From #Mokhada to #Ekjute at Prithvi...... every commitment matters!!

 

From #Mokhada to #Ekjute at Prithvi...... every commitment matters!!

It was one of those days when you have two commitments that you just want to keep both but don't know how. Not easy but I did it. One being the trip to Mokhada to distribute note books that I too had donated towards in a small way. The other to watch Juuhi Babbar Sonii and my Ekjute family perform at Prithvi.  A big dilemma - but then they say when you want something real bad, things begin to work for you. It did and how !! because I managed not only to travel four hours back and forth to Mokhada and a touch-and-go to Prithvi dishevelled and tired but happily refreshed to watch "Salaam 50s ke Naam".

Note books donations, such an easy way to say you care. It has given me a joy and an opportunity to contribute in a small way to a social cause - education. So every year when my friend, Dipesh Tank, founder, Youth for People, a Malad-based NGO joined hands with Diganta Swaraj Foundation and reached out to seeking support for note book donations, I am happy to participate as always. The icing on the cake is travelling to Mokhada and Jawahar, which is a rural area which lies in the outskirts of Nashik to personally distribute note books to students belonging to the scheduled tribes of that region. There I was again this year waiting to board the bus. One normally won't thank a pain one has, but this year I can happily say that thanks to a knee pain, Dipesh, Poonam and Narayan offered to send us in one of the cars which worked to my advantage to keep my second commitment. So there we were, three friends, Sailesh Mishra, Surjit Kaur and Me along with Agilan Ramaswamy (Narayan's friend) who had no idea what was going to hit him speeding off to Mokhada.  Four hours on the road flanked by beautiful scenery and a continuous banter, Agilan not only survived but had fun too and I made another friend for life. It was not long before we happily bonded at the crossroad of Mokhada over tea, waiting for the bus to arrive. As always, everyone was teamed up and given notebooks to distribute. The four of us were sent off to a school in Chikenpada and Chas Village, a small little school amidst lush green with a rocky path leading downwards to a village just past it. Done with distributing books there to the happy children, as we motored down the hills flanked by green trees and scenery to die for towards the main Ashram School, Surjit spotted a small bridge over a river.  A detour to that spot.... and now all I can say is that, I am glad we did stop, thanks to Surjit,  because it was worth it. The filmy keeda in me took over and we posed and posed.  It was the most calming but definitely the filmy moments that I insisted on,  I know for sure that the four of us are going to cherish and never going to forget that madness. 

The main Ashram Shala, we visited houses 350+ resident students and many more students come in from the neighbouring areas. The class rooms and the main hall double up as classroom area during day and as bedrooms at night - even as eating areas. Electricity is a rare commodity here. Greeted by a hall filled with students, the team distributed notebooks to them. The most beautiful part of being there is always the way we are greeted with swagat songs and heartfelt thank-you. From there we moved on to another school. Here we were greeted and treated to a Lezim performance followed by a small program in the main hall where the Zilla people and our team exchanged thoughts and ideas. Over 40+ thousand books were distributed. 

It was 3.30 pm and as we were going back in the same car, we sought permission to leave and the ride back to Borivili was just as fun-filled as the morning. Guess what, we were in Mumbai by 730 pm and Yeah, I jumped into a rickshaw with cross fingers hoping to reach Prithvi in time..... I did..I did.....

