Demi-God of Bollywood - Dharmendra

Nu and I have this common liking for old hindi movies, so much so that in this time and age too our favorite weekend stop is the Landmark store' Hindi movies section ... you will find us here often, lost in debate on which movies to buy for our ever increasing collection of films. And now that Moser Baer and the likes have managed to crack the high pricing of films Nu cant seem to stop himself! At home we often watch these films together on a Saturday / Sunday evening with a glass of beer and wafers doing the rounds. Needless to say, we are the kind of couple that pauses at a channel airing an old movie while surfing ... and hum along with the old favorite melodies or imitate a dialogue or smile wistfully at a romantic scene or debate a particular movie' popularity and finesse or just crack a joke over some idiocy being enacted by Mehmood or Dev Anand or Kishore Kumar or Tanuja or Nutan or Asha Parekh or Bindu and the likes; or just laugh out loud before we move on with our surfing ...BUT it is seldom the case that we have surfed past a Dharmu film and cant help but get glued the moment we spot him ...

What a man he is and what films he has done; from his earliest ones when he was a nobody doing films like his first few 'Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere', 'Anpad' and 'Phool aur Pathar', to his hits in his prime years and his parallel cinema films and even the latest. He is one man that gets us weak in the knees, that makes us sigh unabashedly about his good looks and wins our hearts hands down for his acting skills ... whether it be emotion, comedy or action ... the man has done it all and not unlike us he has won the hearts of millions across the globe!

And yet through his career spanning 50 years he has not been awarded a single best actor award ever ... he has been nominated several times (Phool Aur Pathar, Mera Gaon Mera Desh, Resham Ki Dori, Yaadon Ki Baarat, Ayeee Milan Ki Bela, Naukar Biwi Ka) but never awarded ... In fact even his nominations are not for any of his best performances ... I find amongst my favorites of the 250 odd films that he has done till date; that whether it was Satyakam, Chupke Chupke, Sholay, Phool aur Pathar, Black Mail, Aankhen, Guddi, Seeta aur Geeta, Raja Jani, Naya Zamana, Jeevan Mrityu, Jwar Bhata, Dost, Shalimar, Burning Train, Krodhi, Razia Sultan, Chacha Bhatija, Ram Balram, Metro, Apne or Johnny Gaddar; his dialogue delivery, comic timing, action rigor and romancing have never failed to impress me and yet he was never even nominated for any of these films!


In 1975 his releases were PRATIGYA where he pretends to be the village inspector Davinder SIngh while he is avenging his fathers death with none other than Ajit and is swooning (the now remixed version) to 'Main Jat Yamla Pagla Deewana o rabba itti si baat na jana ke ke ke o mainu pyaar kardi hai o o saddey uttey o mardi ey' at the joy of Hema acknowledging his love -- a thrilling comedy and a great screenplay, SHOLAY the first Indian movie to have made 60 Golden Jubilees in over a 100 theaters across India where he played the ever favorite heart on his sleeve romantic Veeru showering his love for Basanti played by none other than his sweetheart Hema and where he spewed fire at Gabbar barking 'Basanti in kutton key samney mat nachna chahe meri jaan chali jaye', CHUPKE CHUPKE Hrishikesh Mukherji' cult comedy film where he played the adorable Dr. Parimal Tripathi urf Pyaremohan kidding the great Om Prakash in the guise of a Driver from Allahabad speaking SHUDH Hindi and frustrating the life out of him and his family ... all 3 great films and excellent performances by Dharmu and yet he didnt even get nominated for these films. The same year also saw releases like Aandhi (Sanjeev Kumar), Deewar (Amitabh Bachchan), Sanyasi (Manoj Kumar) and Amanush (Uttam Kumar)... Sanjeev Kumar walked away with the Black Lady for his unforgettable performance as JK for his rendition of a lover of a woman in power!

As an actor he has never failed to please ... however as a man he has disappointed me personally on two counts and since this is a piece dedicated to Dharmu here goes ... it bothers me that he must have hurt Prakash his first wife when he chose to convert and wed his on-screen dream girl Hema; although I am sure that now all must be well and that the families and wives have adjusted to each other' place in his life it is still a gnawing feeling that the man of my dreams let me down ... and the second is his habit of drinking ... Perhaps this had a lot to do with the dual life he was forced to lead due to his second marriage. And yet I have only seen love and respect in the eyes of his sons Bobby and Sunny and never so much as a twitter from Hema or Esha/ Aahana ... so he must be doing a lot of good for his families ... Sigh! My heart goes out to him and wants to hold him and say 'I love you Dharmu nevertheless and always will ...' Needless to say, both of these are private matters that we can only speculate about and hence my comments dont count! May God bless his families with happiness always!

Last December 8 he completed 75 years of age and although in his recent appearance in his home production 'Yamla Pagla Deewana' he didnt really look that great the fact is that his spirit is unending and there is a renewed zeal in him to do more and I wish him the very best.

