Friday, 27 May 2011
Chapter 10 - Author's note
Story writing is truly a pleasure, and only the ones writing it can relate to the pleasure it provides you with. I was on the lookout for something that'd inspire for a long time, and finally I did hit upon something. I need to thank Shruthy for all the Rajni talk, it like got me back into Rajni enthu mode, and was one of the main motivating factors behind writing this up. Also need to thank Shre, guy from France was more enthu about reading this story, rather than going out and ogling at arbit girls! :P Also, Rak, who wanted a trailer of what I was going to write, so that he could sustain some interest. I hope the interest sustained had been done justice by the storyline. Finally, I'd like to thank KK sir. The storyline dealing mainly with a director and his protege, I would like to dedicate this to the man, who I consider my favorite teacher to date, and someone, as friendly and close a teacher as could ever get! Thank you everyone else who underwent the pain of reading through this fan's dedication to his Thalaivar! :)
Chapter 9
I was at Switzerland. Shashi was in ICU when I had heard before leaving for the Swiss. As I'd already said before, staying there was not an option, as I could not take the pain. Not a day had passed since, when I'd been hoping for his well being, and praying so that he got cured. Apparently there were respiratory, digestive and kidney problems that were plaguing him. The respiratory problems were attributed to the excessive smoking and drinking in his older days. But his habits and spiritual exercises over the last 20 years had kept him in good stead. He needed to be taken care of. A couple of days back, information had been obtained that his son-in-law Ganesh had been selected to receive the national award for Best Actor in a feature film. The Rajat Kamal award had always eluded Shashi. The national record was held by Rajeev, a four time awardee, but Shashi's missing out was in some way compensated by Ganesh's achievement. Nevertheless,it wasn't celebrated owing to Shashi's health condition.
As I was googling up in Switzerland, I saw that I had received an e-mail. It was a picture of Shashi with Shwetha in the attachment section, Shashi looking extremely healthy. Apparently it was a picture with the maximum hits in Google India over the previous hour. It gave me immense pleasure, and the mail said that he was going to Singapore for further treatment. I sent him a reply, wishing him the best for his treatment, and blessing him for a successful return with a cured health.
Sometimes, our memories point out to some people, some people who made life special. No significant exchanges might have occurred with them, but the few memories we share with them might be almost enough to last a lifetime. Shashi is someone who started out as a protege of mine, and ended up even beyond the stars, but nevertheless, he is someone who deserves every bit of that, for the Superstar of a human being he is!
As I was googling up in Switzerland, I saw that I had received an e-mail. It was a picture of Shashi with Shwetha in the attachment section, Shashi looking extremely healthy. Apparently it was a picture with the maximum hits in Google India over the previous hour. It gave me immense pleasure, and the mail said that he was going to Singapore for further treatment. I sent him a reply, wishing him the best for his treatment, and blessing him for a successful return with a cured health.
Sometimes, our memories point out to some people, some people who made life special. No significant exchanges might have occurred with them, but the few memories we share with them might be almost enough to last a lifetime. Shashi is someone who started out as a protege of mine, and ended up even beyond the stars, but nevertheless, he is someone who deserves every bit of that, for the Superstar of a human being he is!
Chapter 8
I had fallen into tough times. The film about the seer Raghavendra was made around 7 years earlier, and I had hence made only 3 successful films. Direction had taken a backseat with me concentrating more on production. Finally, I decided to make and produce an offbeat film based on a lady protagonist struggling against all odds, and the world of masculine domination, sleaze and so on. But, the film bombed and I was left a pauper. The word reached Shashi, and he immediately offered to do a film produced by me. He was a huge star, and I couldn't afford to pay him anymore, but he offered to do the film for a rupee. The film, a revenge saga, one about the broken friendship and broken trust, of a rich heir to a chain hotels, and a poor milkman, was the biggest hit in his career, and it placed me right at the top again. It ran for a phenomenal 250 days in theatres, with crowds thronging through out. He had bailed me out of a serious problem. Soon, we followed it up with another film, about a servant to a royal family, who was the actual heir to the royalty, which I again produced, and he had made me richer once again. In the process, his fame was spreading left, right and centre. He made fans in Japan through this movie, as they were attracted a specific dance movement in the film. This was a megahit, and he followed it up with a film, one which none of his fans would forget ever, something so phenomenal that it broke the very records of theatres, the story of a Don turned auto driver, a good samaritan to the public, whose past is buried deep in his heart, and whose collections broke all box office records.
