Showing posts with label Hindu College. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hindu College. Show all posts
It’s been our dream to perform together on stage-Vishal Bhardwaj, Rekha Bhardwaj
8:48 AM
Debarati S Sen (BOMBAY TIMES; November 10, 2023)
Music brought Vishal and Rekha Bhardwaj together, and their passion for music has only strengthened their bond over the years. The duo always dreamt of singing together on stage, but that never really happened until now. After over three decades of being together, the couple will perform for an upcoming concert this month for a special cause.
In an exclusive conversation, filmmaker-composer-singer Vishal Bhardwaj and singer Rekha Bhardwaj talk about their love for music and what keeps them connected and rooted.
During your Hindu College days, music was what brought you both close. That was decades ago. What took you both so long to come together on stage?
Vishal: I never thought I was a good singer, I always considered myself to be a composer. Later in my career, I started singing tracks. I used to sing Lata ji’s (Lata Mangeshkar) dummy tracks. I would sing to explore songs with musicians on track and then the singer would dub. In that process, mujhe bahut zyada experience aaya gaane ka. Kai baar aisa hua ki sab logon ne bola ki yeh meri awaaz mein accha lag raha tha. So, maine apni singing bahut late in life discover ki. Rekha is classically trained, and I am not. Mujhe stage fright bhi tha bahut zyada. Jab mere shows hone lage, mujhe stage ka confidence aaya. So now, I can dare to sing with her.
Rekha: It’s always been a dream. Vishal aur hum bahut saalon se chah rahe thay ki we should perform together. Aur Gulzar saab bahut kehte hain ki saath mein program karo, hum log saath kartein hain. Pankaj Udhas and his daughter Nayaab planned this concert for the welfare of Thalassemia patients, and we are happy to support the cause.
Vishal: What Naayab and Pankaj Ji is doing (for Thalassemia patients) is commendable and great. Iss cause ki ladai pata nahi kab khatam hogi. Pata nahi kab iska ilaaj ho payega. If we can contribute even a little from our side in this fight, it will be great.
While this will be the first time the two of you will be singing together on stage, you must’ve sung together earlier, too?
Vishal: Long ago, we had sung a duet together. When the Copyright Act was passed in 2012, we had performed for Parliamentarians at the Parliament House. Kapil Sibal sahab liked old songs, toh unki farmaish pe maine aur Rekha ne Haal Kaisa Hai Janab Ka gaya tha. Bahut maza aaya tha.
Have you both been doing a lot of riyaaz for this performance?
Vishal: Riyaz nahi, hum log tayyari kar rahein hain. Bahut mehnat kar rahein hain. We are doing this for the first time, toh kafi nervousness bhi hai. It should be extraordinary. The other thing is that hamare keys ka bhi issue hai. Rekha has a low-pitched voice and mine is a high pitched one jo normal male voice hota hai. So we have to design a duet ki kaise hum log ek middle ground mein aa jayein ki Rekha ke liye high na ho aur mere liye bahut low na ho.
Rekha: We will also sing solos along with duets. Aisa nahi hai ki saare duets hi honge.
What keeps two creative people like you going so strong for over three decades? Just like everyone you must have also faced challenges and hiccups in your relationship. How have you dealt with them?
Rekha: Actually, four decades. We’ve known each other since 1984. During college, we were friends, and then we started dating. Yes, mushiklein aatien hain relationship mein. But I think the emotional bonding and our compatibility, jo music ko lekar hai, helps. Now, we have started giving each other space. Beech-beech mein problems aatien hain. There is no formula for a perfect relationship. You have to accept the other person with all his or her good and bad.
Vishal: Yes. There is a formula. You have to keep working on your relationship and on yourself every day. That’s the only formula. When you are in a relationship, then you have to do both these things. You may have a different point of view on various things – brushing you teeth, waking up in the morning, reading at night or watching laptop, then you have to work towards that. Relationships are a everyday work. Auto pilot pe rakkh diya yeh kabhie nahi ho sakta hai.
Rekha: I have realised that jaise jaise expectations kam hone lagtien hain, that helps a lot. Otherwise you keep expecting the other person to react the way you want them to.
Vishal: You should never want to change the other person. You have to be ready to change yourself and then the relationship will work.
