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On 07/07/2007 in Lisbon a new list of seven wonders of the world is going to be announced and our Taj Mahal is in the reckoning.The race is hotting up what with presence of Bipasha Basu amongst the hosts to announce the results! Suddenly everyone is having a rendevous with Taj–a bond, a relationship perhaps.

Its the same Taj that had been in news for all the wrong reasons in the recent past. Taj corridor scandal trying to taint its purity, pollution and gases trying to take away its sheen, desperate and dumb lovers trying to etch their own infatuations as undying love on its marble slabs, effluents and slush from river Yamuna mucking its boundary walls, husbands saying if given a chance they wont commit a blunder of building a monument like Taj because where are the wives like Mumtaz! But now suddenly there is something that makes everyone bunch together to get it selected as new seven wonders of the world. ‘Kuchh baat hai ki hasti mit ti nahin hamari’. Kuchh toh baat hai!

Taj is more than four hundred years old. It was commissioned by Shahjahan to express his love for his beloved Mumtaz.Took twenty two years to complete. Its an example of finest partnership between Indian and Mogul architecture.Its a symbol of undying ,eternal love and testimony to devotion and commitment. A symbol of India’s heritage and culture and a tradition of love–that is more romantic than physical. It is kind of shrine to spirtuality. A temple to true love….

It is said that its four minarets are so constructed that seeing them from any angle makes them look the same size. There is no diminishing effect of perspective. Similarly the aaytein(Koran’s holy words) carved on the walls and on the ceilings give that illusion of being the same size while standing on the floor….

It is the only wonder of the world that could truly be termed as beautiful. Others are fascinating and awesome and historical but when it comes to beauty I think Taj has no comparison. In full moon night Taj is said to be seen to be believed–an ethereal beauty bathed in silvery sheen!

I saw Taj Mahal upfront eight years ago when I had gone for a recce trip to Agra for location-scouting for Gaddar-Ek Prem Katha. I was all keyed to see its splendour in the moonlit night but it was not meant to be. That time,during that period of the month, nights were moonlit but we could not watch it as visits in the night to Taj had been banned due to security reasons.

Still anyone who has been there would vouch for its grandeur and magnificence–night or day!

I am not going to talk more on Taj Mahal and its entire history(that can be accessed through numerous links to sites devoted to Taj Mahal).These tidbits and trivia I shared with you just to refreshen,amaze and jog some lazy brain cells. Mainly,this renewed focus on Taj Mahal reminds me of things Taj and its relation with our Hindi films,film songs and Bollywood.
Bollywood has a long association with Taj Mahal. Somehow or the other directors have tried to portray the undying love in their stories by shooting either a scene or a song at the Taj Mahal .Talking of recent films, in Bunty Aur Babli - Abhishek Bachchan had the audacity to sell off Taj Mahal. That scene is supposed to be based on a true incident where in fact some natwarlals had tried to palm off the Taj to foreigners . In Jhoom Barabar Jhoom it was kind of penance by Shaad Ali..He used Taj for what it is best known for–to signify undying love and commitment.
Namesake also had a sequence where Irrfan, Tabu and their kids come to India and go for a must- see trip to Taj Mahal. In fact anyone coming from abroad or any foreigner as such has Taj as must -see,must-visit on their itinerary.

Nikhil Advani incorporated Taj as a location in Salam-e-Ishq. Upcoming Marigold starring Salman khan is going to be another in long list of films where Taj has been used as a backdrop.
(you must be remembering some gem of a film or a scene like that,i am sure.)

In the past three films bearing the name Taj Mahal have been made. One starring Dilip Kumar, another Pradip Kumar and the recent one with Zulfi Sayeed.

In Jeans.Shankar had Aishwarya Rai dancing at seven wonders of the world and lyrics went on comparing her beauty with Taj..Gaddar-Ek Prem Katha literally wove the theme of true love and commitment by Sunny Deol when he expresses his feelings by giving to Ameesha Patel a gift of Taj Mahal-in-a-glass-box or was it in a paper weight!

And now with something unusual.

I think it was Shakeel Badayuni (correct me plz if i am wrong)who wrote a lovely song ‘Ek Shenshah ne Banwa kay Haseen Tajmahal saari duniya ko mohabbat ki nishani di hai..’To this Sahir Ludhianvi wrote a nazm as a rejoinder titled TajMahal:

Taj tere liye mazhare ulfat(monument of love) hi sahi
Tujhko is wadi-e-rangeen(romantic place) se akeedat(attachment) hi sahi.
Meri mehboob kahin aur mila kar mujhse!

And then Sahir Sahab goes on to denounce Taj as a symbol of hypocrisy and a kind of joke on poor masses..
Towards the end in that nazm he writes:

Ye chamanzaar(garden),ye jamuna ka kinara, ye mahal,
Ye munakkash(carved) daro-deewar, ye mehrab, ye taak,
Ik shenshah ne daulat ka sahara lekar,
Hum garibon ki mohabbat ka urhaya hai mazaak.
Meri mehboob kahin aur mila kar mujhse!

It created a furore in literary circles at that time. Sahir’s take on Taj as a symbol of imperailism,self-indulgence, self-glory and exploitation won him many friends and fans. But his detractors did not take very kindly to it.He had gone against the popular perception and courted lots of criticism.
Today as in the past, the issue is not what Taj signifies. To each his own. What I am sharing with you is something very interesting. After getting the plaudits for his nazm Taj Mahal, Sahir Ludhianvi was invited for felicitation at one of the functions. He requested his close friends that before going to the function please take him to Agra to see the Taj Mahal! Imagine,he had written a brilliant nazm on such a brilliant piece of architecture without having even seen it!

Thats what real poet and poetry is all about. He felt and imagined without beholding the physical. This anecdote was told to me by late Balwant Gargi(Punjab’s known literateur and playwright) when I was writing for his son Manu Gargi’s teleserial Khawaiish on Sony TV. Gargiji wondered what kind of writing is being done now-a-days. He was trying to impress upon us to do something meaningful. How to tell him this is what channels wanted. It’s consumer over creativity.Markets over material. As I tried to put forth these points in defense that time he narrated Sahir Sahab’s incident trying to underscore the fact that there is no depth in today’s writers and their writings.

Writing for tv–for survival to give shape to my own Taj Mahal (we all have Taj Mahals in shape of our dreams- only difference is Shahjahan got the opportunity and means to concretise his) this meeting with Gargiji nonetheless was an humbling experience.The story does not end here. Sahir Sahab went on to write lyrics for Pradip Kumar starrer Taj Mahal(ironic or synchrodestiny!). And what mellifluous songs he wrote. I still remember one sung by Mohd Rafi ‘Jo vaada kiya wo nibhana padega, rokay zamaana chahe rokay khuddai,tumko aana padega’..Till the end, Sahir Sahab never came to terms with Taj Mahal’s ideology and intentions, though he did acknowledge its magnificence!

Thats what Taj does to you. It ensnares you. Enchants you. Pulls you towards itself. It has that magnetism. That emotional pull.And who can relate better to such words and their import than the dream merchants who deal in emotions in motion.

So all of you dream merchants-present and future(there is no past in Bollywood),all passionate cinema lovers, lets join hands in bringing this Operation ‘new seven wonders’ to fruition by voting for Taj–the Pride of India .The campaign is on. Even A R Rahman has composed a song for the same. its video is on the channels.Lets sing Taj to selection.

Wah Taj!

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