This film catapulted him to dizzy heights, running for 350 days to packed houses in theatres. Following this, each time he came on screen, which happened only once in 3 to 5 years, it turned out to be a bonaza for his fans. Movies were welcomed with huge cutouts of their hero outside the theatre entrance, and milk "abhishekams" being done, and dialogues being greeted with whistles and hoots, and first day first shows of his films becoming affairs of national importance, so to be covered by the media. Movies of wholesome entertainment, like stuff where someone has to spend 30 crore rupees in 30 days, to stuff like a guy being almost tricked into 2 marriages, and then talking the wives into compromising, were his forte.
Then for five years, he didn't act. His dialogues started attaining political prominence. Elections were decided on his vote, and his campaign of word. His fans and other contemporaries were urging him to join politics. After all, in Tamil Nadu, politics and the film industry had a very deep common history, and is so on to date. But, he always refuted the claim that he was going to enter politics. So, finally after five years, he acted on a film of his own script, which dealt with a whole lot of spirituality, and though was not a superhit by his standards, was met with moderate responses by the audience. People began to write him off, when he came back. He remade a story from Kannada, about a Bharatanatyam dancer's execution by her king husband after he gets to know about the affair of his wife with her ex-lover, and the dancer's attempt to take revenge through a couple who comes and lives in the palace some 150 years later. The movie was another of the many landmark movies in his career. The movie broke the record for a Tamil movie to be screened in a theatre for the maximum number of days, and went on to be screened in a single theatre for 729 days. Soon, he did a movie with a leading director of the times around 4 years ago, at a whopping budget of 76 crores, and the film, about an NRI, turning vigilante and destroying corruption in the city, giving more to his fans to cheer about. Soon, I produced a movie based on his friendship with Ravindra. The movie was a flop for his standards, but his acting was way too exemplary, and it won over one and all. Following that, he again acted in India's costliest film, this time at an unbelievable 150 crores, a science fiction attempt, about a professor and his android robot which turns evil after some destructive coding, which was received with a lot of fanfare, and turned out to be a massive hit, and also an acclaimed film. He had received his due for acting wonderfully well, and for taking some sort of an educative film to the masses. He was gearing up for a next film, a period film, when he had fainted this morning, and was admitted to the hospital, on arriving where, he had lost all consciousness.
This film catapulted him to dizzy heights, running for 350 days to packed houses in theatres. Following this, each time he came on screen, which happened only once in 3 to 5 years, it turned out to be a bonaza for his fans. Movies were welcomed with huge cutouts of their hero outside the theatre entrance, and milk "abhishekams" being done, and dialogues being greeted with whistles and hoots, and first day first shows of his films becoming affairs of national importance, so to be covered by the media. Movies of wholesome entertainment, like stuff where someone has to spend 30 crore rupees in 30 days, to stuff like a guy being almost tricked into 2 marriages, and then talking the wives into compromising, were his forte.
