Rajuben is dancing on jhalak dikhlaa jaa!lol!
That was the best that came from a kid to me, while I had started to behave like a split personality jumping from being Rajuben to suddenly breaking into a dance!…actors do it all the time! My first time!..and what a time!
To begin with, I had no clue on earth what was Rajuben to be called..a serial?..a mini series? Tellyfilm?…k, somewhat like star bestsellers?.. for 12 episodes?..no, I don’t trust TV! …Yes, it’s ok to dance….shilpa! you need to know if you can dance! Or what acting will you show if a musical like Chicago is being made here! Dancing is good! You lose weight, you get paid to dance and with three cameras constant ..c!mon did you not imagine a camera on you 24X7!lol!…
I did not know the shape, size, smell or color anything of Rajuben..Dates were also a problem… (For the 1st time,again!lol!)…I said no. I was unsure, but the story pulled me..i had kept her character sketch next to my awards (whatever little)that i got for bindia naik!..i knew she was special and if am destined ,will play her. And thank god for anurag k. . .Sometimes it is just one line that you need to hear from someone. And he said it! He was presenting it…it would be the role of a lifetime!
The producers dungarpur films, shivendra singh (and my daft knowledge of names!)….that’s exactly what he was saying, it is going to be one of a kind!…shivi put the best team together..from actors to the spots! We were all genuinely nice human beings who smiled each time, each day!…no we didn’t have those ugly fights … Even when the room temperature was boiling @42-45 degrees, as we were shooting nights in day as the bungalow would be covered by black cloth , we were fine and amazed by the level of involvement we had.
Since it all happened so fast, almost overnight, I did not have much time to read..All I did was got my hair which was brown to black and stop putting nail paint (except for Saturdays when I danced!)..Rest just followed, flowed instinctively …lalit marathe, the director like a child jumped with joy each time! Hari nair, an exceptionally passionate DOP, I owe it to him!
But the unbelievable tide- like life that Rajuben lived, which is part fiction part truth is charu’s baby(charudutt acharya,the writer)…shakespeare,with love!..it was in the 8th chapter that it hit me!..How? Why? Will I kill my son? his funeral scene was perhaps the most silent day on the set, I remember not being able to dance that day @jhalak house….in the 12th chapter , happens a full circle, every one holds a chance for redemption. ….
And guns!OMG! Bring it on !every actor’s wants to pose with them atleast!.i got my folio picture to support that!lol!…we had a superb time!..a creative high for all!..i was somebody else there!…i only gave her a face..But she felt very true and real…so so did each relationship in her life.
The cast seemed to be miraculously made for it. KK Raina, as the gandhian father (he agreed to do television after almost a decade), rajesh shringarpuri,as rohit ,her husband, raj as tabrez her man Friday. Harsh and ahana as her children and harsh chaya as joshi…we were all on the same page!
We saw the first episode together after shoot on the terrace of her bungalow…we hugged each other..Our phones did not stop ringing!….we would discuss the feedback each day… .a lot of the audience had understanding issues with the time jump between ’86,90 and 2009…but for those who started waiting for Monday @10 grew with the story….i heard people cancel their dinners to watch rajuben, those who had abridged version of tata sky would record it….my friends wanted me to send them reminders as they were no more used to old ways of t.v. when you knew the time by heart for serials like circus, tamas, hum log, fauji or udaan(my most fav.!)…..Rajuben made an audience for itself, they wanted to know, what next?..And those who missed a few episodes …I promised them a DVD copy of it!…how much we shot! And some of the most happening shots were not used due to the medium constraint….during a media interaction on the sets , they got a chance to see the way it was being filmed…they also started rolling their cameras and rolled it till the scene was over..i could see it in their eyes!.. “Who shoots for a television serial like that?”….during Q &A they asked “how do you do it? Dancing and ….I told them see rajuben is pregnant with twins,I got twins too! Jhalak and Rajuben, the delivery completes in may!… “Work is love made visible”-khalil Gibran.
That’s what it was… not just a mini-series but four films in one!..
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
Hi Shilpa- you were great on Jhalak- I was totally rooting for you! Unfortunately I missed watching Rajuben which looked very interesting, but I’m sure you did a stellar job… hope to get to see it sometime! Cheers!
Hi I liked Raju ben initially but lost interest as it progressed…probably 4 eppisodes were enough for the story rather than 12
….You were good on Jhalak…
viva passion! keep making the right choices consistently. u sure will make a niche for yourself… roles like rajuben will earn you the respect & the jhalaks will bring the much needed, much craved for, attention that every artiste seeks! am actually writing a special role for you in my debut film (whenever that happens, insha allah soon)… hope this dream materializes… do keep writing more on PFC. thanks for sharing your experiences here!
Being a big fan of yours, I’ll surely catch Rajuben when it comes out on DVD (I stopped watching TV about 5 years ago)
I wuz intrigued about the name. Didnt you ask Anurag why was the character named Rajuben (I didnt see it). Why not a female name. Never heard of this name!
Hey Shilpa, I couldn’t help but to come to terms with the fact that the rugged looking Bindia Naik – Rajuben could actually DANCE !!! And weith elan !!!.
Kudos.
I couldn’t watch Rajuben regularly. As a matter of fact I used to regret on Wednesday for forgetting it. But I would love to have a copy of it.
hi shilpa
i think u r an enormously talented actress.i have seen u in hka, khamosh pani and chak de and of coure rajuben & loved u in all of them.u look like a complete natural and effortless actor.but why haven’t u done any movie post chak de.your turn on jhalak was interesting and should give u necessary publicity and exposure. just my personal take but i feel u will do much better in meaningful movies than in typical commercial ones.of course one should be versatile and try everything. wishing u a great career ahead.
