Sonu Sood’s crusade for the deprived was not restricted to just covid. Recently he visited the Garden city to meet a social and spiritual Hero – AiR – Atman in Ravi, who has been serving the homeless and destitute in Bengaluru for the last 30 years. An initiative of AiR – Atman in Ravi, a spiritual mentor, motivational speaker, author, singer and philanthropist, the humanitarian homes ensure a place of safety, dignity and well-being for the abandoned and destitute.  The homes have, over the last three decades, served lakhs of people to get back on their feet and currently have 800 people residing in their homes. Sood was all praise for the facilities provided by the institute, said, “If all of us extend our support the world will be a better place”.

Who would have imagined Devon Ka Dev Mohit Raina as an action hero? Well, somebody did and cast him in Hotstar Specials’ The Freelancer.  The actor plays Avinash Kamath in the new series and says playing Freelancer tapped new emotions in him because he has not played a character like this earlier. Freelancer is created by Neeraj Pandey and directed by Bhav Dhulia and adapted from Shirish Thorat’s book – A Ticket to Syria.

There was an inherent refinement about him that reflected in his work. In 2000 when he was heading Zee Premier, he produced the glossiest magazine.  This was the time I was taking over as editor Screen and he took out from his busy schedule to take me out for dinner. It is because he had been editor, Screen before me and wanted to prepare me for what lay ahead. I valued his advice and whatever he prepared me for, came true!

Over the decades, we lost touch, but whenever we met, I regressed instantly! A few more years passed by and I was informed that he was losing his memory. I rushed to meet him and was delighted when he recognized me. I complained like old times and he laughed heartily. We spent a long evening together and I was certain he would be fine. I was wrong.  When I met him again, he had turned frail and looked lost.  We didn’t laugh like old times and while I was talking, he had fallen asleep.

I came home feeling sad and when a few months later, I got a call that he was no more, I was not surprised. With Rauf Ahmed passing away, an era in journalism had ended!  I know it is a little too late but I need to say this, ‘Rauf Ahmed you are the reason I am the journalist I am today’. 

Concluded

I cannot think of any other editor who would have been as cooperative and his sensitivity was Rauf Ahmed’s biggest strength. He understood his team and showcased their strength.  I was petrified of attending film parties and he protected me. Similarly, he understood that I had a crush on Shashi Kapoor and indulged me to meet the actor whenever I wanted. And yet the life of a film scribe is not only about the movie stars…

Editing, production are a few things all of us have to master.  He taught us the skill of working with layout artists and aid in page making. It was watching him draw pagination that we learnt how to balance the content with the advertisements.  Rauf trained each one of us in choosing appropriate images for the story. How to write catchy headlines and pick the best quote for highlight.

Those were days of manual artworks, of bromides and Rauf toiled over every word and line, month after month. He was obsessed with clean copies and rewrote, till the pages went to print. In his quest for perfection, he often missed deadlines but he made up for the time loss by personally dropping the lay-out sheets to the processor!

To be continued

In 1982 Rauf launched Movie magazine, which was an extension of Super magazine but better designed, printed and marketed. I have two interesting anecdotes of my stint at Movie and both associated with superstars. One day, Rauf asked me to visit Rajesh Khanna at a faraway studio and fix up a photo shoot with the superstar. Elfreeda Martis, his assistant editor, jumped to my rescue and said “She cannot handle him” but Rauf was insistent and said, “It is best to throw her to the Lion young because if she survives Khanna, she survives show business”. What transpired with Rajesh Khanna is a different story but yes, I did survive Rajesh Khanna and show business!

The second story involved Amitabh Bachchan. The superstar was resuming shooting of Pukaar in Goa, post his near fatal accident and the magazine was invited for the coverage. I had just lost my father and Rauf Ahmed felt that a change would do me good and so sent me for the location coverage, but I was so low that I didn’t speak to any of the actors including Bachchan.  

In the meantime, Rauf assumed that I would bring a great story and sent an Amitabh Bachchan picture for cover printing. Now the cover was ready and I had no story and so my cover story was about my travel observations of the Bachchan and the Bahl families (wives Jaya, Bubbles and the six kids). My story ended where it should have begun. Amitabh Bachchan waiting in the hotel lobby to receive his family.

