This is true of Hrithik’s life as he has faced various challenges right from childhood and overcame many tragedies with inner conviction.  At age four he was made to feel different from his classmates because he was born with two thumbs on his right hand. As he grew older and went to higher classes, the jokes turned nastier. The isolation affected him to an extent that Hrithik began to stammer and this was a cause of concern for the family.

When he was twelve, his grandfather J Om Prakash cast him in a cameo in Bhagwan Dada where Hrithik had a talking scene and performed flawlessly to everyone’s surprise. The incident made him realize two things: That with determination he can override all his shortcomings and more important, when he grows up, he will become an actor like his father. 

In his early twenties Hrithik was diagnosed with a rare ailment Scoliosis that restricts movement in the body so for almost a year Hrithik observed all precautions but slowly took stock of self and resumed his normal routine that included a run on the beach. One day, while he was running it started raining, so Hrithik slowed down to make sure there were no health complications and then slowly picked up pace. Nothing happened to him, no pains, no cramps and Hrithik knew he was ready for his debut Kaho Na Pyaar Hai. To be continued…

The OTT platform may be obsessed with realism but there are filmmakers who remain married to escapist cinema and one of them is David Dhawan who recently remade his Coolie No 1 with Varun Dhawan and Saara Ali Khan. “I make entertainers because I enjoy them”. So does director Rohit Shetty who remains obsessed with the police force in his films. On screen it may all appear dramatic but behind the scenes, Shetty is deeply concerned for their welfare. During the lockdown he booked eight hotels to ensure their safety and medical treatment. The same for the daily wagers of the film fraternity.

The pandemic has turned everyone human and also extremely creative. The most innovative idea was designed by Arfeen, who created a Virtual Experience in a 30-foot-high ceilings studio fixed with 12-feet-high projection screens stretching 60-feet wide, thus structuring a 360-degree circle filled with people on the screens. 

This was accomplished with more than hundred computers/ laptops/ countless wires/ ultra-high-speed internet supervised by a relentless team of experts that worked 24X7 to make the system work. Thousands of people across globe joined in at the same time and this magical experience was possible because the best brands came together, mainly Hrithik Roshan, who says, “If you believe in yourself, you are able to overcome every obstacle”.

To be continued…

Truth is in the documents

Film: Kaagaz

Date: 07.01.2021

Producer: Salman Khan Films with Satish Kaushik Entertainment

Director: Satish Kaushik

Writers: Satish Kaushik, Imtiyaz Hussain, Ankur Suman, Shashank Khandelwal 

Cast: Pankaj Tripathi, Monal Gajjar

That India lives in multiple centuries simultaneously is proved yet again in Kaagaz set far

beyond the cruising metro and blazing neon lights of cosmopolitan. A satirical comedy based in Azamgarh, UP, tells the story of a man declared dead on official papers and his journey to prove himself alive, a comment on the flawed system of land resources in India and the struggle of a common man for his self-respect. 

Can a living man be dead and the answer is yes, on paper everything is possible and once a document becomes official it is an uphill task to reverse facts. Bharat Lal/ Pankaj Tripathi is a musician who plays band at village weddings and is content in his ordinary life but his wife Rukhmini/ Monal Gajjar wants him to expand his business and so a reluctant Lal seeks a bank loan and in the process of obtaining guarantee discovers that his relatives have robbed his land declaring him dead on document.

From here on begins Bharat Lal’s struggle to prove himself alive. He provokes his relatives, cries to the villagers, pleads with the sarpanch and with the help of an able lawyer/ Satish Kaushik fights a never-ending battle against the system. He files affidavit after affidavit to Tahsildar- Talukdar- Corporator- Governor- Chief Minister including the Prime Minister of the country but there is no response.

When the legal route fails, Lal resorts to illegal plans, kidnaps the child of his oppressors, sits on a protest in the middle of a campaign trail, forms a union of the ‘dead alive’, fights election with a skeleton as the party symbol and in the climax resorts to contempt of the court but nobody arrests him because filing an FIR against a dead man will prove him alive and no authority – police or judge can risk that.

Years pass by, Bharat Lal has a second child now and even though his home is barren, his business shut and pockets empty, his fight for justice continues. The positives of the film are the writing, music, humour, casting and most important, the issue. The negatives are the inconsistencies, as the issue progresses the humour diminishes and so does the detailing. The powerful climax compensates for the lapses and so do the performances. Monal Gajjar is a natural and Pankaj Tripathi once gain makes a place in our hearts.

