Vyajantimala had moved to Delhi by the time I became a journalist but I met her when her son Suchindar Bali was trying to get into films. She bought him a flat and a car and dropped by to meet him whenever she could but refused to call her colleagues for help. “I may have been a superstar in my time but my son has to find his own path/ In show business, nobody can help anybody”. She was right and her son respected that.

I was walking down the Film City makeup room corridor when Lalita Pawar mistaking me for an artist invited me to her cubicle and complained about an irreverent journalist who had come to interview her. “He was distracted and not interested in the answers I was giving, so why had he come to meet me?” I heard her in silence. Lalita Pawar taught me to value my seniors and to listen without interruption.

To be continued

There is a reason why you meet the person you do because every encounter is an opportunity to learn something.  I have learnt something from all the people I interviewed over the decades and knowingly or unknowingly, leant something from them.

I met Nargis Dutt sometime in the mid-70s. There was a screening in Sunil Dutt’s private theatre Ajanta Arts and she was watching the film with us. It was an unusually boring film and I was young and restless planning to leave in the interval. Nargis overheard my plans and explained to me that no matter how boring any film, it is insulting to walk out of the film half way. I’ve remembered that and never misbehaved ever since.

Nutan disapproved of the media coming to interview her without homework. She said it was insensitive of editors to send novice reporters to meet veteran artistes because they knew nothing about their subject and tried the artist’s patience.  Some of them lacked basic shooting etiquette and conversed in the middle of a ‘take’ and some had to be forewarned to get out of the frame.

To be continued

Bholaa is unpretentious

#BhawanaSomaaya #Review #Bholaa

The advantage of having Mahrashtrisn house-help is that they educate you on their customs and rituals.
On Gudi Padwa Sakshi arrives wearing her best sari, touches my feet and places a dressed up Gudi with lots and sari in my balcony for good luck.
She draws s rangoli outside our door and prepares s Maharashtrian meal as well.
Happy Guddi Padwa to all.

Motion Content Group and Film Critics Guild announce the list of Nominations: 5th Edition of Critics’ Choice Awards

• The 2023 edition recognizes and honours the best of talent in feature films, short films, and web series along with the nomination list for short films, series and feature

The Critics’ Choice is an esteemed body of reputed and credible critics from India that acknowledges cinematic work across languages, categories, and formats.

You always entered a room with a smile and greeted everyone with a smile.
I am determined to bid you farewell with a smile and remember you with a smile!

The river descends from heaven and travels through the various yugas and by the time she arrives at the kal-yug but still selfless and a life-giver.  River Ganga epitomises all that is holy and sacred in Hinduism. She was brought down to earth by King Bhagirath after a penance of a thousand years. Originating from Gomukh and flowing through the Bay of Bengal, she purifies every shore she touches, inspiring sages, poets to ultimate creativity. Dancer Hema Malini says her new dance ballet is to inspire the youth to restore our sacred rivers and to ensure that their pristine glory is preserved forever. Ganga is a collaboration with Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav where the Maharashtra Government has embarked upon a massive plan to revive India’s 75 rivers and will premier in Mumbai on 19 March 2023.

Recently I was invited to address school students and the topic given to me was Control -Alt-Delete. I don’t identify with the terminology because I was born pre computer times. But as a writer, I have a relationship with the commands, in fact I am the first editor to go on the internet in India. Shammi Kapoor, President of Yahoo launched our publication on the internet and therefore, I have a long and a psychological attachment with technology. I control the keyboard yes but can all the alphabets/ numbers/ exclamations put together, control my thoughts? Answer is No. 

Alt is a facilitator but again all the options put together cannot generate content simply because I conceive/ create/ project my own content! The Delete command I feel is more for aesthetics because it facilitates an impression of a clean copy. In the olden days, when there were no laptops, we used ink and paper and scratched the required out all that was unrequired. The bottom line is that computer is not life and my journey is dependent on my circumstances. My options are dependent on my destiny and I can never delete what occurs in my existence, at the most, I can damage control it.