Dev Anand: The Indian Actor Legend No More!

He was loved for his handsome appearance, he was loved for his stylish acting, he was loved for his rapid-fire style dialogue delivery, he was loved for his typical gait and he was loved for his unique dress code invariably consisting of a hat and a scarf wrapped around his neck. Dev Anand—the legendary actor of Indian cinema—passed away early morning today in London due to a cardiac arrest. He was ever young at 88 and was in London for a medical check up for the past few days. End of an era.

He was born in 1923 and till 1989 he continued to be the hero of Hindi movies beating in the race Raj Kapur and Dilip Kumar with whom the formed the famed trio ‘Raj-Dilip-Dev’ in the early fifties. He debuted as an actor in the Prabhat Talkies movie ‘Hum Ek Hain’ in 1946 and his active career spanned an incredible 65 years till his demise. His lasting image as a beloved romantic superhero started growing since the early fifties.

A romantic song sung by Mohd. Rafi for Dev Anand.

He established his very own and dear movie company called ‘Navketan Films’ in 1949 and went on to make more than 30 movies discovering new talents all the time till his last production ‘Chargesheet’ in 2011. As he continued to be the hero for his productions his search was always for talented heroines to fit the theme, the presentation style and of course, him. Zeenat Aman was one of his finest discoveries who was chosen for a hippie style girl for his ‘Hare Rama Hare Krishna’(1971) which along with his color film ‘Guide’ (1964) are regarded as cult films and major landmarks in Hindi cinema.

Dev Anand had two celebrity brothers—elder brother Chetan Anand and younger brother Vijay Anand—both of whom were distinguished filmmakers and award winning directors. In the early years of Navketan Films Chetan used to direct the Dev Anand starrers and later moving away to form his own film production company. Younger brother Vijay Anand then took up the reasonability of directing Navketan productions out of which the most memorable mega hits were ‘Kala Bazaar’ (1960), ‘Jewel Thief’ (1967) and ‘Johny Mera Naam’ (1970). He also directed ‘Guide’ which was his most critically acclaimed movie. Unfortunately both of Dev Anand’s brothers preceded him in death. 

A restlessly energetic and creative soul, Dev Anand took to direction too in the early seventies and went on to direct 17 movies till the end. Some of his movies were disasters in the box office, but that never dissuaded him from his constant search for newer themes and fresh talents.  Gregory Peck of Hollywood had been his idol and comparisons were always made calling him Gregory Peck of India. 

We saw this hero from our birth and grew up with his movies loving him for his stylishly different acting, dresses and get-ups and his singing sweet and delicate dancing around with his leading ladies. We witnessed this superhero comfortably crossing over from black-and-white to color frames and always adopting with the changing times, values and perceptions. And yet retaining his true-to-heart charms and frolicking antics. We called him ‘Devanand’ ignoring the separation between first and surname.

The legend leaves us now. But the legend remains forever in the silver screen and in our hearts. Tributes and prayers to Dev Anand. As he sings out ‘I’ve always gone ahead happily with life…’ (Song by Mohd. Rafi) 

November Double Tragedy Hits Assam!

 The first to dissolve into eternity was the

legendary singer-poet-lyricist-writer-journalist-filmmaker 

Dr. Bhupen Hazarika  who passed away at a Mumbai Hospital on November 5, 2011. And now, the celebrated author-social reformer-academician Prof. Indira Goswami, better known by her pen name Mamoni Raisom Goswami, passed away at a Guwahati hospital on November 29, 2011.

Two noted personalities of Assam who have been rooted to the soil and totally committed to the people and the land they belonged to. They have been the torchbearers for Assam carrying themselves with numerous awards and recognitions at the national and international levels. Assam has been identified with their laurels and as their home state. While one got the Dada Saheb Phalke Award, the highest honor in Cinema in India, the other got the Jnanpith Award, the highest literary honor of the country. One is dearest ‘Da’ (elder brother) and the other is beloved ‘Baideo’ (elder sister) for all of the Assamese people. Losing them both now is proving to be one of the most painful moments of history for Assam.

Indira Goswami’s novels always focus on the downtrodden and women in particular. She delves deep into the problems society creates for them and rants out her thoughts through most powerful words that ushered in a new chapter in literature of Assam. Her novel on the conditions of widows has been acclaimed as an all time classic. Mamoni Baideo had herself suffered in her life—fighting with depression and suicidal tendencies since her childhood days and then fighting with life losing her husband after just 18 months of marriage. But she never accepted defeat and fought on to reach the peak of success.

Indira Goswami, with her tremendous love for her motherland, tried to structure a society based on peace by becoming a mediator between the extremists of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA—people in Assam pronounce it as ‘Aalfa’) and the Government of India. Thanks to her efforts a peace committee had been formed, but she preferred to call herself an observer rather than a mediator.

Mamoni Baideo’s last rites have been performed in Guwahati today with full state honors. A sense of tremendous pride can only be some consolation in this hour of grief and pain for the Assamese.  

Assamese Music Legend Bhupen Hazarika No More!