With more actors like Salman Khan endorsing issue -based films, we can transform our villages forever. Satish Kaushik, director of Roop ki Rani proves that he is a Kaagaz ka Raja.

Kaagaz is for everyone who is concerned about society and self-respect. You can catch the film on Zee5 Premium.

Bhawana Somaaya

There is a possibility that Sanjay khan made up his mind to become an actor that early in his life but a s the elder brother who was forced to give up studies, Feroze Khan insisted that Sanjay complete their education and so Sanjay was prohibited of thinking of acting till he had completed his Cambridge School.

After coming to Bombay, Sanjay assisted John Guillerman, Hollywood film director for the MGM Production of Tarzan Goes to India and within a year he was spotted by director Chetan Anand casting India’s first war film. Haqeeqat. The year was 1964 and soon Sanjay was signed by Rajshri Productions for Dosti, another super hit film.

Sanjay Khan has always said that his career was shaped by the directors he worked with and in those days, actors were not as image conscious as long as they played lead parts and producers producer paid them money.  Dus Lakh, Ek Phool Do Mali  were family dramas while Intaqam and Shart were thrillers of the sixties. In the seventies Khan did a variety of roles –Mela, Upaasna, Dhund and Nagin and soon Sanjay was restless to launch himself as a filmmaker. Sanjay Khan’s debut production Chandi Sona in 1977 was a failure and three years later Abdullah, a moderate success brought him into news for all the wrong reasons.

To be continued

Last week wasSanjay Khan’s birthday and it baffles me that for an actor who has worked so many decades, Khan is seldom celebrated in public memory. He is the most successful of the Khan brothers but for the longest time, it was always elder brother Feroze Khan who made the headlines.  These are mysteries of showbusiness that are difficult to explain. A few months before Feroze Khan died, he told me the story of their family.

Their father Sadiq Ali Khan was a robust man and mother Bibi Fatima Begum showered them with love, they lived a comfortable life and the seven children -Feroze, Sanjay, Sameer, Shah Rukh and Akbar and their two sisters, Dilshad and Khurshi were happy. Life changed when suddenly Sadiq Ali Khan fell ill and died.  As the eldest son, Feroz Khan had to give up studies and start working, so he did odd jobs until he was advised by a well-wisher to go to Bombay and try his luck in films.

It was not a smooth sailing, he was offered brief roles in B grade films but with time, he had a roof above his head and called the rest of the family to live with him. There is a story that  Sanjay Khan was 12 years old when he watched Raj Kapoor‘s Awaara and was mesmerised by the film.

To be continued

Saakshi Bhaav released in the year 2014 at a glittering event in Mumbai. At that moment Modi was Chief Minister, Gujrat and there was an excitement in the auditorium with his sheer presence. Sitting in the auditorium, listening to his passionate speech on stage, I had not in my wildest imagination dreamed that I would one day, translate his book into English but come 2018 and a writer friend called to ask what I was translating these days. He suggested I consider working on Narendra Modi’s writing and I reluctantly agreed to think about it. I began reading Saakshi Bhaav and slowly and gradually, I was overwhelmed by his intense outpouring.

The diary passages are not restricted to himself, in fact he reacts to everything around him – humanity, life, time, gadgets, technology, shibir, nature, universe and more. There is anxiety, there is meditation, there is optimism, there is sorrow, there are disappointments. There are challenges, turbulence and there is victory and gratitude. He admits he is not a professional writer, does not understand structures, formats, prose or poetry but he understands emotions and has a strong, unbroken, unflinching faith that the mother Goddess will lead him through the darkest tunnel and therefore expresses himself unafraid and uninhibited. These are pages he had written decades ago and could have withdrawn from making his expressions public but he isn’t worried about judgments, instead he writes, ‘I will express today, what I feel today and tomorrow what I feel tomorrow. I was not seeking endorsements then and I am not seeking validation now’.

Letters to Mother is not about the present Prime Minister, it is not about the once Chief Minister. It is about a common man who needs to communicate with the common man.

Concluded

 End of the year 2020 I was fortunate to launch my book Letters to Mother published by Harepr Collins at the hands of honourable Governor, Shri Bhagat Singh Koshiyari.

For many of the p guests present in the auditorium, it was a first time at the Raj Bhavan. For me it is a special moment because it was here, in the winter of 2018 that I met Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and confirmed the idea oftranslating his Gujarati book. The Prime Minister surprisingly had only one question, ‘Why this book?’  to which my answer was ‘Because it is emotional, unusually structured and connects with the mother Goddess. He smiled and elaborated on how the book was conceived.

