The Colour Of Gulal
Jan 1st 2001. The first day of the year. I was at I think one of the lowest points in my life. Ironically, I was standing at the highest point above the ground I’d ever been. Maybe 100ft and I was scared when I looked down. No not scared, I was shit scared. But I jumped. I mustered up whatever little courage I had left and jumped. As I hurtled towards the ground, I lost track of everything..time, my mind, my sight. It was only when the bungee cord pulled me back up did I regain my senses. The feeling was exhilarating. The throbbing in my head wasn’t. The sudden rush of blood to my head made it hurt. Actually, I was at the Andheri Sports complex where a bungee jumping camp was being organised. I had four hours to kill before my turn came. Amidst a lot of scared screams and jumping people, I thought of something. What if there was a film on ragging, a film set in a boy’s hostel in a professional college…a film as stark, as realistic and as hard hitting as “Satya”. So, in the days to follow, recounting my experience of my engineering college hostel days, I put together a script or so I thought. Somehow I always associated “Satya” with Anurag Kashyap. Not Ram Gopal Verma, not Saurabh Shukla. So, six months later I thought I’d meet him and narrate my script to him. I asked a friend, Suresh Singh, who was an actor in “Paanch” at that time to introduce me to Anurag. Anurag refused saying he didn’t want to meet any wannabe model. Eventually we did meet a couple of months later at a party. Pankaj Saraswat, another actor in “paanch’ and now the director of ‘the great indian laughter challenge’ introduced us. We shook hands, said hello and sat silently next to each other for the next one and a half hours. Having screwed up my chance, I requested Pankaj to oraganise a meeting again. This time we met at Pop Tate’s and I narrated my script to him. I don’t know whether he liked it or not, but we went to Jaipur post that. Once back Anurag disappeared only to emerge and narrate to us the script of “Gulaal”. It was spellbinding. I then realised that my script was like something written by a five year old as compared to what Anurag had written.
Thus began the journey of “Gulaal”. And what a journey it has been. False starts, heart aches, betrayals, humiliations, disappointments to begin with. But, something or someone always came along to offer hope. The hope that this film would happen. The hope that gave us the belief that we should not give up. When one hope faded another one sprung up to keep us going. And then Mr.Jhamu Sughand stepped in. We shot 80% of the film under his production but unfortunately he had problems which couldn’t be resolved as much as he tried. I am eternally grateful to him and his son Jugal for having faith in Anurag and “Gulaal”. Without him the film would never had taken off then and I wish he was here today.
Today, we have reached the final leg of this journey, the details of which if I were to write would take reams of space.. The shoot is complete and we are on to the post production. And as I look back I wonder what “Gulaal” means to me. It has ceased to be just a film for me. It has been my life line and life for the last 6 years. “Gulaal” and Anurag have been the reason why I’ve stayed on in Bombay. They have restored in me the confidence that I had lost. It has restored my faith in people when I see how selflessly people like Rajiv Sir, Wasiq da, Aarti, Piyush Bhai, Kshipra, Neel, Bilbo,Vasan, Kunal, Sanjay Maurya, KK, Aditya Srivastav, Deepak Dobriyal, Jessie Randhawa, Mahi Gill and everybody else have worked in the film and I’m so damn grateful to them. It has been such an enriching learning experience working with actors like KK, Aditya, Deepak, Piyush Bhai.
I don’t know why I am writing this. I don’t even know if I’m entitled to write this. But, maybe this is my way of telling the world that sometimes a film is more than just a film, irrespective of how it turns out. Maybe this is my own small story of a group of people who set out to do something in which they had unwavering faith irrespective of all the obstacles that they encountered. Maybe this is the story of my journey during which I discovered myself. Maybe this is the point where I’ve stood highest in my life and when I jump, I know for sure like the bungee chord, they’ll always be something to pull me back up. Maybe that’s why I’m not scared today.
Tags: Anurag Kashyap, gulal, jhamu sughand
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
Raja,
a good account of “ek khayaal ka safar…”
You should be telling to Anurag and complete team of Gulal
“Meri kalam se jo nikali to ek khayaal huee
Tumhare haatho.n me pahunchi to ik mashaal huee.. ”
Good luck to the team!
Good luck to you and everybody.
