Sahab ki izzat karte hai, bahut karte hai. Lekin yeh kya, yeh kaam chhote log karte hai. Bade log aisa kaam karke apne aap ko chhota karte hai. Humne Kaifi Sahab ki seva ki hai. Hum Gulzar Sahab ko shaan-e-Gulzaar, jaan-e-Gulzar samajhte hai. Aise haalat mein hum gareeb log amir shairo ke baare mein kaise soche, kya soche? Yeh bade log apne aap ko chhota kyo banate hai? Gulzar Sahab shair nahi to kya naabhi (barber hai). Rona aata hai.

RAKESH’S TEST AGAIN
When every second call on Rakesh Roshan’s telephone and cell phone, even my phone (2025539) asked for Hrithik Roshan Rakesh thought it was time to pack his bags and take a quick holiday. The Roshan numbers have been changed any number of times but some “secret agents” have found out their own ways of finding out those numbers forcing someone close to the unit register a title, Jeena Haraam Kar Diya. Rakesh, however, will be back soon and face a very dicey test.

Some years ago when Rishi Kapoor and Anil Kapoor and Juhi Chawla were young, Rakesh had decided to direct a film called Karobaar for his friend Gava. All things went well for a long time like they do for most big films. But then things went wrong when they shouldn’t have with Karobaar and it was stuck and in a very bad shape. No progress or progress in patches - that’s how the film was being made.

It was painful but money is a very cruel thing. It doesn’t come to everyone for anything when it is really wanted. It created problems for Gava and when money creates problems it brings with it a whole lot of problems over which the director and the stars have no control what-so-ever. Karobaar is complete now and ready for release and the man who is really feeling the jitters is the director, Rakesh Roshan. His Kaho Naa... Pyar Hai and its unprecedented success has created problems for him. Now people are expecting the same miracle from him in Karobaar (in many ways a version of Sleeping With The Enemy which was a craze many years ago). He has made the film to the best of his ability but only time can tell, will have to tell how it is going to show its feelings towards one film and another made by the same man. Rakesh knows it. Rakesh has experienced it during the last 30 years and is still not finding it easy to face it. That is the magic (black) of cinema. Rakesh’s record shows he has mastered the magic. He is the rare kind of man for whom the magic must work.

TABU, A TREASURE
She is the favourite of some of the most sensitive directors today. Gulzar who was the first to direct the “essential actress” in her calls her the “director’s treasure, a kind of treasure which goes on growing as you go on spending it. The more you spend it the more this rare treasure grows. I’ve worked with her in Maachis and Hu Tu Tu and if I continue making films I will always make them with Tabu. What a brilliant blend of an actress and a fascinating person. A Tabu today is a very rare treasure, like I said. Believe me, I would almost have not made Maachis if I had no Tabu. And she proved me right when she won the National Award for the best actress in Maachis. I hope my other fellow directors take Tabu seriously and make her a sheer exotic experience of talent which is going out of fashion today.”

Govind Nihalani says, “I always saw that rare spark of genius in her. I decided to make a film with her soon after I saw Maachis and whatever else people may say about Takshak they can’t say a word about Tabu’s brilliance as an actress. She is the kind who makes you feel restless to start another film with her. The only thing you need is a good subject. Wasting the talent of an actress like Tabu is a crime.” Priyadarshan says whenever he thinks of making a Hindi film he can only think of Tabu because she is “the only perfect actress today, an actress who knows how to breathe life into whatever character is created in the most powerful, sensitive or complex story”. What more do you want, Tabu? What more can you ask for, Tabu?

WHAT AN ACTOR!
WHAT A MAN!
Surprise, surprise! Now even Amrish Puri has started singing. He recently recorded a “song” in his own ‘voice’ for a film called Badmash No.1, composed by Bappi Lahiri, the man who ruled the world of music at one time. Puri, however, has no aims of attempting to sing in any other film. “I sing only when my character in the film demands my singing in my voice. I am not a professional. I am no competition for all the Udit Narayans and Kumar Sanus. I am Amrish Puri and I would love to be Amrish Puri. “Always”, he says.

Challenges, however, are always welcome. He is one of the most outstanding allrounders in Hindi films today, a man we can not help but be extremely proud of. What a man! What an actor! What an actor! What a man!