Thank God Its Friday !
I am at TGI Friday at its Happy Hour..And trying hard to get high on spirits light and make light of the terror that is palpable all around in the news on electronic media or a newspaper in my hand.. And from it screams a headline .. Not about the terror attacks but Sensex Taking A Plunge On Global Cues..And the cue happens to be Lehman Going Bankrupt..
And I don’t know why but somehow I go on a spirited trip mixing Bankruptcy, Bollywood and Box-Office..
With Lehman Brothers filing for bankruptcy and its rival Meryll Lynch on the verge of a take-over, it is rumoured around 2,500 professional will be given a golden handshake..
Many of them may think it is a blessing in disguise because for many –beneath those grey-suits– beats a heart that wants to paint the silver screen red,blue and green..
And Rock-On with its investment banker/fund manager protagonist being termed as a Rocking Hit in India ( though it has not garnered good response overseas), it is an additional fillip to soon-to-be idle bankers’ dreams..And then there is Nagesh Kukunoor to contend with and Arindam Chaudhry too.
So you can visualize a scenario where professionals with pink-slips in pockets and so called perfect concepts for pictures in mind, make a beeline to rock Bollywood ( To heck with politically and culturally correct Hindi Film Industry)..
How many of them would be able to realize their Bollywood dream!..Well you try to guess..I would have, during my rookie days in Bollywood, in an adrenalin rush pooh-poohed the very idea of professionals pitching for films .. But not anymore..Because over a period of time I have seen,observed and experienced that anything is possible here..
A guy cast as one of the forty thieves in Ali Baba Chaalis Chor and, throughout the shoot, made to sit in a cask (with not even once his face shown)..becomes the cynosure of all eyes as a hot-shot producer and director of some of the landmark films of Hindi Cinema—Mehboob Khan.
A petite,shy girl with an angel face is point-blankly told by the director in her very first film in the South , that she better forget her dreams of making it in films as she does not have what is required–and she goes on to stir the fantasies of millions by becoming their Dream-Girl—Hema Malini.
A lanky,dark guy whose voice is rejected by All India Radio is finally chosen twenty years later to give inaugural commentary at the First Asiad Games hosted by India in 1982..And whose baritone itself becomes the livelihood of many a stand-up comedians and mimic artistes,not to speak of his histrionic prowess–Amitabh Bachchan..
A ticket conductor on a State Transport Bus goes on to become Shivaji-the Boss with millions going out on a limb to get his glimpse—Rajnikanth..
A flop hero reinvents himself and goes on to anoint himself as the Showman of Hindi Film Industry—Subhash Ghai..
Another flop hero reinvents himself in recent times and fights it out to rock Bollywood by directing Rock On—Abhishek Kapoor..
A music-composer in his avatar as a leading man garners the initial for his debut film that puts to shame the offerings from Moghuls of the film industry—Himesh Reshmaiyya.
Another music-composer spins a web of childrens’ fantasies and fears and goes on to establish himself as one of the new-wave hot shot director—Vishal Bhardwaj..
A guy with no roots and family back-up blazes a new trail to make the whole world his home with his charm,charishma and energy—Shahrukh Khan..
Of course many of these are the obvious ones..But apart from these success stories the reverse is also true..Guys starting at the top and hitting the heap..
Vijay Arora was a gold-medallist from FTII in acting..Was reduced in twenty years time to do character roles on TV..Ditto for Anil Dhawan..Both had started their journey as Heroes but were completely sidelined over a period of time..
Then there is a long list of the likes of Vivek Mushrans,Avinash Wadhwan,Rahul Roy,Mohnish Behl, Hemant Birje,Prithvi and scions of Manoj Kumar, Shashi Kapoor, Shammi Kapoor, Dara Singh et al– who had a sprinkling of star-dust for a while and then went bust..
You can help in adding to the list..About the heroines the less said the better..Here again you can have your own pick of the lot..As such their shelf-life is not more than seven years at best.
The point is whether it is a Rocking Hit ( Rock On) or a Terrifying Hit ( Phoonk) or a Swinging Hit (Sing Is Kinng),you never know what is gonna happen on a Friday.