To be continued

Next morning, as I got off at the VT Station to walk to my college, the headline of my story stared at me from every vendor. It was my first breaking story and I didn’t even know it!

Soon Rauf quit Cinema Journal to launch a glossy magazine called Super. Journalists usually travel from magazines to broadsheets but Rauf was meant to break rules! Super portrayed exclusive pictures of the dream merchants and featured stars as humans. The film fraternity loved the magazine and the common compliment from everywhere we met was, ‘Super is really super’. Stars liked Rauf, he made an engaging conversationalist and more important, they trusted him and he never let them down!

Rauf was equally popular amongst his team because he was an easy boss, a man without formalities, a bit like Dev Anand. We never knew his age and always addressed him by his first name. He imposed no rules on us, no restrictions on office timings. We walked in and out of the office whenever we wanted, took long lunch breaks and disappeared without intimation. But when it was time to submit stories, he made us rewrite our copies till he was thoroughly satisfied.

He knew instinctively which reporter should be sent for which assignment. Initially he only sent me for shooting coverages because that involved spending a lot of time on the sets and chatting with filmmakers and artists. He did this because he felt I needed to break my inhibitions. I did and, in the process, built a lot of contacts and unknowingly enhanced my observations.

To be continued

On 05 February Rauf Ahmed, a prominent editor who influenced the course of film journalism passed away in his sleep at his residence in Mumbai.  On 06 August was Ahmed’s 76^th birth anniversary.  My mind rewinds to his final journey, when his daughter Namrata, said to me, “My daughter and I have decided that we will not mourn him but rather celebrate his life”.  I salute their spirit and this week’s blog will celebrate my happy memories of my one and only editor, Rauf Ahmed.

I met Rauf Ahmed in the summer of 1977 I think, when he was editor, Cinema Journal, film weekly of The Free Press Journal. On our very first meeting he assigned me a weekly column titled Casually Speaking modelled after the famous Deviyani Chaubal’s Frankly Speaking. My column featured below Bikram Vohra’s column space, and therefore I came into the spotlight without trying for it.

One of the earliest stars I became friends with was Sarika, an upcoming star after the mega success of Geet Gaata Chal. Her mother had invited me home and persuaded her daughter to give me a sensational interview that I had very casually submitted to Rauf Ahmed at his office.  Ahmed did not have the time to read the story instantly but called me late evening to find out what triggered this conversation. He was making sure that the interview was authentic and my answer stupid as it sounds now, was ‘She spoke, I wrote’.  

To be continued

Meena Kumari always said that while she played different characters in different films, in her poetry, she was always Mahajabeen. Over the years many books were penned on the actor and most of these only focused on her private life, very few documents her career and fewer still discuss her as a poetess. Noorul Hasan and Roli Books have done a favour to fans of Meena Kumari for  bringing out a gem like A Life Beyond Cinema.

Zamana

Lamhe urte hain kabhi ya toh tilion ki tarah

Ya kabhi khusbuon kimanind cheekh uthte hain

Simta phailate sanche mein waqt ke dhal kark

Ajeeb shakl ke banker zamana rkhte hain naam

Zamana?

Lamhe- borhe, ghareeb, faqajadah

Lamhemaazi ke jo ki maar na sake

Zamana!

Jaise faqajadah giroh giddhon ka

Bekafan umeedon pepahra deta hai.

concluded

Her dear ones reveal that she shared her poetry via long letters to her writer friends and they responded with equally long letters and sometimes, a surprise visit to her locations. Those were days of trunk-calls and telegrams and outdoor locations were restricted to the nearest hill stations Lonavala and Khandala and if the producer was rich, then the unit traveled to Kashmir.

Nazm

Sach

Yeh Tulsi kaisi shan’t hai

Aur Kashmeer ki Jheel’n

Ki skis tarha uthal-puthal ho jaati hain

Aur Allah

Mai’n!

In the early days, Meena Kumari lived in the picturesque Janki Kutir comprising a row of cottages festooned with trees overlooking the sea in Juhu. She loved the sound of the sea and when she was not shooting, looked forward to impromptu poetry session with poets Kaifi Azmi and Vishwamitra Adil who lived in the neighborhood. It was Azmi and Adil who encouraged Meena Kumari to pen her thoughts and participate in mushairas.