Indian Cricket has moved away from Bombay to Mohali and Rajkot, why not Bollywood? The new Film-City should be established in the ‘National Capital Region’ like Noida and Gurgaon for the IT industry. This move would create a million jobs up North and ease the pressure on Bombay. In any case most of the talent in the Indian film industry comes from other parts of the country. Bombay is also called the Tinsel town of India. It has a lot of glamour attached to it. People from all over India converge to live their dreams. Most of them fail but a few succeed. This creates a lot of unnecessary traffic in the commercial capital of India. Besides, this should also address the grievances of some of the Marathi manoos.
His name is Dev Anand bit fans call him “Deva-nand”. The name has become a legend for those born during 1940s and beyond. He does not belong to ‘Bollywood’, he represents the golden years of the Indian Film Industry. The ‘Trimurti’ of Indian Cinema, Dilip Kumar (Yusuf Khan), Raj Kapoor (Ranbirraj Kapoor) and Dev Anand (Devdutt Pishorimal Anand) ruled the Indian Film Industry for more than two decades. Dilip Kumar was the thespian, Raj Kapoor was the show-man and Dev Anand was the Hero, the star of 1950s. Nobody has every enjoyed the universal magic of Dev Anand. For people my age, he remains a milestone.
During the 1950s, the six of us were young and our parents were strict about us watching too many films. We were allowed to watch only one Hindi film and one English film every month. That too my father preferred us to watch patriotic Hindi films or mythological films. We were also allowed one Walt Disney movie a month. The only exception for me at least was a Dev Anand film with Johnny Walker as the comedian. My father did not have the heart to stop us from a Dev Anand starrer, as simple as that. Such was the magic of Dev Anand and his Navketan Films.
Devdutt Pishorimal Anand (Dev Anand) was born in Gurdaspur, Punjab on September 26, 1923. He was born in a well-to-do Punjabi-speaking family of Advocate Pishorimal Anand. His elder brother was the late Chetan Anand (Producer & Director) and the younger brother was director Vijay Anand. Dev Anand graduated in English literature from Government College, Lahore, British India and then left his hometown to work in the Military Censor Office at Churchgate, Bombay. He was offered a role in 1946 Hindi film, ‘Hum Ek Hain’ by the film maker P L Santoshi. It was at Prabhat Studio where ‘Hum Ek hain’ was being filmed that Dev Anand first met Guru Dutt. Ashok Kumar introduced Dev Anand as a leading man opposite Kamini Kaushal in ‘Ziddi’.
DEV ANAND & KALPANA KARTIK – AAJ KI RAAT PIYA – 1951 FILM (BAAZI)
Few can forget the talents of Biswajeet in the ‘Indian Film Industry’, pretty, smiling, singing and jumping around the trees in his white shoes. Those were the hey days of Bollywood. The 72 year old, Shivraj Patil, the ‘Minister for Home Affairs’ in the Government of India is no less talented. Patil is as immaculately dressed in white, as the actor Biswajeet in 60s and 70s with white shoes and a Dev Anand puff on his head. What is missing? Maybe a bit of lip gloss! Patil is as talented as our hero Biswajeet but can not run around the trees since he is already 72 years old. Other than that, nothing is missing! Every time there is a terrorist attack in India, i.e. every month, Shivraj Patil appears before the TV cameras and makes a statement. I do not listen to the statement anymore as we hear the same lines every time. What I do look forward to seeing is Shivraj Patil’s well clipped ‘Moustache’ and I wonder how does he manage to keep it clean slightly above his lips. With such enormous talent at our disposal, it is only a matter of time before India eliminates terrorism from the Indian sub-continent. America, are you not jealous of our talents?
Shivraj Vishwanath Patil was launched on the ‘National Political Stage’ by the former Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi in 1980. He was inducted in the government as Minister of State for Defense. His loyalty to the ‘Gandhi Family’ kept him rising steadily through the ranks. Rajiv Gandhi inherited him from his mother and kept this jewel in his crown till he governed. Sonia Gandhi adopted him after Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1991. When Congress came back to power in 2004, Patil was made the Home Minister although he lost the election from his Latur constituency in Maharashtra. He was brought in through Rajya Sabha like all other losers before him. Can you imagine his predecessor was Lal Krishna Advani, one of the strongest Home Ministers after Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel? What keeps these characters ticking is beyond me! Shivraj Patil was born in the village of Chakur in the Latur district of Maharashtra on October 12, 1935. He is a science graduate from Osmania University, Hyderabad and a law graduate from Bombay University.
Shabana Azmi, in my opinion, is the finest actress Indian film industry has ever produced. She has probably surpassed the legends like Nargis, Meena Kumari and Waheeda Rehman, because she has been the most versatile out of them. Yet, all of them happened to be Muslim. All four earned name and fame and of course money, unrepresented in any Muslim society. Forget about in the Islamic world, no Muslim performer has ever achieved so much in life, with the exception of Omar Sharif in Hollywood. Shabana has challenged the sensibilities of conservative Hindus in her films but no ‘Hindu Fatwas’ were issued. Overwhelming support from the people of India kept her going for more than 3 decades. At the end of the day, this is her acknowledgment to the love and support from the people of India.
“I wanted to buy a flat in Bombay and it wasn’t given to me because I was a Muslim and I read the same about Saif (Ali Khan). Now, I mean, if Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi cannot get a flat in Bombay because they are Muslims, then what are we talking about?” – 17 Aug 2008, 0037 hrs IST, TNN
Shabana, you should be ashamed of yourself for making such a bigoted statement. Are you planning to join Hurriyat Conference in Kashmir? Only traitors like them could make such an outlandish statement. Whom are you trying to sell this trash to? From Mahboob Khan and K Asif to Shahrukh Khan, you are the first Muslim celebrity in Bombay to have accused the city of such discrimination. A couple of years back, Shabana Azmi had a conversation with Charlie Rose (an American talk-show host) in which she counted the virtues of Indian democracy. You may watch the video below, half-way (at 35.20 minutes) onwards. What happened in the meantime that a virtuous democracy suddenly became a discriminatory society? Or, is it that Shabana is basically a hypocrite? You judge her for yourself.
THINK! 