You never know RGV kab, kis movie mein jaan Phoonk de ( Blow life into what movie, when)
You feel humbled when a sick movie like SIK tells you that even King does not know what will ring the cash registers at the box-office..
In 1954 a concert manager fired Elvis Presley and advised him it would be better if he went back driving a truck for a living..
If Elvis Presley went to belie concert manager’s statement, another truck driver without any prophetic baggage like that, defined what being Bond is all about—Sean Connery.
Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds were released from their contracts with a major studio’s talent development program because someone very prescient at the studio foresaw their future and told both of them that they would never make it in show business..Reason given was that Burt Reynolds just could not act and Clint Eastwood’s Adam’s Apple was too large..
Both came out hurt,scared and wondering about their future when Burt Reynold is said to have remarked “ Well, I think I have a better chance than you of becoming a star anyway’.. Clintwood asked him ‘why is that’?..Burt Reynold with his inimical comic style replied, ‘ Well, I can always learn how to act..But what are you going to do about that Adam’s Apple?’..Apple or an Orange how does it matter..The fact is both went on to have a mouthful of the apple and have ball of a time in the Garden of Eves—that is Hollywood..
Whether at the Big Apple’s Hollywood or its Banana Brother Bollywood, it’s the same..The dread of Friday..The expectation from Friday!..
And this unpredictability, this very uncertainty– that is notches ahead of speculative Sensex– keeps people dreaming, chucking up careers or reinventing themselves to be one among the Dream Merchants..
For me Thank God It’s Friday..with its happy hour with one on one free, that keeps me going for the time being..Cheers to the spirit or spirits (its one and the same anyway)!
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
Some more tidbits
Sadhana was told by Raj Kapoor, that she could never be an actress, and was rejected. She went on to become a rage in the 60’s and some time later, when she teamed up with Raj Kapoor for Dulha Dulhan, she never forgave him for that insult, and the vibes remained frosty between them forever.
Not just actors even movies too. Subash Ghai’s script for Kalicharan, was rejected by almost every one, and only N.N.Sippy backed him. The movie went on to become an overnight blockbuster, and Shatrughan Sinha, till then, playing baddie roles, turned into Bollywood’s most popular hero, making his own identity as Shotgun.
Decades later however Subash Ghai found his magnum opus Kisna, turning out to be a huge dude, and the much unheralded Page 3 releasing on same date, turn into a surprise hit.
Madhur Bhandarkar starting off with a forgettable Trishakti, began to score unlikely success with Chandni Bar and later Page 3, becomming one of the hottest directors.
Nice writeup. Enjoyed it.
good one..krysh…..
A 24 year old asst director was kicked out of sets in 1988 coz he lost an important dairy of the script writer used for the films script – and you know who that was – Its apna RGV yaar..
Kumar Mangat – who makes comedies with Ajay Devgan – eg: Sunday..etc was a spot boy in 1980’s
@Ratnakar – Madhur himself was an asst to RGV before that he was selling cool drinks on sets for pocket money
Anyways, good writeup…enjoyed Clint Eastwood Adams Apple wala comment….lol….
Sadhna story does not seem accurate.
Reasons,
Sadhana is daughter of brother of Hari Shivdasani (father of Babita) and HS had worked in Shri 420 (1955) directed and produced by Raj Kapoor so he knew her family on personal basis.
Sadhana married RK Nayyar, who was assistent director in RK films in 50s(either acted by RK or produced by RK films) and directed Sadhna’s first hindi film Love in Shimla.
Raj Kapoor himself directed a film (Sangam) in 1964 after a gap of 9-10 years. He produced only one film in between , Jis desh mein ganga behtee hai (1960).
Only possibility remains that he did not take her in Jis Desh mein ganga behtee hai.
There can be many family reasons behind it.
But it seems quite odd that Raj Kapoor would say to a beautiful Sadhna that she would never become an actress. He had an eye for beauty.
Moreover he was the instrumental behind the re-union of RK Nayyar and Sadhna.