Literally jumping out of the rickshaw exhausted but excited to have made it,  "Salaam 50s ke Naam" was a nostalgic ride down the memory lane. As introduced by Nadira Babbar ji this performance was Ekjute's tribute to the golden era of cinema. All about  of those films that had the zamindaar ka ladka and the kaabile ki ladki, it was  filled with the most beautiful songs of the 50s like suhana safar aur yeh mausam, shola joh bhadke, suhaani raat dhal chuki and so many more that made my eyes moist.  Well, I would have jumped on stage but for the fact that I knew I had to behave (ha ha!) and  flanked by an awesome actor, Suhant Singh (and his sweet son) and director, Kajri Babbar on either side of me. The performance by stalwarts Juuhi Babbar Soni, Pilu Vidhyarthi, Hanif Patni and all the awesome actors with choreography by my dear friend Raj Yadav (who I must thank here again for introducing me to Juuhi and the Ekjute Young Talent Company family) was super indeed. What can I say about actor friend, Ankur Parekh - was it Dev Anand, Dilip Kumar or my favourite Biswajeet that he reminded me of ?  I think it was just a mix of all those stalwarts and more that added to the 50s experience along with Juuhi M'am as the lovely kabile_ki kanya performance. A musical play filled with dance and song beautifully intertwined indeed ..... and think about it -  what is better than to see all your friends performing on stage, applauding them and then going backstage to hug each one of them.... and what can I add again here about Juuhi M'am except that I adore her not just for her acting but for her love  and inviting me to watch the play..most importantly because it is all thanks to her that I am getting to be a part of the one thing I always craved for and wanted  in my life - theatre!!!

Keep a good attitude and do the right thing even when it's hard. 

When you do that you are passing the test. 

And God promises you your marked moments are on their way

~Joel Osteen

because COMMITMENTS MATTER and so does FRIENDSHIP !!!

Me, mad about the movies? Really!!

Fond memories are what they say stay with you, while the rest of the memories just wither away with time. Most people remember memorable holidays, achievements, happy moments with family etc. etc. but me?  Surrounded by over 15 cinema halls in the area where I lived what else could it be but - films and films and films...

Every weekend it was a fight to the finish with my dad for a film vs a film.  Let me explain. It was those days when "A" certificates were given to most English movies, even our 007 and if dad wanted a date with mom on a Saturday evening to the movies then he better agree to a date with his three daughters on Sunday. Otherwise there would be one foot raised across the jamb of the main door to our house not allowing them to leave...and yes, that was me. The terror who got dad to actually tear the tickets once.  Dad's favourite (sis Ruby, you know it is true) I got my way all the time.  Each and every cinema hall has a memory connected with some film or the other so let me share my tryst with the movies at some of them.

My childhood was spent in Khetwadi and within 10 minutes of walking was surrounded by Super, Shalimar, Dreamland, Novelty, Apsara, Imperial, Swastik, Naaz, Minerva, Opera House, Roxy, Alankar, Ganga Jamuna, Majestic, Central and the very quirky Diana. Oh yes, there were also those three-four not for family audience type theatres too like the Taj and Edward. 

Let me start with my pet peeve. Dad and his loosing tickets... and believe it or not, it was always those of Dev Anand films. He lost Johnny Mera Naam tickets, Tere Mere Sapne tickets and then he even lost Jewel Thief tickets at the gym. I remember the day we stood inside Alankar theatre near the door and watched Jewel Thief till Dev Anand sang "Yeh dil na hota", while Dad went searching the dark with the manager to see if anyone was sitting on our seats (oh yes, he remembered the seat numbers for sure). Sadly, someone was occupying the seats...... so well, we returned next day to see it. Surprisingly though, we would always ended up seeing his movies twice and even thrice.

Here is where I need to mention the most amazing theatre of all called Diana. Diana stood at the foot of the bridge on the corner of Tardeo and when all the movies had run their silver or golden jubilee course or otherwise, they would return to light up the Diana screen. Yes, those were the days when movies ran to silver and golden jubilees and there were many weekends, when there were no more movies left to see. That's when  Diana came to our rescue and it did not matter if we had already seen the movie earlier.  A second round of the same movie within a few weeks never hurt us, the Dudhmul family.  It was my job to run up the stairs to the balcony, lie down on its wooden seats and spread myself across five seats, cause there were no seat numbers.  Here is where Dev Anand entertained us many a times making up for lost tickets.