I am sure every movie making has a story behind it.. The way you guys are publishing stuff about Gulaal, we have more and more curiosity and since it is yours and Anurag’s baby, its even more hype.. Hopefully it meets the expectations.. good luck.. looking forward to Anurag’s movie as long as he makes realiastic movies..
Nik
gr8 post Raja Bhaiyya..kudos! Hws da post going?? All da best…give my regards 2 the team..
Best of Luck man. Your hard work is going to pay.It shows in the film. Tushar Patel
When’s Gulal gonna release,will it be this year
well i dont know about any one else but i cant wait for this to release. i just pray that its this year, we need some good movies in the theaters soon yaar…..cant remember when was the last time i went in to see a hindi film this year and came out satisfied.
best of luck.
something which is a result of a honest effort always strikes a chord..this movie will not only do that but will be a brilliant one for sure…
LOVE U RAJA
Have all the AK acolytes taken a look at RGV’s latest blog comments, and what he really thinks about AK’s talent…? Please do, it’s an eye opener..
guys anyone pls tell me wats ramu’s blog called.I tried reaching it thru orkut but cudnt find it.Pl help
RGV’s blog is at
http://rgvarma.spaces.live.com/
its such a lonnnng journey. all the best Raja. eagerly looking forward to ur bungee jump!
nik,jateen , rusted rick, rasik..thank u guys for the good wishes…
vikram..gulaal releases most probably early next year..
pavan..it was good to see you in jaipur…choki dhani to chomu palace must have been quite a drive..
thanks premal..good to hear from you..post going good…let’s catch up soon
thanks phoenixnu..its been really long…hope all of it pays off..even the bungee jump..
hey raja jee.. believe me.. GULAL’S going to be one of anurags best films. all that u guys have been through (even i was a very small part of it during its 2nd attempt) its sure going to translate on screen.
Philip, do you think there’s any truth to what RGV has to say about Kashyap?
thanks a ton tushar…
thanks gk…you have always been an integral part of the film..
Hi Raja,
nice article buddy…
hey wish you all the best to entire Gulal team.
i think AK and team is doing great work, i am sure after AAmir ..gulal is going to be next best film…
bollywood need more people like You and Ak, who dare to make film on offbeat subject…..
all the best and …keep posting !!!
Waiting for Gulaal. Waiting fot long. Bring it along guys and let’s have Holi
Balle Balle
All the best Raja… we are all ears… no… eyes for Gulaal to release.
thanks mike, thanks joyjeet, thanks gajendra
good luck ,Boss….hope it has a release here since the time it was annouced
just wanna tell why wholae story of film is given in your site it to be release here just remove it
http://www.rajachaudhary.com/
@ Harsh – Who are you asking to do what?
Is this the wife beating, big boss raja c??
Yes it is but please refrain from personal comments and observations. Everyone deserves respect and forgiveness. And also you are unaware of the circumstances and the stress he faced so do not judge
tushar..i am not the raja chaudhary you are talking about..there are two raja chaudharys..the guy who you are talking about is the one married to shweta tiwari…..if you have the time, i’ve written another article on pfc called ‘the namesake’..please read that…you’ll underatsnd what i’ve gone through and suffered beacause of the ‘raja chaudhary’ of big boss…there have been a lot of misunderstandings and i’m at my wits end trying to clarify my identity..
ram..i appreciate the attempt at support but i’d like to clarify that i’m not the ‘raja chaudhary’ you guys are talking about…
also have my own website…www.rajachaudhary.com
please check that and i think a lot of doubts will be cleared..
harsh, thanks..i get what you mean..am getting it removed from my site
thanks roark h
tushar and ram…..do you see any talk of “TV/Big Boss” or “Bhojpuri” films happening here…rest your doubts…and let this Raja Chaudhary breath in peace too.
Nice artical Raja…. all the best wishes…..