This tidbit seems production of yellow journalism of those years.
Maximum possibility that ” Sadhana can not become a heroine in an RK film under constrcution at that time” is not equal to saying “she can not become an actress at all”.
Krysh! man! nice post! One small addition,
Vishal was adviced by many “filmmakers” that making a film is not easy and its not his cup of tea. Even after making a film “MAKADEE” he was criticized for making a children film which is not a children film. But then, MAQBOOL and we know rest!
@RK
Got that bit, from a website, long time back, while i was doing some R&D for conducting a Quiz on Bollywood. The link is http://movies.indiainfo.com/tales/raj-sadhana.html.
Of course am not sure, whether that was accurate or just some kinda gossip, but sure was interesting.
And the most famous line in movie history ” Can’t sing. Can’t act. Balding. Can dance a little”. But again that is a bit of Urban Legend.
Fred Astaire himself said that the report actually read “Can’t act. Slightly bald. Also dances”.
Acted as a goon in Woody Allen’s Bananas, a bit role of a club dancer in Klute, supporting roles in Farewell My Lovely, Capone,he came up with a script, but put in a condition that he be allowed to play the lead role. The studio folks wanted some one like Robert Redford or Burt Reynolds as the main character. He however stood his ground, and the movie shot him into stardom- Sylvester Stallone, Rocky.
Quit his job at an oil drilling company, as he wanted to be in the movies. On his first screen test, the director advised him to play hockey, as his muscular body type was not suited for the movie world. Fortunately producer Arjun Hingorani cast him in Dil Bhin Tera Hum Bhi Tere in 1960, though the movie was a dud. Played supporting acts to heroines like Mala Sinha(Anpadh), Nutan(Bandini). Gained acclaim as the second lead in Aaye Milan Ki Bela, where Rajendra Kumar and Saira Banu were the heroines. Shot into fame with Phool Aur Patthar- Apna Garam Dharam Paaji.
Starting her movie career playing bit roles, and cast as the heroine’s saheli or the second heroine, and the heroine opposite Dara Singh in B-Movies, she gained fame as a heroine with Khilona in 1970, for which she also won the Filmfare Best Actress Award. The rest as they say is history- Mumtaz.
Incidentally Mumtaz refused to star opposite Amitabh Bachan in Zanzeer, as their previous movie together “Bandhe Haath” was a big dud at the box office. That to date remains the only movie where Amitabh and Mumtaz paired.
@Ratnakar (7),
yes interesting and film history students have a work in hand.
Sushma Madam should try to contact Sadhana Ji to know the right version of incident.
Apart from Rajnikanth, one more bus conductor, who became famous was Badruddin Qazi, aka Johnny Walker.
Working at military censor office during wartime, where his job was to check letters for their contents. Made his debut with Hum Ek Hain, first hit was Ziddi starring Kamini Kaushal. Incidentally Kishore Kumar also sang his first song in Hindi movies for the same movie.
Real name Kulbhushan Pandit, Sub inspector of Mumbai police in the 40’s, made his debut with a pretty unknown movie called Rangli. Mother India in 1957 would make him famous.Had a very succesful pairing with Meena Kumari in a series of movies like Dil Apna aur Preet Parayi, Kaajal, Dil Ek Mandir and of course Pakeezah. Waqt in 1965, made him famous for his dialogue delivery- Raaj “Jaani” Kumar.
Really miss those “From Ground Level to Top” stories of yesteryears Bollywood stars. Nowadays every other Bollywood actor , seems to be son or daughter of some actor/producer/director.
rakesh roshan – another not so successful actor reinvents himself as a hit director, though i have personally not liked any of the movies
akshay kumar – chef/attender in bangkok hits it big time in bollywood
aamir khan – a fantastic actor turns into a fantastic director
yeah, it all happens on a friday but only in showbiz and glam world. most of the ppl suffer from ‘oh shit, its monday’
Thanks Subhasish,Ashwin,Sridhar & 32 for ur appreciation..And for ur additional inputs..Especially Ratnakar,RK and crazyral