Then for five years, he didn't act. His dialogues started attaining political prominence. Elections were decided on his vote, and his campaign of word. His fans and other contemporaries were urging him to join politics. After all, in Tamil Nadu, politics and the film industry had a very deep common history, and is so on to date. But, he always refuted the claim that he was going to enter politics. So, finally after five years, he acted on a film of his own script, which dealt with a whole lot of spirituality, and though was not a superhit by his standards, was met with moderate responses by the audience. People began to write him off, when he came back. He remade a story from Kannada, about a Bharatanatyam dancer's execution by her king husband after he gets to know about the affair of his wife with her ex-lover, and the dancer's attempt to take revenge through a couple who comes and lives in the palace some 150 years later. The movie was another of the many landmark movies in his career. The movie broke the record for a Tamil movie to be screened in a theatre for the maximum number of days, and went on to be screened in a single theatre for 729 days. Soon, he did a movie with a leading director of the times around 4 years ago, at a whopping budget of 76 crores, and the film, about an NRI, turning vigilante and destroying corruption in the city, giving more to his fans to cheer about. Soon, I produced a movie based on his friendship with Ravindra. The movie was a flop for his standards, but his acting was way too exemplary, and it won over one and all. Following that, he again acted in India's costliest film, this time at an unbelievable 150 crores, a science fiction attempt, about a professor and his android robot which turns evil after some destructive coding, which was received with a lot of fanfare, and turned out to be a massive hit, and also an acclaimed film. He had received his due for acting wonderfully well, and for taking some sort of an educative film to the masses. He was gearing up for a next film, a period film, when he had fainted this morning, and was admitted to the hospital, on arriving where, he had lost all consciousness.
Chapter 7
His second innings had begun well. I was working on the remake of a Hindi movie for the first time in my career. The story was simply very compelling and I'd decided to make it. Rajeev was my first choice, as he was a wonderful actor, and could excel comical roles. But, after what had happened to Shashi, I wanted him to do a light subject, something that would rejuvenate him also, and that was the motivation behind getting him to do this role. He wasn't sure if he could do comedy, but I compelled him, and told him that he was just the object, and I would be the one behind him, and so he wouldn't need to worry. The story was that of a man, who assumes a dual identity as two brothers, the older one, supposedly the more quiet, disciplined and a clean character guy who works for a extremely strict boss who looks out for principles in every person he encounters, while the younger one, a rogue, who is in love with the daughter of the boss. The movie, was a landmark movie in my life, and was a memorable one for the both of us. The movie was extremely well received by the audience, and he was the talk of the town overnight. During the course of this movie, he introduced me to Rama as the girl he was in love with. Soon, they got married, in a silent affair at Tirupati. The wedding brought about a much needed balance in his life. He was never the same again, he'd suddenly become calm, composed and the new dimension of life had seemed to bring some obvious difference to him.
The following year, I ventured into production, and who better to star in my first production. Shashi did a dual role of a playboy father, and a disciplinarian son in the film, and delivering superhits had become a habit by now. Soon afterwards, I produced a movie, for which he came up with the screenplay. I went through the bound copy to realise that the story was that of saint Raghavendra. The guy had come back to show his thankfulness, and to spread the greatness of the seer, through the far reaching medium of cinema! I was initially skeptical about a mythological movie working with the relatively modern audience, but then his star power would do the trick for me. The movie, which also turned out to be his 100th, where he did the role of the seer Raghavendra, was a landmark film as it got my production company rolling big and strong. Very soon, he was hailed all over as a star par excellence, delivering long strings of successes. One of the tamil magazine articles called him a "superstar" and the tag stuck. He had become the numero uno, the Superstar of the tamil film industry.
The following year, I ventured into production, and who better to star in my first production. Shashi did a dual role of a playboy father, and a disciplinarian son in the film, and delivering superhits had become a habit by now. Soon afterwards, I produced a movie, for which he came up with the screenplay. I went through the bound copy to realise that the story was that of saint Raghavendra. The guy had come back to show his thankfulness, and to spread the greatness of the seer, through the far reaching medium of cinema! I was initially skeptical about a mythological movie working with the relatively modern audience, but then his star power would do the trick for me. The movie, which also turned out to be his 100th, where he did the role of the seer Raghavendra, was a landmark film as it got my production company rolling big and strong. Very soon, he was hailed all over as a star par excellence, delivering long strings of successes. One of the tamil magazine articles called him a "superstar" and the tag stuck. He had become the numero uno, the Superstar of the tamil film industry.
