Counter Exch On “The Lies They Tell”
Hi Folks,
Below for your perusal is the conter exchange I had with Bikram Saluja, on his response to my post. In keeping with my putting it all out in the open policy would like to indicate that I respect his viewpoint but also that I don’t just put statements on this or other sites, unless it is backed with facts. and don’t like to be told that I make them up. In fact most of my postings are meant to “not make friends,” so getting an adverse reaction is ok and I don’t react. It is just that if the source of those statements is indicated as not researched, then I like to present the counterpoint, as in this case. Now whether those facts have any holding, that I’m not sure, in fact seems to me, that the desi media seems to have lost all of it’s credibility, as a reliable source, based on both this and the earlier incidents, where they reported the late Vijay Arora to be the same as the cinematogrpaher and I did my research, posted it, and then it turns out that the source itself was questionable. Anyway if I have the conviction to post something, I would like to believe I also have the conviction to have another present his point of view, in this case Bikram. Thanks go to PfC for encouraging a healthy exchange!!! Always good for the digestion…..
FYI (the chronology from a time perspective is top to bottom: latest to earliest)—
Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 17:55:48 -0700 (PDT)
From: “Vivek Kumar”
Subject: Re: [PassionForCinema] Comment: “The Lies They Tell!!”
To: “bikram saluja”
Thanks for the clarification. Will publish our exchange on Passion For Cinema, so that the readers can conclude that the write up does not pertain to you.
bikram saluja wrote:
With regard to the intws and sites on which u are basing your facts, let me
tell u that the journalists that have written these articles cannot even
distinguish an apple from an orange as far as tennis lingo goes…
Also they do not even have the inclination to cross check on the facts
before submitting their stories… and if u believe everything that is fed
word for word, then u are naïve… because what is quoted is an interpretation
of the journalist, its not exactly word for word like it was told to them…
atleast not 100% of the time… even if the statement has been quoted, it is
not in the first person cause it has been written by the journalist and
hence third person account.
If u think that I am passing on the buck to the journalist, then let me tell
u that I did play tennis professionally… cause I continues to play much
after my juniors… I took a break from my education, after my grad… and for
two years I just tried my luck at the circuit… I went and played mens atp
satellite tournaments in Malaysia, tapei, Pakistan, Bangladesh and India… if
this is not being professional then what is it… devoting all my time and
effort to tennis and trying to make my living off playing is not being
professional then what is it????
Regarding disclosure, I don’t know about others, but I can speak for myself,
that I have always been forthcoming and disclosed everything… and I have no
shame in saying that I didn’t make it,,, that I gave up the race… this is
because I gave it my all and each day for 10 years of my tennis life, I
slogged my ass off… and that for me is rewarding enough – trying & trying…
success is just the by product…
Anyways I don’t agree with u when u say that as a junior u cannot accept
money… there have been examples in thousands where juniors have played
junior tournaments as well as mens tournaments and pocketed money, both here
and abroad… the best of juniors play junior level tournaments as well as
mens tournament side by side… and they make money on the satellite circuit…
becker did that, leander did that… both continued to play juniors and mens
simultaneously… even Mahesh did that… I can give u list after list of
juniors…. Infact while I was playing a match against miles maclagan, in a
warm up tournament before wimby junior, he was playing the wimby mens
qualies simuntaneously… so u are wrong in saying that as a junior u cannot
accept prize money… infact junior tournaments in india carried good prize
money…
Its only incase of US collegiate that u cant accept money more than your
expenses.
if not for tennis i would not have given two hoots about what was written
…but i’d just like to say that it is very easy to pass judgements… next
time before believeing everything – give a benefit of doubt… cause not all
in this movie field wills sell their souls to get higher and higher… after
all tehy are also real people like u and me!
>From: Vivek Kumar
>To: “bikram”
>Subject: Re: [PassionForCinema] Comment: “The Lies They Tell!!”
>Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 12:04:35 -0700 (PDT)
>
>This may not get published in the PassionFor Cinema website, so am
>responding to the e-mail of the sender, in adddition to posting on the
>site-
>
> Vivek Kumar — FYI
>
>
> In repsonse to Mr Saluja. Since it is being mentioned that I did not
>check my facts before writing.
> Firstly I do reealize how difficult it is to play in the Juniors of the
>Grandslam and congratulate you on doing what 99% of tennis playing humans
>cannot. The point that I did not check my facts, is however, something I
>would like to put forth a counter comment.
> My facts were based on the following websites:
> http://movies.123india.com/classic/photos/archives/cla_bun_275.html
> http://www.indiafm.com/features/2006/06/02/1260/
> http://www.expressindia.com/fe/daily/20000826/fle20023.html
> These contain statements about “playing professional in the juniors.”
