ALI'S NOTES

The Khan clan
The clash of the Khans is growing more and more interesting. There are many things being said about this clash but the one thing that has just been brought to my notice by Charu, that great observer of the Indian film scene makes very intense reading, something certainly to think about. Says Charu: “The clash of Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Salman Khan for supremacy, not to forget the greatest of all the Khans, Mohammad Yusuf Sarwar Khan, also known as Dilip Kumar, proves how really secular this great country called India is. Just imagine this is a country whose population is predominantly Hindu and yet five major stars, Yusuf Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, and Kader Khan and so many other Khans of all classes of actors are all Muslims. To think of it, I don’t think there are so many Khans on top even in the Pakistani film industry or any other Muslim-dominated industry. The success of all these Khans is resounding proof, if proof is needed, to tell the world how we Indians, especially the Indians in the Indian film industry, strictly practice secularism and don’t allow any religion to come in the way of the promotion of talent. I love my India for giving these talented Khans the place they so richly deserve.”

That is just one way of looking at the unbelievable success stories of the three young Khans, especially. Shah Rukh Khan is the Khan who came in from nowhere and proved that he was a Khan who could and he proved it in such a short span of time — and surprised the world. If there is a star who can be called a superstar in these days of Friday night stars it is this Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, who is going out of his way to get better with every film he does whatever the challenge, whoever the competitor. Shah Rukh is the darling of the masses and so naturally the darling of every filmmaker distributor, exhibitor and financier. Today, every filmmaker, big or small, wants to make a film with Shah Rukh but not all can succeed. Shah Rukh himself must have realised (or it is time he realised) that he is growing a little more ambitious when it comes to all the comforts and luxuries of life and neglecting the brilliant actor in him. It can be seen in the way critics and cinegoers alike are complaining of the irritating element of repetition that is creeping into his performances which irks some of his most crazy fans. Shah Rukh Khan is the only Khan who can save Shah Rukh Khan. And he must before people ask him to save himself. He has nothing to worry about right now. But he must remember even the pope in Rome is fallible, can fall, can fail.

The other Khan, Aamir Khan is a Khan of our times and still not a Khan of our times. He is steady, strong, a Khan who doesn’t need any support to take the strides he is taking. The sacrifices this young Khan has made, the temptations he has resisted to reach where he has can have him canonised, make him a saint. But he is happy being what he is — Aamir Khan, the amazing actor who is amazing because he is amazing, nothing less, nothing more. He is in a class apart and everyone knows it, an actor who has made it clear in no uncertain terms that he can not be taken for granted for long because he is a lone rider who’s a long rider.

Then there’s the third Khan who completes the triumvirate — Salman Khan. He has just taken himself seriously which is a good sign. He can act. He can rule but he has still a long way to go. He has wasted his early years. He will have to catch up with times and time waits for no Khan, no sultan, no wonder. He will have to catch up with other competing Khans. He will have to prove that he is one more Khan who can. And his time starts now. It’s now or never. Intelligent men know what is right for them under the most chaotic circumstances.

Whose Jeans are they any way?
I’ve asked all those who always know. I’ve asked all those who always claim to know even though they don’t know (and their tribe is growing). I’ve asked all those who try to know so that others may know. I’ve asked all those who should have known and still don’t know. I’ve tried to know myself (knowing or trying to know is something I’ve spent all my life doing).

For several weeks we’ve all being trying to know why this film Jeans is called Jeans. I asked as many people as I could, people who were closely associated with the making of Jeans, the twenty crore rupee film, why the film was called Jeans, yes Jeans of all things and they stammered and stuttered and then smiled that weak smile which is a sign of so much ignorance. I’ve tried to read poetic, philosophic and practical meanings into the word and have failed, failed as miserably as the film that failed wherever it has been released. The makers and others involved in spending all those crores in the making of what someone wildly called “a mindless film” refuse to believe that they have made a film that the people have rejected and that is the truth. You’ve to just ask the people, the people who matter what they think or feel about Shankar’s great effort at entertaining people and what follows is language that can not be easily printed even in free India where freedom of expression is one of the reasons why so many million of Indians continue to breathe.