Thursday, 26 May 2011
Chapter 6
He had been nearly hopeless. I moved with him for all his movie shoots, lest he does something stupid on the sets. The 26 movies were completed, and he was not signing any other movies. I started taking him to a lot of temples, where he could try to obtain some peace of mind. He would blankly stare and the idol, and after sometime, ask me if we could leave. One of these days, we went to the Sri Raghavendra temple at Triplicane. Within a few minutes of entering the temple, one could see a drastic change in him. His eyes closed, mind fixed on meditation, and the calmness his face exuded, was something I hadn't seen in months. Something told me this guy was going to be fine, and he was going to be better than ever. After that day, he gave up on drinking. Chain smoking was difficult to give up, but he reduced it drastically. He visited the Raghavendra temple everyday, and spent an hour there. Within a few days, the chance for career to be back on track was obtained. There came the script of a movie, in which the hero was a replica of a dreaded underworld don, and he goes into the den of the criminals to come out with information about the don's activities, and gets caught there due to circumstances. He came to me with the story, asking me if he could get back to acting. I told him that if he felt cool about his body conditions, and if he felt confident about getting back and going the distance, he might very well get back to acting. The movie was a watershed. Wiping box office records, the man was on sight again, fans thronged the theatres, and the march was on again.
Soon, offers started pouring again. This time, a bit of parallel cinema too. A storyline of a man who lives all his youth for his brothers and sisters, who ditch him when he needs their help, and then grows up to become a great writer, only to find his brothers and sisters coming back to him, by when fortunately he has put life in the right perspective. The thing about Shashi was, even parallel cinema was a big hit with him, in a country like India where commercial rules the roost! Another film showcasing his acting skills, was one where he was a husband, whose wife ran away because he was a poor guy, in an impulsive decision, and both of them living the rest of their life repenting the action of hers, and unable to obtain the nod of the society for her forgiving. These established him as an actor par excellence.
I was starting to feel the urge to work with him again. It was nearly ten years since I last did, and it was for a film in Singapore, where Rajeev and Shashi were part of a music band, and Rajeev was the protagonist, with Shashi just being a sidekick. I wanted to make a movie exploiting an unexplored side of Shashi, something for which he would later be hailed universally apart from his style, comedy!
Soon, offers started pouring again. This time, a bit of parallel cinema too. A storyline of a man who lives all his youth for his brothers and sisters, who ditch him when he needs their help, and then grows up to become a great writer, only to find his brothers and sisters coming back to him, by when fortunately he has put life in the right perspective. The thing about Shashi was, even parallel cinema was a big hit with him, in a country like India where commercial rules the roost! Another film showcasing his acting skills, was one where he was a husband, whose wife ran away because he was a poor guy, in an impulsive decision, and both of them living the rest of their life repenting the action of hers, and unable to obtain the nod of the society for her forgiving. These established him as an actor par excellence.
I was starting to feel the urge to work with him again. It was nearly ten years since I last did, and it was for a film in Singapore, where Rajeev and Shashi were part of a music band, and Rajeev was the protagonist, with Shashi just being a sidekick. I wanted to make a movie exploiting an unexplored side of Shashi, something for which he would later be hailed universally apart from his style, comedy!
Chapter 5
With this, I got back out of the memories. It had started raining. Also, the car was blocked due to very heavy traffic. There were fan club demonstrations everywhere. Fans thronging to temples. Shashi, I didn't know if he had god by his side or not, but definitely his fans were always by his side. Special prayers were arranged in the temples. Many from the film fraternity were participating in them too. The directors association had arranged for a meeting to be held tomorrow. I had already been messaged, asking to preside over the function. I didn't know whether to feel happy about the amount of love the people and the industry showered on Shashi, or to feel sad about the present state of affairs.
The car slowly trudged towards the Apollo hospital. I got out amidst all the commotion, and made my way towards the ICU. There I met Rama, Shashi's wife, his daughters Shwetha and Ragini, and Shwetha's husband, popular youth icon and actor Ganesh. Ganesh took me into the ICU, and beyond the entrance, I went on, moving towards the bed. The protege of mine lay motionless. The very guy, one who would talk, and walk with a penchant for speed, someone whose speed had formed an identity for itself, and someone who was constantly associated with the idea of motion, was lying there, motionless. I saw him, my old body couldn't take more. I could feel the wetness in my eyes, and I did not want the family of Shashi see this old man, break down helplessly. I went upto Shashi, and caressed his forehead, as I had done nearly twenty five years ago, during the event of his mental imbalance. As thoughts clouded my mind, and tears clouded my eyes, unable to stay there any longer, I made my way to the car, on the way telling Ganesh, that all will soon be well. I said it, but I didn't know how much I believed in it. Until, I got into my car. As I got into my car, a procession of saint Raghavendra's idol was going on just outside the hospital. I gained extreme confidence, as I felt, saint Raghavendra had come to bail us out, exactly as he had done twenty five years ago!
