Sahir Ludhianvi (A Magician of Words) ~ by : Niilesh A Raje

Sahir Ludhianvi (A Magician of Words)

by ~ Niilesh A Raje

The Eighth Day of March reminds me of the day when women across the world are busy and occupied celebrating the International Women's Day. An occasion to honor the women for their hard work and achievements coupled with benchmark of success. The Women’s Day celebration also reminds me about the birthday of an eminent personality, popular Hindi lyricist and songwriter Sahir Ludhianvi (original name Abdul Hayee) who was also born on 08th March 1921 into a wealthy family.

Early Days

Sahir’s father had named him as Abdul Hayee not out of love but out of hatred for his neighbour whose name was also the same (Abdul Hayee). Sahir’s father (an illiterate) always believed that he was the only son of a wealthy landlord. So why should his son take up good education or job that did not add any value at all. On the contrary his mother firmly believed that Sahir should go in for higher education so that he would be able to earn his own livelihood. When Sahir was in his early teens his parents separated. He opted to leave behind the aristocratic life that he was enjoying when his parents were together and the struggle for finances slowly started to begin now post his parent’s separation. Sahir stayed with his mother till the end.

Matters Of The Heart

Sahir (meaning magician) as the name suggests he was truly a magician of words who spent over 30 years of his life associated with Bollywood, wrote over 680 songs for over 100 movies. He had captivated the heart of several women during his life time through the power of written words but always failed in the matters of the heart not once but couple of times. He was lucky to fall in love but couldn't be happier and remained bachelor all his life. His intense love affair was with Amrita Pritam who became his most ardent fan.

There was a time when Sahir's economic position was weak and owning a house was next to impossible. When Sahir was courting Amrita Pritam, he built a taller house in front of Amrita's residence in Ludhiana to prove to her father that today even he could afford to have his own house. Statement is a fallacy derived from the Hindi film Tere Ghar Ke Samne.

Shayar of All Times

While in college Sahir had established his reputation for being a good writer, wrote fiery speeches and was equally popular for his ghazals and nazms. Sahir was a restless person and could not sit in one place for long. It was evident he had the literary talent but that could not give him stability so he decided to contribute his work for Bollywood in a way to give him financial stability.

The initial days of struggle still continued in Bollywood for Sahir for a couple of years but later he created some of the most popular songs ever. Some of his everlasting songs included, Yeh raat yeh chandni phir kahan, Jayento Jayen Kahan, Jaane who kaise log the jinke pyaar ko pyar mila.

His thoughts seen in Kabhi Kabhie: "Main pal do pal ka shayar hoon . . . Pal do pal meri kahani hai. Masaruf zamana mere liye kyon waqt apna barbad kare" (I'm a poet for a second or two . . . why would the busy world waste its time on me). These words pretty much gives the audience his approach to life.

Sahir’s work gave him fame, money, rewards and recognition but that did not help him find a life partner with whom he could settle down in life. He encountered several beautiful women on his roads to achievements but most of them backed out when it came to giving marriage commitment. Sahir fell in love several times but those relationships never culminated into marriage. In fact he enjoyed his failures in love. He wrote poems as a tribute to his lost loves.

Even today, he is well remembered for his poems than for his loves. ‘Chalo ek baar phir se ajnabee ban jaaye hum dono’were Sahir’s feelings into words when he spotted his estranged lady love Sudha Malhotra at a party. The same was immortalized by B R Chopra in his film, Gumraah. Today’s generation of songs may bore listeners after a week of their production whereas some have been soothing the ears of people for several decades. Lyrics of Sahir Ludhianvi have been no exception.

Aspirations Do Come True ~ Preview of Aayna Ka Bayna - The Dance Film

Contributed by ~ Niilesh A Raje

It reminds me of an old adage by the Novelist Charles Wilson, “No matter the size of the bottle, the cream always rises to the top.” Talent stands out. It gets you noticed. But, talent serves only as starting point in one’s endeavor. One also needs to have a strong will power and perseverance to chase one’s dream. One has to keep working and capitalize on the talent they are blessed with.