Naaz, the cute theatre that stood in the lane between Imperial and Swastik, has a birthday memory and an angry memory. In 1970, Mastana was released. It was one of those days when Dad said it was houseful and I argued till he challenged me to book tickets for my birthday. Off I go to the theatre and stand in the line and ask for tickets, but it is really house full.  Believe me when I say that 15 year old me stood there at the ticket window begging "Uncle, it is my birthday and I want to see the movie". Voila, it worked because those were the days when the theatre would keep two rows for whatever reason for themselves. Triumphant I walked home with the tickets and shoved them under dad's nose. On the other hand, mom threatened  to punish me for what I don't remember by not taking me to see Ganga Ki Lehrein one afternoon, but of course, mom being mom forgave me. Here I must fast forward to say sorry Mom  for not getting her to see 'Prem Bandhan' of her darling Rajesh Khanna. You see, I hated Rajesh Khanna (sorry!!) and after all I was pregnant and having lost my first child, Mom was trying hard to keep my mind off by taking me to the movies.  All films done and it was down to Inspector Eagle and Prem Bandhan..Inspector Eagle won.... but next when it was time for Prem Bandhan, it was not to be because just as we were leaving, I took her to the delivery room instead of the theatre.

Dreamland and its Bluff Master, 1963.  Rainy season time and there is Pran pulling Saira Banu with a whip around her waist in a song and suddenly out of the blue in the dark, a shoe goes flying at the screen. My poor dad died a thousand deaths looking for the shoe that I had flung at Pran.

The most glorious memory of them all is the "Mera Naam Joker" premiere at Novelty. Mom used to work at the bank on the first floor of the theatre building and Novelty had a huge footpath outside the theatre which we could overlook.  The day of the premiere the entire bank staff, including me, stood watching the unbelievable galaxy of stars walking into the theatre name it they were there, waving out to us each time we screamed their name.  Of all the stars that shone that night, I can still see in my mind's eye the most beautiful Helen in a golden saree with her golden hair in a high hairdo standing next to Dharmendra and Dara Singh for a very long time waiting for someone...I ran down to the foyer much later and saw Randhir Kapoor standing at the ticket window and shoved my autograph book in his hand. While this remained a fond memory, there was one very embarrassing one too at the same theatre.  I had started working, in fact my first job, and a friend and I got passes to the premier of "Majboor". In all my glory, I was there in a beautiful purple floral saree and then the movie ends...I rush to get a closer look at the Amitabh Bachchan walking out and then it happens, just as he is within arm's reach...the saree pleats come off as my foot gets entangled in them...need I say more!!!  

Opera House is where musical programmes also happened in the mornings and my dear Pesi Kaka always took me and I have autographs of Mukesh, Manna Dey, Juthika Roy, Chandru Atma, Geeta Dutt. Chitra Dutt...so it is no big surprise that I am still at it till today with selfies...(by the way I also have autographs of the likes of Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan, Shatughan Sinha, Jeetendre, Nitin Mukesh, Sanjay Dutt, Anil Kapoor, Asha Parekh, Jaoften ya Bahaduri, Yash Chopra, B.R. Chopra to the stalwarts like Mukhri, Nana Palsikar, Agha, Paintal, Ramesh Deo, etc. etc.... and surprises of surprises a forgotten autograph of Kalpana Iyer, who I met just recently (amazing)....okay, I am going to stop gushing now... but now you know now for sure why I am the way I am...

Opera House too has one embarrassing memory. The movie "Khamoshi" which mom took me to see along with her office friends. I had decided not going to cry and why should I, after all they are just acting and "they must have had a coca cola after the shoot" (my exact words to mom), but damn, the flood broke at the end when Waheeda Rehman turns mad and Rajesh Khanna beats the door to say he will wait for her. National Anthem begins (yes, it used to be played at the end of the movies then), the lights come on and there I am standing sobbing my heart out only to be dragged out to be admonished by my mom.