The car slowly trudged towards the Apollo hospital. I got out amidst all the commotion, and made my way towards the ICU. There I met Rama, Shashi's wife, his daughters Shwetha and Ragini, and Shwetha's husband, popular youth icon and actor Ganesh. Ganesh took me into the ICU, and beyond the entrance, I went on, moving towards the bed. The protege of mine lay motionless. The very guy, one who would talk, and walk with a penchant for speed, someone whose speed had formed an identity for itself, and someone who was constantly associated with the idea of motion, was lying there, motionless. I saw him, my old body couldn't take more. I could feel the wetness in my eyes, and I did not want the family of Shashi see this old man, break down helplessly. I went upto Shashi, and caressed his forehead, as I had done nearly twenty five years ago, during the event of his mental imbalance. As thoughts clouded my mind, and tears clouded my eyes, unable to stay there any longer, I made my way to the car, on the way telling Ganesh, that all will soon be well. I said it, but I didn't know how much I believed in it. Until, I got into my car. As I got into my car, a procession of saint Raghavendra's idol was going on just outside the hospital. I gained extreme confidence, as I felt, saint Raghavendra had come to bail us out, exactly as he had done twenty five years ago!
Chapter 4
Twenty five movies in a year, for two consecutive years. Though he wasn't the lead actor in all of the movies, that was way too many movies for someone to act in a single year. There were actors in the past who'd done so many movies in a year, but the times were just changing, and the work that went into a single movie was way more! The pressure was high. I hadn't made too many movies with Shashi in that period, as my journey in parallel cinema was going deeper and stronger, and I was making steady progress in that direction with Rajeev. I had introduced Shashi as a style icon, and he was making very rapid progress in that direction. But from the little I met him in that period, he generally seemed a very tired man. He had become a chain smoker. He once told me he couldn't sleep without drinking at least a peg of whiskey.
All this worried me, and in spite of some stupendous performances from him, it was his health which constantly worried me. One day, I got a call from his office, saying he'd generally thrown out of the window the bound scripts of a couple of movies which were placed on his table. He had become unusually furious and was shouting at everyone in the office. His tone had seemed menacing, and he seemed drunk. Shashi never usually drank in the mornings, I knew that much, and if he'd done that, something was definitely going wrong. When I got into the room, he wasn't ready to meet me. He sounded scared, and warned me from entering the room. When I did enter though, he threw a couple of marble statues at me, one which hurt me on the hand, and then broke down, tears flowing down his cheeks. I went up to him, and gave him my lap to lie down, and patted him till he slept. As soon as he slept, I called up a psychologist, and had him admitted at Apollo. They diagnosed him, and told me that he had lost much of his mental balance. All he needed was some time for himself, and a lot of mental peace.
Following that, I took him in my wings once again, and he lived with me for the next two years. But, I even I had lost belief. The guy had just lost, and recovery seemed a far way away, would he ever make it again?
All this worried me, and in spite of some stupendous performances from him, it was his health which constantly worried me. One day, I got a call from his office, saying he'd generally thrown out of the window the bound scripts of a couple of movies which were placed on his table. He had become unusually furious and was shouting at everyone in the office. His tone had seemed menacing, and he seemed drunk. Shashi never usually drank in the mornings, I knew that much, and if he'd done that, something was definitely going wrong. When I got into the room, he wasn't ready to meet me. He sounded scared, and warned me from entering the room. When I did enter though, he threw a couple of marble statues at me, one which hurt me on the hand, and then broke down, tears flowing down his cheeks. I went up to him, and gave him my lap to lie down, and patted him till he slept. As soon as he slept, I called up a psychologist, and had him admitted at Apollo. They diagnosed him, and told me that he had lost much of his mental balance. All he needed was some time for himself, and a lot of mental peace.