Summer of 69 - LIVE @ BKC, Mumbai 12 Feb 2011

In January 1994 when Bryan Adams came to India and performed at the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai I was indisposed due to being 7 months pregnant with Roshni and although it was emotionally the most satisfying time of my life it was also the toughest! So I just could not go for the concert. This year on 12 Feb 2011 he performed in Mumbai at the MMRDA grounds and it was Roshni that made it possible for me to share the euphoria of the 20000 odd people that attended.

The tickets were prohibitive. The cheapest ones were priced at INR 2000 and I knew that they would be no fun at all. The INR 4000 and INR 10000 were the other options. Farrukh was not too keen to go and was humming and hawing about going. Eventually he suggested that I go with Roshni and that we could buy the INR 2000 tickets ... ah well I thought ... at least I would get to see the man LIVE!!! So Roshni took the initiative and called Varun who said he would help with booking the tickets for us considering it was a day before the concert. A short while later Roshni came to me gushing, 'Guess what Mom! We are getting 3 VVIP tickets i.e. 3 tickets @ INR 10000 a pop for FREE' ...
'What ... I cant believe this!???'
'Its true Mom, we will need to pick up the tickets from Varun' place tomorrow.'
YIPPPPPPEEEEE!!!! ... is all I could say and the countdown began for the moment of euphoria that would unfold the following evening!

The next evening came and we set off at 5.30 along with Ankita ... and of course Mumbai' Traffic decided to be at its worst! We picked up the tickets and reached the venue and were zapped by the chaotic arrangements! Although we had VVIP tickets there was NO PARKING available anywhere!!! Both the girls mobiles were virtually on the blink and so I could not even send them in alone so I prayed ... 'Oh God please please please ... since you have brought us this far please just spare us one parking spot' and VOILA ... there was a spot just a car length away!! We quickly parked and ran inside as we saw Jackie Shroff giving a BYTE on Bryan Adams to the hungry press. Next we spotted Shiamak ... who hugged Roshni and Ankita with a pat on their heads when I said these are your students, 'SO sweet ... God Bless!' Amongst the stars we also spotted Aditi Gowitrikar, Raju Hirani and Preity Zinta who looked very pleased to be there!

The VVIP area was on a PODIUM and yes it was stylish with seating and sexy round tables with drinks etc. It also supposedly had a clear view but by the time we reached it was jam packed and standing there was just pointless. So we pushed our way into the INR 4000 crowd that was thronging the area in front of the stage. Roshni pushed n pushed with Ankita and me close behind till we reached the front ... we were not bang centre but towards the side ... but it felt great to be part of the madness.

We had arrived late and hence the crowd was already in a frenzy as Bryan dressed in black was crooning away ... he looked great and didnt at all look his age of 51 ... he had so much energy and sang virtually non-stop all the way to 9.30 making us go crazy with all the old favorites Summer of 69, Everything I Do, 18 Till I Die, Straight From The Heart, You’ve Been A Friend To Me, Heaven, Here I Am, Let’s Make It A Night To Remember, Please Forgive Me, The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You, All For Love, etc. When he started singing Summer of 69 the crowd went ecstatic and Bryan sang it with the same feeling and emotion as he has always done ... oh it was awesome!!!



He then asked someone from the crowd to accompany him on stage to sing 'Baby When You’re Gone' along with him ... there was chaos as the crowd desperately tried to draw his attention and hoped to be picked up! The lucky one was a young girl called Gauri who actually sang the whole song and danced along with BRYAN. She did a pretty good job and looked great and even got a huge hug and T-shirts for her friends :) It was a cute moment and I am sure an unforgettable one for her! Before singing 'Everything I do I do it for you', he asked all of us to turn on our mobile screen lights and hold our phones up in our hands in the air! When I turned to look at the crowd it felt like the stars had descended on the ground!!!

His latest album, Bare Bones, which is a compilation of his greatest songs has been given a gold certificate in India and it was from here that he was singing most of his songs ... The experience was truly exhilarating and of course the crowds refused to let him go ... he did 2 solos specially for us even after the rest of his band said Adieu and sang while playing his harmonica along with the guitar ... unbelievable and simply spectacular! WHAT A NIGHT ... thank you my Lil Roshposh and thank you God for making this happen!

MOVIE REVIEW: Hum Dono (Rangeen)

RATING: * * * * *

Wah Dev Saab WAH!!! ... Aapke kya kehne! What a film this man has made and acted in. I saw it in BW with Farrukh a few weeks back and we didnt stop humming the songs for the next few days ... such is the nasha of this film' melodies.

Yesterday Bhabhijaan called and said that she would like me to accompany her for the new colored version of the film ... Farrukh and I had been making plans with the gang but somehow nothing had yet materialised ... yesterday being thursday I feared that I would miss the cinematic screening of this epic Dev Anand film if I said no ... so I said yes and HUM DONO rushed to reach just in time for the PVR Juhu 12.30 screening. As we were entering the screen the titles had just begun and the screen was alight with the colors and a-sung with the famous lighter melody ...ting tin ting tin ting tin ting tin ting ... this got Bima and me all excited as we groped around the dark hall and so we just sat ourselves down on the closest seats available and soaked in the beauty of the music. And then the magic began ...