Many many more memories are coming flooding back as I am writing this....such as my little sister slipping on mud at the corner of the lane just as its time to reach the theatre to watch "Spy in Rome" at Imperial, or taking villain Ramesh Deo's autograph on the back of the ticket coming out of Majestic theatre after watching "Shart" , or watching "Do Dooni Chaar" at Swastik or pushing dad to take us to see "Jawani Diwani" at Ganga Jamuna in our dirtiest clothes straight from a picnic to Juhu Beach (oh yes, Juhu Beach was a distant far out picnic spot for us and today I live close by). I even remember once dad bought tickets by mistake for "Sinbad, Alibaba, Alladin" and "Raja aur Rank" for the same day-same show and we stood near Super Cinema deciding which one to see and thereafter dad went and sold the other tickets and bought it for another day......Not to forget those Indo-Pakistan war,1971 days when our windows were fitted with black paper and sirens stopped us from venturing out and forced us to switch out lights....we were at "Naya Zamana" in Roxy when the siren rang and I remember being scared as the screen blacked out till the siren rang again.. Marathi films were not my dad's cup of tea so I must thank my Pesi Kaka for taking me to see all the Marathi movies of those stalwarts right from Dada Kondke, Jayshree Gadkar, Nilu Phule, Ashok Saraf, Arun Sarnaik, Raja Gosavi  and more...

The film industry has always mesmerised me especially the hard work that goes on behind the scenes on the sets. I love to watch how it happens.  I have been on many sets and my craze started way back from 1969 on the sets of "Piya Ka Ghar" at Raj Kamal Studio on 19th June 1971 to be precise (I have the entire cast's autographs and even Dilip Kumar, B.R. Chopra, Yash Chopra who were shooting Dastaan there too). I recall Anil Dhawan had just one line to say and that too he fumbled many a times, by which time I knew the dialogue and the action required of sitting down at that precise dialogue. I remember thinking to myself that I could have done the shot as required by the director.  No wonder I prayed to become a film actor at the Haji Ali dargah that year but for God's own reasons it never got fulfilled (ahem, a few short films done recently though...so maybe there is hope still)... Oh yes, that being said, it is very clear that from that day till date, I am not shy of walking up to any of the stars..... after all what worst, they can only refuse!!!

The craze has continued even after marriage where with my equally film crazy in-laws family I would be at the Ambar-Oscar-Minor theatres every Friday night without fail watching the latest movie.  Of course, my craze continues till today and even more so thanks to my best friend YouTube...I am done with most old movies of 1950s to 1970s with not much left to devour now but the search is on way back to the times of Raja Harishchandra, the first known feature film made in India and I will go on and on and on because I am just one mad filmy keeda with a voracious stomach for meeting the stars and revelling in entertainment industry from days gone by to eternity..... and living in hope to be up there on screen some day... even if as I joke, just to open the door to say "saheb, aap ko koi milne aaya hai"

Outstanding Theater festival KHIDKIYAAN.COM

A twitter post from Mukesh Chabbra, the casting director who gave us the cute Harshali of Bajrangi Bhaijaan,  made me curious and I logged on to the Khidkiyaan Theater Festival site and booked myself and my friend, Shaila Shah for a theater experience over five days starting January 13th. We were soon joined by our friends M J Kaur and Dipna Patel (heroine of the Gujjubhai, The Great" fame) and Shariq Ahmed.

“Khidkiyaan” such a beautiful name that immediately brought to my mind a picture of myself standing at an open window looking into the horizon, this time it being the world of theater. Yes, and there was a beautiful Khidki made for visitors to pose and click photos.Presented by Mukesh Chhabra Casting Co. as its first ever stint in theater, the festival was worth every moment and definitely worth a visit for sure. Open Mic and sessions on a stage outside revolving around literature and theater before the plays were performed in the auditorium added to the fun not to mention the young budding actors and actresses adding to the magic.

Day one, we landed up much earlier than the show timing and I was pleasantly surprised to see a warm and comfortable environment with the bustle of young and bubbly people hanging around interacting. The air was filled with celebrations as it was Makar Sakrant festival that day. A bonfire and songs were sung while we all stood around it filled the air with festivity. Amongst that crowd stood two outstanding directors Imtiaz Ali and Vikas Bahl who had inaugurated the festival and it did not take me long to approach them for a click. I have to say that they were so down to earth men that both of them actually offered to click each other's photos with me turn by turn. Ha ha ha ha ha.. Lucky me!