Following that, I took him in my wings once again, and he lived with me for the next two years. But, I even I had lost belief. The guy had just lost, and recovery seemed a far way away, would he ever make it again?
Wednesday, 25 May 2011
Chapter 3
The screen test was the most satisfying I ever conducted. The guy was a novice at acting. But his face was extremely suited for the large screen. It immediately struck me, that this guy was going to make it big someday. I gave him a couple of opportunities at showcasing some of his style contents. The whistle incident had stayed in my mind ever since I'd seen him flip it. I had other ideas with it. I gave him a cigarette and asked him to flip it into his mouth, following which I asked him to improvise. Being a chain smoker myself, I knew that cigarettes were something that connected instantly to the youth. He flipped the cigarette into the mouth, and then in a manner of improvising, took the entire filter into the mouth, and after a second brought it out letting it out with the smoke. Style was redefined, or so I felt. This was a definite scene in my next film, I decided.
After the photo shoot, and the screen test, I enrolled him in for a three month course at my acting school, following which I promised him a role in my next movie. He happily took the offer, and on that day, I renamed him to the film world as Shashi Kumar. Three months later, I took him into the Tamil movie, where Rajeev was playing the hero, and was romancing a lady older than him, whose daughter, ironically his dad was romancing at the same time. There was a minor role of a terminal cancer patient-husband of Rajeev's romantic interest in the film, in which I cast Shashi. The most unideal start for an upcoming artiste, Shashi walked in through the gates of a bungalow, fully drunk, in the very first scene of his onscreen journey. Who would have wondered, that this inauspicious debutant would go places soon! Film offers started pouring in for Shashi. I gave him a role of an abusive husband in another of my woman-centric films. Very soon, he did two films with Rajeev and a leading actress of the times, Chandni. One, where Rajeev was a village simpleton, Chandni his educated love interest, and Shashi, a village ruffian who Rajeev kills in the end for trying to rape Chandni. The movie got Rajeev awards, and Shashi a lot of accolades for his acting and style. The next one, my personal favourite, was a story about a couple Chandni and Rajeev in love, and Shashi who loves Chandni, killing Rajeev and making it seem like an accident. But very soon, Chandni gets married to Shashi's father, and slowly avenges the death of her beloved. Extremely impressed by Shashi's acting, I sent him an appreciative letter, telling him how proud I was to have introduced him into the industry.
Soon, by the end of that year, Shashi was loaded with film offers. He had many new time directors asking him to be a hero. He almost invariably acted with Rajeev in all his movies during this period. This was around the period when the success on his head became too much for him to bear, and he almost succumbed to it.
After the photo shoot, and the screen test, I enrolled him in for a three month course at my acting school, following which I promised him a role in my next movie. He happily took the offer, and on that day, I renamed him to the film world as Shashi Kumar. Three months later, I took him into the Tamil movie, where Rajeev was playing the hero, and was romancing a lady older than him, whose daughter, ironically his dad was romancing at the same time. There was a minor role of a terminal cancer patient-husband of Rajeev's romantic interest in the film, in which I cast Shashi. The most unideal start for an upcoming artiste, Shashi walked in through the gates of a bungalow, fully drunk, in the very first scene of his onscreen journey. Who would have wondered, that this inauspicious debutant would go places soon! Film offers started pouring in for Shashi. I gave him a role of an abusive husband in another of my woman-centric films. Very soon, he did two films with Rajeev and a leading actress of the times, Chandni. One, where Rajeev was a village simpleton, Chandni his educated love interest, and Shashi, a village ruffian who Rajeev kills in the end for trying to rape Chandni. The movie got Rajeev awards, and Shashi a lot of accolades for his acting and style. The next one, my personal favourite, was a story about a couple Chandni and Rajeev in love, and Shashi who loves Chandni, killing Rajeev and making it seem like an accident. But very soon, Chandni gets married to Shashi's father, and slowly avenges the death of her beloved. Extremely impressed by Shashi's acting, I sent him an appreciative letter, telling him how proud I was to have introduced him into the industry.