“Shilpa Shukla” has become pretentious … not as bindia naik but as herself … badhai ho … magik bhaiyya ki film sign karte samay 20 baar sochna, pata chale saare kiye karaye pe paani fir jaaye. :P
if all was fair in the world u w’d have won jhalak. never mind it will help u run around trees in our hindi films. what r ur current assignments?
@ Shatik: bro dat was wicked! how do i thank you? :-)
@ Magik: Kyun chhote logo ke mu lagte ho …. “kuch to log kahenge , logon ka kaam hai kehna” ….
@ Shilpa-
Enjoyed watching you perform on Jhalak.and as you mentioned in the show, it has certainly made people watch another aspect of yours.Didnt really watch Rajuben except for certain bits – here & there- not into serials for the last few years.But yes given another chance, I’d surely like to watch it – maybe on DVD?looking forward to more appearances of yours be it on the silver screen or small screen.BTW I did watch Frozen – you had a very small appearance, but still it was nice that you were part of such a wonderful film.
@ Shilpa nice to hear from you. I hv’nt seen Rajuben and jhalak bt loved your performance in chakde, khamosh pani and you were very good in hka also.. specially that scene in which you were hidind during a raid by police in village and a constrable finds you … you expressions in that scene is still in my mind…. I know you have worked very hard to reach where you are… I once read your interview after release of chakde where you were talking you days of struggle in delhi and DTC ke dhakke… keep going.. hoping to see you more…
i really loved your “zinda hoon main” dance act…it was damn good…and as Rajuben, you were simply magnificent…
i wish u good luck with your other projects…
I want to meet you but you seem to be very busy to come down to Ghaziabad!
did someone say “Ghaziabad !!!!” ….. can someone put some light on this ???
Well I can Pune too! But no chance of throwing any light there. :-D
Well I can say Pune too! But no chance of throwing any light there. :-D
I haven’t seen you in ‘Jhalak’ or ‘Rajuben’. All I know of you is from ‘Khamosh Paani’ and ‘Chak De’ and I loved you in both. You are a great perfromer. Hope to catch the other 2 on net sometime.
So speaking of television, I thought of you the other day when I just started watching Lost, (I’m not sure if they show it in India) the chick that plays the character of Kate looks just like you. That and I liked Rajuben until the last two episodes. Her leaving Rohit and not understanding where he came from and not telling him who the other person was that she loved is something I just didn’t get. For me her hatred/dislike for him wasn’t convincing enough, but hey that’s just me.
Undoubtedly you acted well in Rajuben. But it was highly let down. It was dubious for Anurag to endorse it and nothing but a marketing tool to push the slot forward by Sony. What does “presents”mean? It is produced by Shivendra Singh and directed by Lalit Marathe. What is Anurag doing in it? In this dreadful time, where most of the creative people are getting corrupted (in ideas), Anurag is one of the few who has kept away from the herd. Only contention is that he should not have endorsed the “package Rajuben”(when he isn’t doing much in it except for “presents”) only to cheat his loyal fans like me. Why has he let out his “brand name”? He will only lose authenticity and craze that he still holds. Its like Amitabh B advertising ‘Navratan Tail’. Why Anurag? Why stab and cheat your fans like this?
And the media is getting ga ga over it, saying “Kashyapesque films meet TV” etc? I want to know where was the auteur in Rajuben? Only in the non-linear narration cutting across time and space?
Non-linear narration or stream-of-conscious narration is not ideal for serials. Do you thing audience has sharp memory and recall? Why Rajuben used such a narrative technique in a 1-hour weekly serial. Does it work? Would you have followed it yourself (the makers) for any other serial? just coz of AK and the cast, I dragged myself to watch 2 episodes, I must say it was torturous.
Since Shivendra and Lalit Marathe are not active part in PFC, may be Shipla can answer my queries?
or else I have to return home carrying a betrayed heart?
Hey Shilpa…guess what..I got to know from Bharat today that you are the Bindiya Naik of Chak De India!!! Man..I couldnt believe it..but your face from Calcutta days poped in front of my eyes..and it matched with Bindiya
Congratulations!! This is amazing. And read about Khilari as well….
Pa found out all this from uncle today and shared with bharat who shared with me…
I am just too happy for you!
hope all is well!
LOL. if Anurag didn’t have anything to do with it, why was his name dragged? thank God i didn’t waste time on this. from the reviews, its only the fanboys who went ga ga over nothing.
don’t have anything against u though. hope u do good ahead.
aren’t u married? there goes all the leading actress roles out the window. u know how our media is, if anybody is on top, they’ll bring out their claws and try their darned best to drag them down. so even if u do get a yrf movie, be ready to be brought down to the ground equally soon.
Hey Shilpa
I watched Rajuben in US, and you rocked it!!!! you manged to pull it off so well…I have not seen Jhalak Dikhlaja but I am sure you must have been great!!!… now please come to the forefront and enjoy post BINDIYA Phase( I know how much you loved being called as Bindiya of Chak de!!)
For those who had problems of Anurag Kashyap’s name tag…whats wrong in it if he is promoting new talents…I watched it for his name and I loved it…
KEEP ROCKING SHILPA…
after watching “Zinda hun main” I was just screaming one thing once more once more…