We have been born listening to his songs, we grew up with his songs and we are still living with his evergreen songs. He is a way of life for the people of Assam, a state in North East India, and he has been an integral part of their existence. The golden voice of Dr. Bhupen Hazarika has ceased today after a span of over sixty years. The people of Assam and also of India, particularly West Bengal, have now to accept this fact.

He has been a singer par excellence, a top class lyricist, a writer-journalist, a music director and a filmmaker. His songs are characterized by unique literary words, phrases and expressions. He has shown that melody can still be kept with complex literary words of the highest order. It has always been a pleasure to try singing his songs because of the complex yet beautiful lyrical compositions. His lyrics and tunes have the earthy native fragrance of the land he belonged to. He has been the dearest Bhupenda (‘da’ meaning dear elder brother) for all of the people in Assam.

Apart from scores of Assamese songs he also sang Hindi and Bengali songs. He is so popular in Bengal that many Bengalis claim him to belong there. He had also sung an English number of the Leadbelly-Paul Robeson fame ‘We Are in the Same Boat Brother’. In many stage concerts Bhupenda showed his mastery by switching languages effortlessly, that is to say singing the same in different languages.

He had directed Assamese films in various genres in the mid-fifties and also wrote and composed the songs. His foray into Bollywood started in 1973 when he gave music to a Hindi mainstream film ‘Aarop’ directed by Atam Ram. Afterwards he had been the music director for several Kalpana Lajmi movies namely ‘Rudaali’ (1993).

The 85 year old legend Dr. Bhupen Hazarika passed away today afternoon at Kokilaben Dhiru Bhai Ambani hospital in Mumbai. He had been fighting death since June, 2011 and in August recovered almost completely. But his multi-organ dysfunction continued and he was admitted again in October. For the past two days he had been in a critical condition. Finally a grand musical era came to a close at around 4.40 pm today. His body will be taken to Assam maybe tomorrow or day after and the last rites will be performed with full state honors at his hometown Guwahati. 

Our tributes to the Legend. May his great soul attain eternal musical bliss!

Ghazal King Jagjit Singh (1941-2011) No More!

Today, the 10^th of October, 2011, 8.10am—the end of a momentous musical era. Indian Ghazal king Jagjit Singh breathed his last at a Mumbai hospital following a brain hemorrhage he suffered on September 23. He had been put on life supporting system and though there were signs of improvements in between death prevailed finally.

Jagjit Singh had a strong, soulful, filling and soothing voice supported by powerful melody that lingered in the auditorium and on the spellbound listeners. Along with his singer wife Chitra Singh Jagjit Singh created his own Ghazal genre that almost matched the popularity of the film music genre. His forays into playback singing and music direction for several mainstream Hindi movies and television serials heightened his music’s mass appeal even further. The singer-composer couple also created history in Indian music by using the first ever digital multi-track recording for their CD Beyond Time (1987)—India’s first digitally recorded album.

We did our school and college days getting to know his voice and his music. The Unforgettables (1975), the first Jagjit –Chitra Singh album to release in India and a huge commercial success—is still unforgettable and nostalgic for us. We came to love and grow with Ghazals thanks to Jagjit Singh. Ghazal, a complex and poetic musical form in Urdu language having its Arabic origins, had been simplified by Jagjit Singh with the inclusion of easy lyrics and modern musical instruments to increase its mass appeal. His commanding voice and infusion of melody revived an almost dying genre. Despite having the greats like Begum Akhter, Mehdi Hasan, Talat Mahmood and Ghulam Ali as contemporaries his music kept on growing more and more popular except for raising a few puritan and critical eyebrows initially.

Jagjit Singh had a sense of pain and melancholy in his voice that got more acute after his only son died in a tragic road accident in Mumbai in 1990. Though he fell silent for six months after the tragedy, this melancholy enriched his voice further making it more touching and appealing. He had left behind a huge body of work behind in a career spanning five decades and 80 albums. His concerts had been regular in different parts of India and abroad. He was to perform in Mumbai with Ghulam Ali on the day he was taken ill and hospitalized, never to return to stage ever.

We deeply mourn this great loss to Indian music and the Ghazal genre.

Tributes to Tiger Pataudi: India’s Great Cricket Captain

Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, arguably India’s greatest cricket captain who led India during 1961-75, passed away this evening in a New Delhi hospital after a prolonged and incurable lung disease. He was 70.

Just before he made his debut for the Indian cricket team in 1961 Pataudi met with a car accident and lost vision completely in his right eye. But with great determination and courage he went ahead and played for India till 1975 making 6 centuries and 16 half centuries. After playing only four cricket tests he was made India’s skipper in 1962 at the young age of 21. Though under him India won only 9 out of 46 tests he led India to the first ever series win abroad when India beat New Zealand 3-1 in 1967. Pataudi was known for bold leadership qualities, agility in the field, powerful batting display, all-round abilities and of course, very good looks and posture. He was properly nicknamed ‘Tiger’ by the India cricket fraternity.