Dev Anand' handsome face smiling and holding Sadhana' (Meeta) palloo with a ribbon tied to his hand, Meeta' doll like face switching the lighter on an off, Dev flirting with her in the song 'Abhi na jaao chod kar ke dil abhi bhara nahin...', wooing her at the gate, her onlooking father, the proposal, the dejection, him enlisting in the army, Meeta leaving her father' home to be with his mother while he is away, him becoming Captain Anand, him shaving while looking at his reflection in the pond and then the ever favorite 'Main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya ... har fiqr ko dhooein mein udata chala gaya ...', meeting DA2 Major Verma i.e. his Hum Dono counterpart with just the mooochein being the differentiating factor and of course the ho ho ho gutteral laughter and SCRAM SCRAM, a deep bond of friendship and brotherhood emerges between the two of them in a place that reeks of death and hatred, and then there is DA2' mother Lalita Pawar and wife the gorgeous Nanda (Ruma) who like the perfect bhartiya ardhangini 'jo aadmi ke adhooreypan ko poora karti hai' ... kya devi hai yaar our kya khoobsurti hai aur kya bhajan gayen hain ... 'Allah tero naam ishwar tero naam...' DA2 getting injured and becoming POW, DA1 coming back to find his Mum is dead and that Meeta has been in his home all this while, he goes to give the news of DA2' death to his family and they i.e. Lalita and Nanda and all his friends start thinking that he has returned home as Major Verma whereas he is actually Major Anand (he has got promotion after the war), Nanda falling sick and Anand being in a kashmakash of whether to tell the family that he is actually not Major Verma ... but the Doctor warns him that Ruma will not survive the shock due to her heart ailment, Meeta misunderstanding Anand and Ruma' relationship as she spots them together in the Mandir, and then Ruma' penance and eventually returning with a missing leg on crutches just as the bhajan 'Prabhu tero naam jo dhyaye sukh paye tero naam ...' concludes ... the fight between the two DA's and then the reconciliation and the expression of love between the two couples .... ooooooooh what a story, what songs and what gorgeous looking people and WHAT A FILM ... I had tears or sorrow and joy rolling down my cheeks by the time the film concluded

Thanks a ton Dev Saab for sharing this beautiful acting experience with us on big screen ... we loved it and kept feeling that there needs to be an ongoing screening of some of the best films of your era and they should be tax free so that as many people can watch and learn from them ... kyonki woh waqt ki khoobsoorti kuch aur hi thi and I wish thru these movies we could somehow keep the beautiful values and the innocence that India had ... alive ... I LOVE you DEV ANAND ... God bless you with the courage to continue to do more such acts of idiosyncrasy :)

Lily Boose Nu!@#$?

You must wonder who this is ... is it a woman, flower, animal!? It is none other than my darling husband Farrukh Shaikh ... One fine evening when my dear Anika was doleful; she and I playfully christened him with the name and it has stuck ... she now calls him simply LILY and adores him ... bonds of love that are timeless and names that are often weird and unexplained but their oddity and cuteness spells LOVE.

I remember my mum calling my sister 'malkin' and my dad calling me piyu, rui (as in as soft as cotton wool) and peachy. My kid sister was called pochersingh, chocha, chochey, mulmooch :) The cutest name that I have been called has been by my babies ... they call me MARSHIE(as in marsh-mallow -- they think I am as cuddly and soft as one) ... shaikhu and honey call me Pichi (which was a shortened version of Priya Chachi:))

I remember some really weird petnames/nicknames in the family as well. My cousins are called Sunny, Honey, Money, Bunny. Another set is called; Chicky, Ricky, Nicky and yet another is called Ginni, Minni, Tinni... My MIL called her 4 sons Munna, Pappu, Raju, Guddu ... this is typical of a Punjabi sibling lineup.

I remember a Bengali sister and brother having the names Buchki and Potal ... two boys in Cathedral school were called smallie and biggie when they were kids -its a different thing that smallie grew in size to be a lot huger than biggie but the names had stuck... Farrukh calls his friends by weird names like Sanju is called Coolie, Pramod is Lungi, Vanu is Hathyarin, Tanu is Monopause, Hoju is Tension, Archie is Doordarshan, Duriya is Khamoshi, Honey is Chantt, Guddu is Rangeela, Tariq is Sarkar and Prashant is Sanki etc... They hate him for these names but he calls them by these names nevertheless and has also logged them so in his mobile contact list... Looks weird when there is an incoming call from say Sanki or Lungi or Monopause :)

Have you heard of any weird names? Do share them with me in your feedback comments below ... This is Piyu signing off with love :)