Akshara Films Division’s forthcoming release a new Marathi film titled, “Aayna Ka Bayna” – The Dance Film in association with Rikky and Ronie Entertainment and Media Pvt Ltd presentation produced by Manju Paras Porwal, Amar Kakkad and Pushpa Kakkad is one such initiative where in the director Samit Kakkad has been instrumental in identifying the talent of Rohan and Group who have won Boogie Woogie, a popular dance show for five times in a row. What intrigues me is the fact what inspired these teenagers to go that extra mile and set them apart from the rest of the pack with sparkling difference.

Samit Kakkad’s brush with Marathi Cinema goes with his earlier release “Huppa Huiya” wherein he was the creative director and producer for the film. For the first time the legacy of showing lavani and item songs in Marathi movie would be replaced with hip-hop, Western and other forms of contemporary dance admits Samit.

Under the stewardship of a filmmaker Rohan and Group got the coveted platform to showcase their talent which many only aspire to achieve it in their lifetime. The group was selected from an audition that was attended from across Maharashtra by over 400 dancers. Today, this group from Nalasopara have become role models for many who aspire to be good dancers thereby making Nalasopara turn into Mini New York, a place where hip hop dance form is widely popular. The dance film proves to the masses that Yes, aspirations do come true if you believe in your talent and chase your dreams in your chosen craft.

Starring Sachin Khedekar, Amruta Khanvilkar, Ganesh Yadav and amongst the new looks include Siddhesh Pai, Amit Rokade, Pravin Nair, Rahul Kulkarni and others. Raqesh Vashisht play debut (Tum Bin fame) in the plot.

The film is slated for its release in August this year.

Producers Manju Paras Porwal, Amar Kakkad and Pushpa Kakkad

Director Samit Kakkad

Executive Producers Hem Parikh, Sachin Kakkad and Suresh Luniya

Director of Photography Sanjay Jadhav

Story Suchita Sawant, Raju Kushte

Choreographers Umesh Jadhav and Rohan Rokade

Music Directors Ajit Parab and Sameer Mhatre

Action Directors Javed Aejaz

Book Review : FLASHBACK ( Actor Bob Christo's Own Autobiography )

Contributed by : Niilesh A Raje

Movie Review : Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap ( The Angry Man Moves The World – An Epitome of Anger )

Movie Review: Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap (The Angry Man Moves The World –An Epitome of Anger)

Contributed by ~ Niilesh A Raje

Produced by AB CORP Limited and Viacom 18 Motion Pictures

Written and Directed by Puri Jagannadh

Music Vishal and Shekhar

Cast Amitabh Bachchan, Prakash Raj, Hema Malini, Raveena Tandon, Minissha Lamba, Sonal Chauhan, Charmy Kaur, Neha Sharma, Subba Raju, Sonu Sood, Makrand Deshpande, Vishwajeet Pradhan and Mahie Gill.

The much awaited movie of the year Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap (BHTB) has been made jointly by Viacom 18 and AB Corp Ltd. written and directed by South director Puri Jagannadh. An action genre it marks the comeback of Amitabh Bachchan (Viju) as an angry man who dislikes anyone who tries to dismiss him as an old man (bbuddah). While playing the role of a retired gangster settled in Paris running his own pub, short-tempered Viju is brought back to Mumbai for a mission. Apart from being a sharp shooter Viju’s says his Unique Selling Point (USP) has been to shoot right through the center of the brain not once but twice without missing on the target.

The character projected being arrogant designer Leepakshi has taken care to keep the looks lively and vibrant. The director Puri Jagannadh has admitted that for many years we have missed Big B in the tone of an angry man. With, BHTB we see the angry man move the world once again with his confident walk, electrifying dialogues making him the epitome of anger as always. Big B’s age does not deter him driving Harley Davidson in this movie.

