AAJ TOH TUM BAHUT KHUSH HOGE!
I remember that angst ridden baritone ‘Yeh Police Station hai tumhare baap ka ghar nahin’.
And a deep throated declaration ‘Rishtey mein toh hum tumhare baap lagte hain, naam hai Shehanshah.’ Seeing such high powered dialogues spoken with such panache, I grew up holding this belief that only one actor in hundred years of Indian cinema had the ability to essay any role from a coolie to crorepati and yet look convincing.And he is Amitabh Bachchan-AB, who rightfully deserved his rite of passage from AB to Big B.
It is said that till it becomes your knowing any belief is prone to get shattered as it carries a seed of doubt within. My belief about the superstar of the millennium not just got stirred but thoroughly shaken recently in the barren fields of Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh. The verdict was loud and clear that Big B could be Anthony, Shehanshah, Mahaan, Khuddar, Sarkar but he could not be a farmer. No way.
I imagined a scene under the bridge.
Amitabh Bachchan: Mere paas bangla hai, gaadi hai–barabanki mein agricultural zameen hai,tumhare paas kya hai?
Shashi Kapoor:Mere paas court ki decree hai.
Or another scenario.
Amitabh Bachchan: Mere paas bangla hai, gaadi hai–I am in agriculture. What have you?
Shashi Kapoor: I have got culture.
Well the whole thing is that kay bhaiya-culture kho gaya. It hurts to realise that one’s hero in reel life has villainous traits in real life(this is kind of an epidemic in Bollywood as their are many other wannabes,but this post is focussed on Big B) . In a recent court ruling Big B has not only been held guilty of misrepresentation by getting himself designated as a farmer, as per the law, he could be booked under sections 420,467,468 and 471 of the Indian Penal code(IPC) for forgery of land records.His claim to almost 70,000sq feet of farm land in Daultapur, Barabanki is termed by the court as ‘illegal and fraudulent’.
Lets keep this legal tangle aside for a while.For the last seven years Big B’s life reminds me of Oscar Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Gray. On professional front he is going full throttle but on personal front he has been doing things of late that make no sense.
The anti-hero who reluctantly climbed the stairs to a temple to pray for his mother’s recovery in Deewar, has been too eager lately to visit temples by the ton for well-being of his son’s marriage. Ok this could be shrugged aside as his private matter.Only hitch in this point of view is that Big B stopped being a private person decades ago. In era of papparazi he does not even remain a public figure. He is an icon. A persona, a celebrity who is looked up to as a role model.Who is expected to inspire people with his courage.Who is expected to have integrity, authenticity and transparency in his dealings.
The other day my maidservant just declared-she did not even bother to ask (her style reminded me of Big B’s proclamation in Kaalia ‘Hum jahan khade ho jaate hain line wahin se shuru ho jaati hai’). She just made a declaration that she was taking a fortnight off. I was dumbfounded for a while. Composing myself and collecting my wits I murmured Why?
‘it’s my son’s wedding and my would-be-bahu is maanglik, so all sorts of pujas have to be performed and pilgrims to be visited’. I tried to reason with her.She dismissed me perfunctorily, ‘ if Amitabh Bachchan can do it, hum logon ki kya aukaat. Why can’t we do it?’
Now this really stumped me. Big B who challenged the authority of the almighty,who fought against superstition, who represented the angst of common man against the establishment- toeing the line,feeling so insecure! It was outrightly unpalatable.Big B who was Messiah of the masses going from pillars to priests, from temples to trees made my mind spin like horoscope affecting grah(planet).
I wondered If Mr Bachchan climbed temple stairs today and asked God ‘Aaj toh tum bahut khush hoge’,what will be the response. Frankly speaking ,God may diplomatically remain silent but I as his die-hard fan would be compelled to say ‘Aaj hum khush nahin, bahut mayoos huey’. or ‘Aaj hum bahut nakhush hain’. If you have any better take on that then let’s come together and send smss/emails to Big B for his own good.