Soon, by the end of that year, Shashi was loaded with film offers. He had many new time directors asking him to be a hero. He almost invariably acted with Rajeev in all his movies during this period. This was around the period when the success on his head became too much for him to bear, and he almost succumbed to it.
Chapter 2
It was the time of the early seventies. Two decades into the film industry, I was coming of age. As an established director in Tamil cinema, I had a firm footing in the Tamil industry, and was dabbling in Kannada, Telugu and a bit of Hindi cinema. Parallel cinema was picking up in the Indian industry, and I was doing my bit towards it. It was a great time to be a director in the Indian industry, too many unexplored themes. Many controversial, but potential classics nevertheless. I was in Karnataka, and was working on the storyline of a young beautiful woman, who gave up on all her youth on working for the upliftment of her family, which was clouded under the influence of an alcoholic father, an unemployed brother, and amidst all this, she finds love in a caring boss. The film had been a rip-roaring success in Tamil, and I was planing to remake it in Kannada. The role of the unemployed brother in Tamil had been done by a protege of mine, Rajeev Chandran. Rajeev Chandran had been an National-award winning child actor, and after growing up, his drive to enter the industry pushed him in as an assistant director to my films. Seeing his penchant for dancing, and his skills at Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi and Kathak, I used him as the choreographer in a couple of movies. While seeing him emote, and reminded once of his acting histrionics, I decided to cast him in small roles in a few movies of mine. What I saw was some wonderful acting, and he had acted in practically every movie of mine in the last 3 years. This coincided with him slowly climbing the ladder of acting stardom, and I was convinced he was the next big thing to happen to Indian cinema. But for the Kannada version, I was looking for a change of cast, and for names that could be more identifiable with the Kannada audience.
In this juncture, I got into a bus. It was the Rajkumar era of Kannada cinema, and I could hear "Yaare Koogadali" from a nearby tea stall. Wonderful song, sung by the great actor I thought. The bus was crowded and I took the last seat. The conductor, a dark, lean man, extremely fast in talking and moving, in a matter of minutes, distributed tickets across the extremely crowded bus, and was at me in a jiffy. "Elli saar?", he asked. "Onnu Majestic", said I. "Tamila saar. It is ondhu here", with a smile on his face. I didn't know why, but he was definitely not the run-of-the-mill guy you meet everyday. There was something extremely attractive about him. Extremely charismatic guy. Then he did something, something which told me the genius that this guy was. The bus had to stop, and he flipped in one stroke, the whistle from behind his hand, straight to his mouth, and man, was it stylish! I'd not seen someone do that before. And in one stroke, he blew the whistle, the bus stopping with a screech.
He went on his usual ticket giving spree and was back in a couple of minutes. I asked him if he had seen "Andha Penn". He told me he did, thrice in the theatre, but did not understand much because of the Tamil involved in it. Though, apparently he loved it. I told him it was my film. He could not believe it, and it took me some convincing to make him believe. For the next fifteen minutes, he was asking me for a chance to act in one of my movies, and wanted to appear for a screen test. I asked him to come to Chennai, and appear for a screen test. Before taking leave, I got his name, which was Raghavendra Rao.
Raghavendra had a close friend, Ravindra Gadde, the driver of the bus in which he was the conductor. Raghavendra, who hailed from a very poor family, couldn't afford a ticket to travel to Chennai. Ravindra, who stood by Raghavendra in his desire to make it big in the film industry, gave him 700 rupees, a month's salary of his, to get started with a career in Chennai. Raghavendra, with those 700 rupees in hand, came to meet me, on the day of Holi, Guru Poornima that year, and embarked on a journey where he'd never be the same again!