I was browsing news.google.co.in and read something real bad about a “Raja Chaudhary”… :D
Thank goodness! That guy isn’t you! :-)
Raja Chaudhry’s acting is absolutely amazing in Antardwand.He is a very promising actor;so if anyone wants to have a true impression of Raja Chaudhry,you should watch Antardwand,whenever it is released.
hi Raja i read it.u know i have developed intrest in bunjy jumping.but surprisingly i ‘ve had generated gr8 intrest in ur small biography written aside.actually i can readily identify with it.as me myself is an engg. grad. aspiring to be a storyteller.but as iam not in a position to actually invest more into any course for it in any inst. so you are a gr8 source of inspiration for me.I’d love to know how you actually got through in there.any ways all my best for ur future i’ll be looking forward for your debut film.and plz let us all know wen it releases.bye
thanks jyotsna…appreciate it
@saju..thank you for your wishes..i really don’t know if i could be a source of inspiration to anyone but what i’ve learnt from my journey is that just plunge into it headlong and persevere…patience and perseverence is the key according to me…
Hey Raja,
Bye
been waiting for ur Gulal for sometime now buddy!!….Wen is it finally getting released???Any date of release?
Want to watch it for the Wrath….. .Hell i hv been waiting impulsively….wonder what u must have gone through??
U might help me on this one though…. how does one keep his cool n patience when the going gets tougher n all seems lost :(…I m facing this in my line of work n it is slowly turning me into a diabolical Maniac.Kindly advice.
Also how about changing ur name buddy as u have a crazy namesake, right nw in an asylum… met the guy after the Big Boss hoooplaa….hated him. It makes me wonder how can A Man b a wife-beater???? May be bcoz of the fact that he is insecure as hell n a looser :(
How about “Nirpat”??? its sanskrit for ur name:))))
All the best buddy n All my Good wishes
Hey Dyson,
thanks for the good wishes..we are looking at a march release…
i don’t know if I could advise you but all I can say that everyone has their own journey and in difficult times the strength comes from within you and you have to find that…and remember ‘this too shall pass’…
Have already changed my name…reverted back to my birth name..ie Raj Singh Chaudhary..
Thanks once again and take care
Hey Raja,
Raj Singh Chaudhary..now thats gud as it bring alongs the Rajasthani persona..:)..i m frm there too, i.e my roots.
‘this too shall pass’… its like the mantra for Patience n perseverence mate n yes it helps. Another one i stick to is “Hold on to ur dreams, ur time will come”
As i write this my machine is downloading “no smokin”. Its so strange that inspite of Anurag being my Fav. Director i still havent seen it….so gonna b doin it now..n since u r the writer wait for my “Xpert comments”
Dev d got released y’day n i’ll b watchin it on the big screen, so 2mmrw will b a jazzy day….i was quite surprised by the TOI people for givin it 5 stars!!!!! i remember reading an article in TOI which said movies like “DEVD” r worsely hit due to recession n hv no takers…. Really hope the movie’s success kicks that writer on his goddamn Butt!!
All the best mate!! Hope to meet up with u in the distant future n hey hats off again for stickin thru this since 2001!!
Spray the colours of GULAL buddy!!
Hey Raj,
….ditto with “Ransa”….i quite identify with him (me too a Rajput frm Rajputana, u see 
}and ofcoure, the Man K>K…..Acc to me show stealer was Sh. Piyush Sharma…the guy was gr8.
saw “Gulal”……….. Man just wanted to know is “Dileep Singh” close to you????? “can u identify with him?….do write to me…..Hw has things changed Post “gulal”.
Btw …u played Dilieep very well
pls dont mind my comments Raj…. this movie has been close to me as well.(my admiration for anurag).So just wanted to share it with someone for whom Gulal is equally important, if not more.
Cheers,
Freeman
Hey Raja,
))lookin fwd……
So buddy, u hv become such a big star that u xcannot even reply to a fan!!…
Guess i’ll have to write n sing a “STAN” for u
Tell me my dear protoganist whats up???? which r the projects u r looking forward to ???
Hope life is treating u well.Has it
changed after the release of GULAL ???? I sincerely hope that i had ur email address as i need to tell u something very important regarding ur life….(no pun intended, whatsoever) n pls dont take me as a fan gone berzerk.It actually is very important to u…..I cant write it here as this “comments column” is like free for all. btw if ever u wanna know n u think i m not pullin a trick here u can mail me at freeman.dyson@in.com.
Also my dear friend i remember u had adviced me n had said “this too shall pass”…thanks for that buddy:)If i was the director for NOBEL PRIZE i know for sure that i would have given u an award for “Patience n perseverence” in REEL as well as REAL life.There are a very few guys out there who have put up with negativity with panache.You are one of them my friend and u have done it for years.Kudos !! U r sort of an inspiration Raja.All the very best n may be this time i receive a comment bck frm u