Big B deserves another chance to redeem himself on personal front. He has bounced back from many a crisis in his life. He has come back from the jaws of death, from the dark emptiness of fading away. He has in him. Just because he has been reduced to wax does not mean he has to behave like that in real life also. No doubt a man is known by the company he keeps. Just because his instincts and intelligence have been mauled by the company of creeps it does not mean he can be permanently assigned a place in the museum. Let’s get together in a project to save an icon. Project named ‘I can because Icon.’
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Apologies in advance,
but yaar seriously
I didnt get your point :(
It must be that time of the month for me – but please explain if u can – what are you trying to say
Regards – JMD, Manan Singh Katohora!
= Manan, perhaps you have not been in touch with the latest in Indian News. Amitabh is “in” for a fraud case where he falsified documents to show he is a farmer inorder to buy agricultural land in the state of Maharashtra. Krysh’s post is on that incident and he has very articulately opined on it. But if you aren’t aware of the news, it will be a bouncer.
apologies
no i wasnt aware of that…
hmm… unfortunately
i get my daily dose of desi cinema from
indiagm, rediff, indiatimes, allbollywood, bollyvista and more – and i didnt see this news…
so a weblink would have probably helped for ignorant souls like me
JMD – manan singh katohora
just open any indian newspaper, it’s not an entertainment gossip that’s published those sites you mention, but news… so it will only be available on news sites. Adding timesofindia, indianexpress, hindustantimes, etc. to your bookmarks will get you in sync with the current issues and events in India.
true, very true sir
but i dont care for politics or current news…
i am a true movie buff…
so i spend 1-2 hr everyday…
catching up on whats new in hollywood, bollywood, indiewood, foreignwood and other woods of the world related to Cinema
which is probably i missed this news…
but then, call me foolish – what is this gotta do with passion for cinema?
Are we gonna judget artists for their personal views/lives VS their professional movies/statements…?
Regards – JMD, Manan Singh Katohora!
lets put it this way Manan… are we gonna judge authors based on what they write and what views we hold for a mere website called Passion For Cinema? Who are you and I to judge what should and what shouldn’t be here? And this is an open source website for authors. Lets not try to force in our control on the freedom of expression.
Well, i’m surprised to note that you, inspite of being a filmmaker, DON’T CARE FOR CURRENT NEWS AND POLITICS… wakeup there’s a real world outside indianfm, bollyvista and such websites that are your source for daily reading…
if you wanna have the last word, please be my guest.
@krysh
Wonderfully written. Anyone can see that you feel let down by the big B. I myself do. I spend my childhood in 90s of a small town. That is why I managed to see the movie DON on the big screen. I had the option of choosing between Don or a very forgettable but biggest hit of the year starring Ronit Roy (movie was Jaan Tere Naam). But, my father took me to see DON. That was an experience I can
True, He is not a successful businessman nor a politician. His profession is acting, and he should stick to that only, instead of involving with politicians, like Amar Singh,Mulayam Singh Yadav ,who uses is name and fame. We never heard of these “Brothers” a decade age and even about Ambani brother such close to Big B. When Rajiv was alive he was is close friend and he proudly shows that. After his demise, he switched on to others (Party also) his loyalty. He may be icon, superstar, but once you are in a public glare, your personal life also counts, remember that, and take lessons from south super star Rajnikanth, Kamalhasan, MGR, etc
Something about our BIG B
http://www.rediff.com/movies/2007/jun/04amitabh.htm
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Last Film – SOPRANOS Season 5 DVD1
Last song – Ankle Injuries by Fujiya & Miyagi
Reading – Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey by V S Naipaul
Krysh..so true man. jaise sangat waise rangat.. (the kind of friends u hav,u end up like them). i also lost my icon one day..some other incident. the man is diplomatic to the core and he is fake fake fake. people asked him why he did those ads for UP. he said he endorsd the state and dont the party. at the end of those tv comercial party’s logo and flag were cleraly visible.is everyone fool ?will the real Big B plz stand up? no. dont think so. whats the point in lying if u cant stand up for things that u spport. n this is just one incident. there r hundreds n hundreds. like those fake wigs he uses in real life,his life has become one…big fake!!!
Some more mud….
http://ia.rediff.com/news/2007/jun/07amitabh.htm
http://ia.rediff.com/news/2007/jun/07bigb.htm