In the 80s when Narendra Modi was just an ordinary party worker, feeling weighed down with the daily pressures, he got into the habit of writing a diary wherein he shared his innermost thoughts and feelings communicated with the mother Goddess whom he addressed as Jagat Janani. Every few months however, he would systematically tear up the pages and light a bon fire and he did this time and again for years.

One day, while he was in the process, a friend visited Modi and was surprised by what he witnessed. He snatched the remaining diary from his friend’s hand and admonished him for not revering his creativity. When he went home, the friend carried the remaining diary with him because he feared that Modi would destroy them at the first opportunity available. Somehow, the story of the surviving diary of 1986 reached Image Publishers, pioneer in printing business and the publisher persuaded Shri Modi to let them publish his writings into a book.

To be continued

Film: Ram Prasad Ki Tehrvi

Release: 01.01.2021

Writer-Director: Seema Pahwa

Starring: Naseerudin Shah, Supriya Pathak, Konkana Sen, Manoj Pahwa, Vinay Pathak, Vikrant Massey.

Ratings: 5 stars

Writer- director Seema Pahwa began her career as a television actor and later she moved base from Delhi to Mumbai. She did innumerable films and was always acknowledged for her sparkling performances in all genre of films, be it the offbeat Aankhon Dekhi or the mainstream Bareilli Ki Barffi. Her first love remained theatre however where she continued to experiment with all kinds of roles and genres be it Aadhe Adhure or Aurat Aurt Aurat, one of her famous experiments on stage is about her cooking a meal as part of performance on her terrace and serving dinner to her audience.

A few years ago, when Seema sensed she was getting stereotyped by the mainstream makers, she diverted her creativity to stage and wrote/ directed/ performed a praiseworthy play called Peend Daan. She was keen to make the script into a film and asked many of her director friends to wield the megaphone but all of them refused, said she was the best woman for the job, and so reluctantly, Seema assumed the responsibility of her debut film, Ram Prasad Ki Teharvi.

This is a story of a funeral and what happens for thirteen consecutive days at a home that has lost a member. You will be surprised but it is not very different from a wedding preparation. Every time there is a wedding, the family members come together and participate in the celebrations. It is the same when there is a death in the family and nobody leaves until all formalities are completed.

Ram Prasad Ki Teharvi captures the arrival of various family members, their discussions and decisions relating to the last rites, intimation in newspapers, condolence protocol, allocation of rooms, beddings, blankets, duties in the kitchen, daily menus, and not to forget there are many shocks and surprises.

In my opinion, there are five good reasons to watch Ram Prasad Ki Teharvi. One, the plot: We have seen too many movies celebrating weddings, participated in the mehandis and the sangits, this is the first time that a director engages you in a tragedy that is entertaining. The film makes you happy, sad but most important, makes you look inward and introspect.

Two, the detailing in writing, set, costume, colours, design is remarkable. Ram Prasad/ Naseerudin Shah’s sprawling mansion, the courtyard, the multiple staircases, the corridors, the many rooms on many floors, the beddings, the quilts, the different paintings and the suitcases all have a story to tell.  The family is divided into groups where children play Ludo in the room, the women gossip in the kitchen and the men share a cigarette and drink on the terrace, so many layers, so many secrets.

Three, the characters: There are more than thirty characters and all of them are real. Ram Prasad and Savitri/ Supriya Pathak, their six children (four brothers two sisters) their spouses and children round up to about eighteen, add to it close relatives, close friends, some neighbors, some facilitators, some visitors and all of them have interesting back stories.

Four, performances: Supriya Pathak has the best tole in the film but every performance in the film is special. Featuring some of the best actors of theatre and of the big screen like Konkana Sen, Vikrant Massey, every character contributes to the narrative and more important, is presented with love and dignity.

Five, the message: It is important to show gratitude tant to our loved ones and say thank you and sorry. To assume responsibility, it is important to first delegate responsibility and it is important to appreciate music because if you understand symphony you understand life. Naseerudin Shah, who plays a musician says in a scene “Suron ko kabhi besura nahi chodna chahiye, iss se suron ka apman hota hai”.

Writer-director Seema Pahwa does not leave anything incomplete, does strike a single false not., It is very rare that critics are fully satisfied with a film and with my hand on my heart, I admit that Ram Prasad ki Teharvi  is an enriching experience. Thank you, Seema Pahwa, for this wonderful New Year gift.

Bhawana Somaaya