> Since you have played in them, you will realize that the rules of
>eligibility for the juniors at both the US Open and the Wimbledon,
>prohibit, professionals aka people who make money in the circuit, from
>playing the juniors, it makes them inelligible. How then would you be a
>professional and yet be playing the juniors? People turn pro after doing
>well in the juniors, is my understanding, not play pro in the juniors.
> On the “being man enough,” no one is doubting that it is extremely
>difficult to make it in the ATP’s. The point I am making is to admit in the
>interview press that it was hard, and you are doing it here in your write
>up and it does not make one respect you any less, in fact au contraire.Also
>on the “true calling,” I believe I read it in Filmfare/Indiatimes, but that
>was in a hard copy, hence not on the web.
> Summing up, of course you are a super tennis player, but there is an
>element of full disclosure that seems to be missing from all our celebrity
>interviews. Also I did not take what you said personally, my reaction is
>more on your indicating that I do not check my facts before posting, cause
>that I do and are indicated above.
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Vivek
>bikram saluja wrote:
>Comment:
>this is in reply to an article by a person named – vivek kumar… in the
>article titled ‘the lies they tell’, he had mentioned comment about me as a
>tennis player… which went like this -
>
>Also on tennis, we have the following claim which is true aka Bikram Saluja
>(FIZA). Type in his name and it does pop up. However, when asked why he
>gave up, he says he found his true calling…..sorry dude….you were
>knocked out of the first couple of rounds of the junior US Open so at least
>be man enough to say “I tried but the circuit was way to hard,â€? will
>earn more respect than the half baked lies!!
>
>MR VIVEK KUMAR – all i had like to tell U is that before knowing the facts,
>one should not comment… i dont know any facts of the other people on whom
>you have passed a comment about… i can just speak on my behaf… for your
>kind information i have never misguided anyone with regard to my tennis
>days… have always been forthcoming that the reason why i gave up playing
>was that – i just lost the belief that i could make it,,, that things
>werent working out for me when i graduated from the juniors to the mens the
>way i had dreamt…
>
>regarding how good i was or what my potential was, my ranking and my
>results should speak for itself which if u like u can crosscheck with the
>all india tennis association as well as the international tennis federation
>(itf)… – i was ranked no 2 junior in india in 1992… was top 50 juniors
>in the world at one point of time – (in 1992)… i represented india in a
>lot of itf world ranking tournaments, in asia as well as europe…
>
>the only fact that you got it right was that i did play the us open junior
>1992… and yes i did lose in the opening round… but that doesnt give u a
>right to say that i wasnt good enough… because you are omitting the fact
>that only the top 64 in the world get a chance to play the us open
>juniors… so mr kumar playing us open is not like playing in your club,
>one has to win the right to play there…
>
>the reason why i am reacting to this article of yours is that it is highly
>childish of u to pass a comment on things which u know nothing of… were u
>there to see me play and judge for yourself as to how talented i was…
>just by reading a mere result u are passing a judgement???… go check up
>on your facts and then talk… go meet my contemporaries mahesh bhupathi,
>nitin kiratane, sandeep kiratne and talk to them to find out whether i was
>good or not!
>
>normally i dont react on anything… but however if someone is to point a
>finger at my tennis days and call me a liar, then i wont sit still…
>tennis was my life for 10 years… i dedicated my 10 years of my life to
>it,,,, come rain, come shine, that was what i did… i gave up my normal
>childhood for hours of training…. to the point that i left the luxury of
>my home and shifted to pune all by myself when i was 15 to pursue my
>tennis… i was one of the hardest workers around on the tennis circuit…
>so it hurts when some ignorant person calls u a liar…
>
>since mr kumar u also subscribe to passion for cinema… atleast show some
>passion and integrity… by atleast being true to yourself in passing
>comments on others…
>
>bikram saluja
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
Mr. Saluja’s tennis skills have absolutely nothing to do with cinema or the discussions we have on PFC. The previous post itself to which he responded was akin to a Stardust gossip column and perhaps better suited for websites along the same lines as opposed to PFC where we like to seriously discuss and celebrate cinema. Mr. Saluja playing in the juniors is of no consequence to any thing cinematic whatsoever and I’m sure I speak for most PFC readers when I say that we really do not care for this kind of dirty laundry being washed in public.
absolutely, vijay – you spoke for all of us!! also don’t think this conversation deserves to be a post by itself on pfc.
Well done Bikram!! I’m happy to see you taking your stand and clarifying things!.. really appreciate it! True that the previous post itself was akin to a Stardust gossip column.. but since it got published here anyways, you deserved a chance to react and let al the ppl who read the earlier post know what you have to say!
cheers!
That was a really interesting read.
I like Bikram. he had come to our office few times & I remember him as a extremely polite & decent human being with no airs about being one of the top models of India.
Good Luck with your film career Bikram. I wish you the best.