Music is composed by Vishal and Shekhar and includes one song which is a potpourri of Big B’s old songs. We witness so much of energy showcased by this sexagenarian Big B in the song “Go Meera Go” that the audiences are sure to enjoy the toe tapping number where we see him dancing and singing as well. The possibility of this song getting popular during Big B’s world tour cannot be ruled out.

There is a reference made in the movie where we see Viju saying that he has seen the city of dream and dream merchants Mumbai grow with him and today’s youngsters are seen to ape him. Whatever, but Viju says the fact remains he is still the chora from ganga kinare wala.

The film revolves the story about ACP Karan’s (Sonu Sood) love inclination for Tanya (Sonal Chauhan), Viju’s past that includes his estranged wife Sita (Hema Malini) and ex-girlfriend Kamini (Raveena Tandon) who swoons over the gangster. And then there is Kamini’s daughter Amrita (Charmy) who is bewildered about her mum’s relation with Viju in the past and current.

Time changes many aspects and priorities of Viju’s life so much that post arrival in Mumbai he reminisces about his past, which causes him to change his agenda for the hit. BHTB is a combination of action, comedy, emotion, romance and songs. The movie ends with an emotional note depicting how much a father loves his son and protects him for adversities being the head of the family.

Every role or initiative Big B takes has witnessed the beginning of a great enterprise in his life many times evolving as a trendsetter. Now will the fans have many more opportunities to see Big B the brand ambassador of angry man in his forthcoming projects as well? If yes, then the towering icon is all set to captivate the heart of his audiences be it on the big screen or small screen. For all the Big B fans his age is not important but mileage is important.

"The Steve Jobs Way (iLeadership for a New Generation)" by Jay Elliot and William L Simon

Contributed by ~ Niilesh A Raje




The author Jay Elliot had the opportunity to work in close co-ordination with Steve Jobs as the Senior Vice President of Apple Computer. The favorable combination of circumstances helped Elliot understand the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Apple Inc. namely Steven Paul Jobs from a very close and professional angle.

In this new business/leadership category type book "The Steve Jobs Way (iLeadership for a New Generation)" by JAICO Publishing House the author Jay Elliot along with William L. Simon shares his understanding on the lessons of leadership he experienced by working in close association with Steve Jobs.

Elliot's articles and interviews have been published earlier in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Time Magazine and Fortune whereas William L. Simon holds the credit for being the award winning author of more than twenty books.

By dividing the book into five sections the author cites examples giving a detailed insight on the following aspects of leadership: Product, Talent, Organization and Marketing. Having shared these principles the author goes a step ahead in the last section and make us understand what should individuals do for doing business better and creating new products the same way Steve Jobs did.

Steve firmly believed that where there is passion and pride in one's work success can't be left far behind. In fact both of them (passion and pride) continued to be the assets of a creative mind. And, creativity according to him has never been a 9 to 5 job.

The author shows how Steve is very particular getting into granular level of product details along with his project team. There were occasions when the product had to be redesigned and delivered in the market place five months late as per the planned launched date. But, with passage of time Steve realized that its worth to launch one's product in the market place at the right time rather than eyeing for details. Experience enriched his life and helped Steve learn from these mistakes.

Here is what one-time Apple executive Jean - Louis Gasse has endorsed in this book regards Steve's Management style with a memorable phrase: "Democracies don't make great products - you need competent tyrant". People who worked for Steve forgave him, or at least tolerated his style, in part because more than anything else, he was a product tyrant, totally dedicated to delivering the products he envisioned.

One of Steve's core principles is always to hire the best - "A people," as he calls them. One of his mottoes was: "As soon as you hire a B, they start bringing in Bs and Cs." For Steve an individual's talent, passion and flair were of more prominence even if one was seen lagging a bit on technology or educational front.

Author cites the example of Steve hiring Randy Wiggington, who wrote the code for MacWord, the first real Mac application, when he was still in high school.

If you're looking to keep yourself motivated on your roads to achievements this new collection from business books category is a must read as it is well supplemented with Steve's real life experiences and examples. The book would help the readers relate their own experiences and understand Steve Jobs approach towards Leadership.