Why did men like Ashok Amritraj and Dr Murali Manohar and Shankar and AR Rahman and Javed Akhtar who have added meaning to entertainment, to life, have to pool in all their efforts to try and make a film like Jeans? Why did they think that the people of India would be fascinated by watchng the nine wonders of the world plus the tenth wonder, Aishwarya Rai? Why don’t our filmmakers realise that Indians need the soul more than the body, more meaning than mumbo-jumbo miracles in Jeans. I still ask the know-alls why the film was called Jeans. And they still don’t know. Soon no one will want to know. O God!

Tutu’s time’s come
If there was just one award for the best survivor, my friend Tutu (Pradeep) Sharma would have won it hands down. He could also be declared one of the greatest survivors during the last two decades, decades when the downs have tried their worst to send him down the dumps, lead him down doomsday lane. But he has survived and is still standing on his own, struggling to find his place, a place he really deserves after all the struggle he has put in.

Tutu started as a producer during those glorious days. He produced a number of films with Jeetendra who was his best friend. Those were some of the best days for Jeetendra. Anything he touched turned to gold but his spell of good luck did not help Tutu, did nothing for him. The films he made with Jeetendra were average affairs or wash out affairs and everyone wondered why this happened only with the films Tutu produced with Jeetendra. Tutu too tried to find out but he couldn’t. Anyone else in his place would have run away, tried his hand at doing some other business. Not Tutu.

He stayed on to become the great survivor he is today. Tutu changed tracks. He went in for a very very ambitious film which he made with Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit, a costume colossal made with the kind of ambition that was scary. He made Rajkumar, a film which raised scary expectations. The film bombed badly and the cynics said it was all over for one more young man. Tutu however refused to give up. He has just completed Gharwali Baharwali with Anil Kapoor, Raveena Tandon and Rambha. David Dhawan is his director. It is this time or no other time for Tutu. I hope it is this time. A good man has to have his time. Time can take its time but a good man’s time has to come, must come.

Two women, one test
Two talented young women will be on test soon, the kind of test very few women have faced — Pooja Bhatt as a producer and Tanuja Chandra as a director.

Pooja who gradually realised she was not going very far as an actress realised she had to do something different if she had to live a life which was several cuts above the lives of other girls her age, her profession, her generation. Controversy was her second name but she wanted to drop it and only be known as Pooja Bhatt an actress who was also a producer. She wanted to experience the thrills, the traumas and the threats of being a producer. She decided to take the plunge and launched her first film, Tamanna with her father as a director. She tried making a second attempt. She wanted a director who could vibe with her, a director who shared a common goal, a director who wanted to make good in a man’s world, a director who wanted to make a good film on her own. She found Tanuja Chandra.

Pooja had watched Tanuja Chandra work as her father’s assistant. Her father had called her “the best bet for the future”. Pooja saw Tanuja’s work in some serials. She saw her dedication, her drive, her enthusiasm. She knew Tanuja was the director she wanted — and got her.

The two had several meetings and finally decided to make Dushman with Sanjay Dutt, Kajol in a double role and Jas Arora, the boy discovered by Dev Anand. They also signed Uttam Singh (the Dil To Pagal Hain man) to score the music. It looked like an uphill task for two young women who were out on their first adventure together but they proved all those detractors wrong. They were better than most men Sanjay and Kajol had worked with, Sanjay and Kajol said. The two young women have completed their film. They have done their best. They know they have all the odds against them. They know it is a man’s world still. They know they have to win in a man’s world. They know they have to fight demons, devils and dushmans who are out to prove that this is not their world. This is not a world they can conquer easily but the girls are not giving up. They share the same strong feeling. They know they have to win in a man’s world. They can’t afford to lose. They’ll be letting down millions of ambitious women if they do. And that will be something they’ll not be able to forgive themselves easily for. That’ll be a crime, they feel. I feel like they feel.