In this juncture, I got into a bus. It was the Rajkumar era of Kannada cinema, and I could hear "Yaare Koogadali" from a nearby tea stall. Wonderful song, sung by the great actor I thought. The bus was crowded and I took the last seat. The conductor, a dark, lean man, extremely fast in talking and moving, in a matter of minutes, distributed tickets across the extremely crowded bus, and was at me in a jiffy. "Elli saar?", he asked. "Onnu Majestic", said I. "Tamila saar. It is ondhu here", with a smile on his face. I didn't know why, but he was definitely not the run-of-the-mill guy you meet everyday. There was something extremely attractive about him. Extremely charismatic guy. Then he did something, something which told me the genius that this guy was. The bus had to stop, and he flipped in one stroke, the whistle from behind his hand, straight to his mouth, and man, was it stylish! I'd not seen someone do that before. And in one stroke, he blew the whistle, the bus stopping with a screech.
He went on his usual ticket giving spree and was back in a couple of minutes. I asked him if he had seen "Andha Penn". He told me he did, thrice in the theatre, but did not understand much because of the Tamil involved in it. Though, apparently he loved it. I told him it was my film. He could not believe it, and it took me some convincing to make him believe. For the next fifteen minutes, he was asking me for a chance to act in one of my movies, and wanted to appear for a screen test. I asked him to come to Chennai, and appear for a screen test. Before taking leave, I got his name, which was Raghavendra Rao.
Raghavendra had a close friend, Ravindra Gadde, the driver of the bus in which he was the conductor. Raghavendra, who hailed from a very poor family, couldn't afford a ticket to travel to Chennai. Ravindra, who stood by Raghavendra in his desire to make it big in the film industry, gave him 700 rupees, a month's salary of his, to get started with a career in Chennai. Raghavendra, with those 700 rupees in hand, came to meet me, on the day of Holi, Guru Poornima that year, and embarked on a journey where he'd never be the same again!
Chapter 1
It was a sober morning. The sky was cloudy, but it didn't really seem like it'll rain. Something about the whole day was uneasy. I was sipping my coffee, and flipping through the pages of The Hindu. I had just returned from shooting at Munnar, one of my favorite shooting spots, and it was one of those days when I was just going to laze about. Five decades in the cinema industry, and a few great movies, more than hundred on which I've wielded the megaphone, many valuable discoveries to the industry, and a Dadasaheb Palke award to my credit, I had seen quite a lot in life, and I always attributed my achievements to the idea looking at the new things life had given to me. A plethora of things it had offered me, and with where I'd ended up, I must say, I'd done quite a good job with them.
As I got up to move into the bath, the telephone rang. I generally had my calls attended by my manager at the office in the ground floor, and only the more important calls were redirected to me. My wife attended the call, and called to me in an alarmed tone. It sent a few goosebump waves through me! Premonitions I tell you, something was definitely wrong. I went to pick up the nearest phone. To say the news was upsetting, is an understatement. I immediately found my eyes clouded with tears. I immediately called for my driver to get the car ready. In fifteen minutes, I was heading to the Apollo hospital.
As I got into the car, I recalled the words I heard over the phone call. The voice had said, "Superstar is critically ill. He has been admitted in the Apollo ICU." I told the voice that I was coming immediately, and disconnected the line. As I got into the car, my mind raced back in time, to that day, forty years ago, when if I were permitted to brag a bit, I had taken with both hands the opportunity to rewrite Tamil cinema and done it with so much elegance!
As I got up to move into the bath, the telephone rang. I generally had my calls attended by my manager at the office in the ground floor, and only the more important calls were redirected to me. My wife attended the call, and called to me in an alarmed tone. It sent a few goosebump waves through me! Premonitions I tell you, something was definitely wrong. I went to pick up the nearest phone. To say the news was upsetting, is an understatement. I immediately found my eyes clouded with tears. I immediately called for my driver to get the car ready. In fifteen minutes, I was heading to the Apollo hospital.
As I got into the car, I recalled the words I heard over the phone call. The voice had said, "Superstar is critically ill. He has been admitted in the Apollo ICU." I told the voice that I was coming immediately, and disconnected the line. As I got into the car, my mind raced back in time, to that day, forty years ago, when if I were permitted to brag a bit, I had taken with both hands the opportunity to rewrite Tamil cinema and done it with so much elegance!
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