One must admit that when your product is launched the stakes are high and the pressure tremendous. Learning the principles The Steve Jobs Way it would help not only ease your pressure but also teach you Steve Jobs creative approach of iLeadership as if they were part of your own.

Author Jay Elliot with William L. Simon

Publisher JAICO Publishing House

Category Business/Leadership

Pages 256

Price Rs 250/-

ISBN 978-81-7992-768-7

Book Review : Flashback: My Life and Times in Bollywood And Beyond

Book Review
Flashback: My Life and Times in Bollywood And Beyond
Reviewed by : Niilesh A Raje

Author Bob Christo (Foreword by Tom Alter)
Publisher Penguin Books India
Pages 280
Price Rs 399/-
ISBN 9780143414629

I distinctly remember that fight sequence from the movie Kaalia where everybody is standing in line while food is being distributed and Michael (actor Bob Christo) decides to spoil the decorum and breaks the queue. While one of his crippled inmates gathers courage and decides to retaliate against this brawny white guy Michael shouts back, “Hum jahaan khade hote hain line waheen se shuroo hotee hai”(The line always start behind me). Immediately after that all the other prisoners in the queue go and stand behind Michael.

The most I knew about Bob Christo then was he was an actor from Australia renowned within the Indian Film Industry as the “bad man” of Indian Cinema who played either the role of collaborator, hostile prisoner or British Officer.
The septuagenarian Robert John Christo whom the world popularly knew as Bob Christo died in Bangalore (20 March 2011) winning the affection of millions of Indian Movie Fans for over two decades which included over 230 films and 15 television serials. There is also a society called The Bollybob Society named after Bob Christo.

The newly released book Flashback: My Life and Times in Bollywood and Beyond by Penguin Books India gives the readers wealth of information by sharing the best and bad times experienced in life by Bob Christo. The actor’s biography was to be released by Akshay Kumar in June 2011 post which he was planning to return back to work in Hindi Cinema in an Akshay Kumar film.

The book gives an interesting insight about the many roles (Engineer,Adventurer,Lover,Mercenary and Bollywood villain) played by Bob Christo in real life apart from holding the credit for being one of the renowned villain of the Indian Film Industry in reel life.

The memorable autobiography traces the journey of this Civil Engineer from Sydney, Australia. Bob firmly believed in the discipline of reading and was also a prolific writer who held the recognition for achieving top marks and prizes for writing outstanding essays right from his school days.

Bob’s wife was killed in 1974 in a car crash leaving him the responsibility to bring up his three children. In 1977 he decided to pursue his career in Civil Engineering and was deputed for his assignment at Muscat. But destiny had its own plans. No sooner he resumed his work in Muscat he was communicated that his friend American scriptwriter George Marzbetuni had a massive heart attack and was hospitalized in ICU in Nanavati Hospital, Mumbai.
 
Bob decided to come back to Mumbai for a couple of days to visit his friend in the hospital. George was not able to stay for long in India to shoot for the English version of the movie Abdullah as his family was on the way to India and had decided to take him back to L.A.

George wanted Bob to write reports and ensure that the crew sticks to the same script as written by him for Abdullah. Alternatively if Sanjay Khan wanted Bob to do some role in his movie George suggested that it was his (Bob’s) call to go ahead with the same.

One big success wiped out all his previous failures and with passage of time Bob was kept busy and occupied with several opportunities coming up on his roads to achievements. Abdullah, Qurbani, Kaalia, Namak Halal, Mard, Mr. India and Agneepath were some of the opportunities that Bob got and also had the opportunity to share the screen with Marlon Brando, Amitabh Bachchan and Raj Kapoor to name a few. Bob also took special classes in Hindi by taking the help of Qadir Roomi who visited him every morning at 8 a.m., six days a week, to teach him the National Language.