GUNNO BAI, play of day one with its outstanding performance and singing by Chittranjan Tripathy, the director and actor was one of a kind experience.  Gunno Bai told the story of a high profile eunuch in Delhi known for her singing.  Her life story is revealed through flash backs of theatrical events, monologues and songs beautifully sung by the lead actor himself. As it unfurls Gunno Bai turns out to be a young man who had come to Delhi to become an IAS officer but fails at this dream. The audience is transported back and forth into a flash back of his life as he tells us that money was not easy to earn and one evening sees a man dressed as a woman singing on the roads. He decides to use the same ruse to earn and no one ever realises that he is actually a man disguised as an eunuch until the day he gets a telegram that his father is visiting him. Gunno Bai is in a dilemma and because he reveres his father, he decides to kill himself before his arrival, but he also has a huge score to settle with someone. Does he kill himself and what was the score he needed to settle is what keeps you completely engrossed and gripped. Beautifully penned songs to one poem, where Gunno bai speaks to death completely stole my heart.

Day 2, it was SHADOW OF OTHELLO about a small group of men enamored totally by the film Omkara to such an extent that they decide to perform it and ask a theater director to direct them.  What starts off as a gang of enthused actors turns into a conflict when one of them is not chosen to play the part that he wanted to, leading to jealousy and intrigue. Othello / Omkara becomes a part of their lives and thereon how the shadow of Othello consumes them all forms the crux of the story. A talented cast and a hilarious representation helped. Guest of the day were Piyush Sharma, Richa Sharma, Sushant Rajput Singh and Makrand Deshpande.

Day 3 - A band "TROUBADOURS" belted out fantastic and outstanding numbers followed by a performance by Khushaal Pawaar (of Bajrangi Bhaijaan fame). Sunil Shetty, Manoj Bajpai and others graced the occasion that day. This was followed by the play OLD MUNK which I found a bit confusing and inaudible as the actors did not really throw their voices . I did mention this to the lead actor the next day though. Old Munk is the story of three characters - DK, his wife and his wife’s friend Anjana who visits the couple after a long time. As the evening progresses, untold stories and actual truth behind their relationships and lies come to light as the skeletons fall out bringing unimaginable revelations.

Day 4 - BLACKBIRD is the love story of two characters. Uma, a 12 year old girl who mature beyond her years, falls for an elderly man Rajesh. Rajesh who also is attracted to her decides to runs away with her, but confused and out of fear abandons her for some time at a hotel when all hell breaks loose as he is convicted of raping a minor. Uma lives through the years being talked about while Rajesh does his time and rebuilds his life.  Uma searches him out and the confrontation goes back and forth between anger and the search for truth and unresolved issues. Swanand Kirkire, as the elderly man proves his mettle with a power packed performance that holds the play together ably supported by Mabel Vyas. Guests of the day were Manav Kaul, Kabir Khan, Nawazuddin Siddique and Radhika Apte..

Day 5 - KOI BAAT CHALE a romantic comedy revolving around a 35 year old unmarried drama teacher who loves Supriya but is unable to profess his love for her. He resorts to the services of a marriage bureau to help him find her mentioning especially of the black mole on the left cheek right below the ear  which leadis to him meeting many girls that fill the bill, but not the girl he wants. Ultimately he takes the bull by the horns and gets the girl. This play marked the finale of KHIDKIYAAN theatre festival with the most out of the world acting by Yashpal Sharma and Ritu Sharma in the play and ending with Ayushmaan Khurrana's performance.

It was not just the guests that I mentioned that came to wish the festival well. There were so many actors, actresses and theatre personalities all around interacting and very happily agreeing to clicking selfies and believe me I did get them all. Bumped into so many of my young actor friends and made so many new friends that believe me, I had withdrawal symptoms for days thereafter missing the wonderful theatre world that I enjoyed for five full days without a break. A big "lets do it again next year" to my friends Jeet (MJ Kaur), Shaila Shah, Dipna Patel and Shariq Ahmed.... All I can say is a well organised, commendable feat and a big thumb up to Mukesh Chabbra and KHIDKIYAAN theatre festival and as Sunil Shetty said it should be taken to every city in India.