Nostalgic memories are rushing to my mind. We never saw him play cricket as television was not even heard of in our region. As little children crazy for cricket we got glued to radio commentaries when India was playing. We used to get excited by his boundaries and comments on his leadership. We saw his pictures in newspapers and were thoroughly impressed by his hero image. We knew that he was blind in one eye, but we were told that his right eye was of marble which we believed sincerely and always scrutinized the pictures for ‘marble eye’ details. Everything combined, Pataudi influenced us greatly and he remained with us as a cricket hero.

After his retirement in 1975 he was not continuously associated with cricket. He did stints now and then as match referee or commentator. Just about a month ago he appeared in an Indian new channel invited to expert comment on Team India’s English nightmare. He still looked majestic, but something seemed to hold him back.

Tiger Pataudi married famous leading lady of Indian cinema of the sixties-seventies, Sharmila Tagore, in 1969 and so he continued to be in media limelight. His son Saif Ali Khan is a top Bollywood (Hindi Film Industry)  hero and his first daughter Soha Ali Khan is also an acclaimed film actor. 

We deeply mourn the demise of a great personality. Tiger Pataudi will remain in our hearts always. 

Shammi Kapoor: Homage to a Hero!

Singing and dancing, restless with bubbling energy-- Shammi Kapoor, the romantic hero of Hindi cinema of the fifties and sixties finally calls it a day. We saw him, loved him and adored him since our birth. We, my generation, literally lived with him. His mere presence on the silver screen was a boost up, a flash of positive energy and sheer entertainment for us. Singing fun songs of Mohmd Rafi Shammi Kapoor is still a treat for us. After leaving acting he got busy with many projects not necessarily films. He was busy till the last minute, though his health has been failing for quite a few years. Today the great actor breathed his last at Breach Candy Hospital, Mumbai.

We salute the great hero and the greatest entertainer. May his noble soul be blessed.

Keep loving him and his evergreen movies.

Mani Kaul (1944-2011): Ode To A Great Indian Filmmaker

Mani Kaul was one of the pioneering Indian filmmakers who contributed to the evolution of Parallel Cinema in India. Trained in the Film and Television Institute of India Pune, when Ritwik Ghatak was the chairman, Mani Kaul took cinema as an intricate method of expression. His Uski Roti (1969) was a revolution in Indian cinema bringing in an intellectual and intuitive approach to film-making (Filmfare critics award, 1971). Instead of obvious portrayal of emotions he made the audience study and understand every frame of his creations. If you are not attentive you may soon lose the thread of the narrative.

Rooted to realism Mani Kaul could hardly differentiate between his masterful features and documentaries. He won his first National Award for his feature ‘Duvidha’ in 1974 for Best Direction and won his second for his documentary ‘Siddheswari’ in 1989 for Best Documentary. His musical masterpiece ‘Dhrupad’ (1982) showed his deep understanding of Indian music and rigorous training under a guru. With profound understanding of life he also took the bold step of adopting Fydor Dostoevsky’s ‘The Idiot’ (1992) as a Hindi television serial and later a film for which he got the Filmfare critics award, 1993. In all, he got four Filmfare Critics Awards.

I met him several times when he was associating in the organization of the first and second Bombay International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films (now MIFF) during 1990-92. Last time I met him on a long drive which was also several years ago. His liberated mind and sense of humor made him great company, always.

His death at 66 marks the end of an era. Maybe an incomplete one. Mani Kaul died at New Delhi in the early hours of 6^th July, 2011 after a prolonged illness. We condole the demise of a great filmmaker and pray for the eternal bliss of his soul.

Demise of a Spiritual Guru and Birthday of a Legend!

It may be a quirk of nature that it had to be the same day, the 24th of April, 2011.

Tearful condolences to Shri Sathya Sai Baba, a spiritual institution working from Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh, India having followers all over the world, who passed away this morning after being in hospital for over a month. Millions of devotees are paying homage tearfully--devotees from all walks of life irrespective of religious beliefs. Millions are expected to come to offer prayers to his mortal remains at his Ashram Prashanti Nilayam. His mortal remains will be kept for this purpose till Tuesday, the 26th. In this sad moment there are many questions as to who will succeed his spiritual empire covering 114 countries or who will now be the spiritual guide for millions having qualifications to match his Avatar status or what will happen to the charity institutions and his billions of rupees of properties. Hope all will be well.

And, for cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar his 38th birthday today began on a sad note. The legend had been a devoted follower of Sathya Sai and only yesterday he wanted his blessings and prayed for his speedy recovery.

Sachin has decided not to celebrate his birthday. Naturally so. Plus he also has an IPL match to play today.

But the millions of the legend's followers all over the world are not going sit quiet. Many of them will definitely be mutually inclusive. They will have a soulful celebration with prayers and best of wishes. We can only say that Saithya Sai being a part of God will be anyway with everybody including Sachin and His blessings can still be sought. Wishing Happy Birthday to a legend is only human. Happy Birthday Sachin, keep it flying high.

Nature has her ways. Always.