In 2001, Bob decided to retire and left Mumbai for Bangalore to work in Sanjay Khan’s hotel, The Golden Palms Hotel and Spa starting off as gymnasium manager and yoga master. Once the hotel was fully operational by 2002 Bob had become the Fitness Director. Spine Injury made Bob to quit his job from the hotel and in 2006 he started his work on his autobiography.

The book is divided into three parts giving the reader a detailed account of how experience enriched his life. His journey is covered in the book in the following manner (Part 1 – Hong Kong-Philippines, Part 2 – Africa to India, via the Middle East and Part 3 – Odyssey in India).

In Foreword by Tom Alter Bob questions, “Tom, why don’t they give me romantic roles?”. To which Tom replies, “The truth is, my friend, your own life was the most romantic role of all”. Bob agrees that as he looks back on his life, he feels blessed.

Behind every success lies an untold pain in one’s heart and the pain is usually revealed when the individual rises to the top. The key message the author (Bob Christo) wants to convey to all his readers is the great mixture of bliss and sorrow that he experienced in his life. It was life that he fully lived. And why not, as long as there is life there are bound to be struggles.

Movie Review: Mee Sindhutai Sapkal (The lady who created her own future)

Contributed by ~ Niilesh A Raje





There goes an old adage, “Education is one of the surest ways to escape from poverty”. Many individuals have taken this route in their odyssey of life and SindhuTai Sapkal was no exception. But, the realness compelled Sindhutai to give up her education after fourth standard and settle down for an early marriage at the age of 12 to a man more than twice her age.

Her passion towards the discipline of reading continued even after her espousal but her partner in marriage was of the opinion that his wife was trying to demonstrate that she was more educated than him. The end result was the hands of destiny put Sindhutai through failure for a purpose. By coming out of the woods of a broken home and marriage the only obvious choice Sindhutai witnessed was her two failed attempts of suicide.

Directed by Ananth Narayan Mahadevan and produced by Sachin and Bindiya Khanolkar the director’s first Marathi film reveals the reality of life based on the Book “Mee Vanvasi" by Sindhutai Sapkal.

Even before its release the film has been greeted with applause in the community of International Film Festivals. “Mee Sindhutai Sapkal” had its world premiere at the 54th London Film Festival last month followed by screening at the South Asian International Film Festival in New York. It was also the closing film at the Third Eye Ninth Asian Film Festival, Mumbai. Tejaswini Pandit from the cast gets nominated for the Best Actress Award at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards to be decided by international jury in December 2010 in Brisbane.

The biographical movie showcases the journey of survival of Sindhutai Sapkal who grew up in the interiors of Vidharbha who had to beg for money and food to earn a living for herself as well as for her young daughter. While all was lost in the battles of life the only thing that propelled Sindhutai in the forward direction was the lamp of hope.

Today, this sexagenarian is a proud mother to more than 1000 orphaned kids who gives speeches to earn livelihood for the orphans as Sindhutai firmly believes “Bhashan hai to rashan hai”. Her one big success (commitment towards the orphanage) made her wipe out all her previous failures.

The climatic stage portrays Sindhutai now at the age of 60 is invited to address her first ever Marathi Vishwa Sammelan in San Francisco. On the humor side it is equally interesting to see the journey of first time air traveler Sindhutai across the seven seas.

Rightly said, behind every success there lies an untold pain in ones heart and this pain is usually revealed when the individual rises to the top. Today, Sindhutai Sapkal with benchmark of authority says if there is someone who needs a mother there is a helping hand of “Mee Sindhutai Sapkal”.

Cast and Crew

Director (Ananth Narayan Mahadevan), Producer (Sachin Khanolkar and Bindiya Khanolkar), Screenplay (Ananth Narayan Mahadevan, Sanjay Pawar) Cinematography (K.Raj Kumar), Cast (Tejaswini Pandit - Sindhutai 24 to 40 years, Jyoti Chandekar - Sindhutai 60 years, Pranjal Shetye - Sindhutai 12 years, Upendra Limaye, Suhas Palshikar, Neena Kulkarni, Charusheela Sable and Ganesh Yadav.