Rekha, in an Instagram post, you said, ‘What kept us close was the crazy streak we both have, perhaps still have’. Tell us more about this crazy streak…
Rekha: When we met in college, Vishal was singing for a programme. Later, at the annual function, all the participants had to sing Ramaiya Vastavaiya on stage. Hum dono do corners mein they, and we went really crazy. Hamara kya hain na, we get carried away. We don’t care for the world and just do our own thing. It’s not that ki we plan it. Aaj tak hum aisa kartein hain. Hum emotionally bhi carried away ho jaatein hain. While singing also hamare mazak jo chalta hai, bahut funny sa ho jata hai. Masti mein pagalpan ho jata hai.
Wouldn’t you like to add anything to this?
Vishal: Nahi, nahi, bol hi diya hai inhone. (laughs)
Rekha: Saari details toh share nahi ki jaa sakti hai. (laughs) Hamara ek bada cute sa memory hai. Earlier, when Vishal wouldn’t be so busy, our son Aasmaan was fond of DJing and he would put on music after our meals and we would all dance! There were times when we have stood on his windowsill and danced! We have had wild times.
You have played state-level cricket Under 19. You have a passion for cricket. What do you feel about the ongoing World Cup?
Vishal: India is playing so well. I hope that we win the world cup!
The auditorium in Hindu college used to be my space to sleep, think, perform-Imtiaz Ali
8:01 AM
The filmmaker, who visited the newly-renovated auditorium of his alma mater, talks about his deep connect to it and why it’s hard to see ‘everything new and changed’ there
Divya Kaushik (BOMBAY TIMES; September 15, 2021)
For Imtiaz Ali, a visit to his alma mater — Hindu College — is usually an essential part of his Delhi itinerary. The filmmaker returned to his college after almost three years recently, after he was invited to participate in the Founder’s Day celebrations of Delhi University. Imtiaz wanted to check out the newly-renovated auditorium of Hindu College, but was also afraid that he would “be (in for) some disappointment, as I have been deeply connected to that place and I always wanted to see it like it was when I was a student there”. But he says that when he did finally see the modified auditorium, he wasn’t “shattered”. “This time, I did not resent the changes made by time; the past is always present,” he further wrote on social media.
The filmmaker, who was also the founder of the college’s dramatic society Ibtida, started his theatre journey in the same auditorium, and performed a number of plays there. Imtiaz said, “Everything is new and changed now in that auditorium.”
Imtiaz continued, “I was most disappointed to find that it was not the same wooden floor where I performed so many plays and spent so much time. When I was in college, the auditorium used to be my private space. Whenever I would want to be in a peaceful corner away from everyone, I would go to that auditorium. I would sit on its wooden floor for hours and think. Even when I would want to sleep during the day, I would sneak backstage of the auditorium and sleep on its floor. I have so many memories attached to that auditorium and that’s what makes it a special place for me.”
Talking about the days when he performed in plays there, he said, “I have done many plays in my college’s auditorium and it was always so difficult. Performing in your own college is always difficult as your friends are a very tough audience. They hoot every time they see you on stage, while you are trying to concentrate and give your best. I remember once I was performing a play where in one of the scenes I had to embrace a girl and my friends started hooting. For some minutes, I kept thinking and hesitating, but then I had to do it. There are so many such memories that run like a flashback in my mind when I think of that auditorium.”
Imtiaz shared that he had thought that he would just go take a brief look at his college and its auditorium, but ended up spending over an hour there. “The principal and the vice principal were happy that I could visit and see the newly-renovated auditorium. The vice principal caught me roaming around in the college and I shared my feedback with her and ended up staying there for over an hour,” said Imtiaz.
Since I saw trailer of Modi biopic, I have realised films can even impact elections-Vishal Bhardwaj
8:43 AM
Riya Sharma (BOMBAY TIMES; April 20, 2019)
He is an alumnus of Hindu College and like any other former Delhi University student, filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj does not leave a chance to visit the campus whenever he can. On Wednesday, Vishal attended the inauguration ceremony of the Campus Short Film Festival, organised by Hansraj College. “Mera yahan se purana naata hai, main yahin ka pala-bada hoon,” he said at the event. He spoke at length about how he became a filmmaker after attending film festivals, the impact of movies on society, and why he might take another three-four years to analyse the failure of his film Rangoon.
‘MAYBE IN THE FUTURE, AN ACTOR WILL BECOME A PM’
Talking about the impact of cinema and cricket, Vishal said, “We all have lots of opinions about both movies and cricket — ‘Hero ne aisi acting ki hoti toh achha hota’, ‘Cricket mein yeh over usko diya hota toh jeet jate’. Cinema has a lot of impact, it is the reflection of our society. Now, I think it has an impact over the elections as well, jabse Modi ji ki biopic ke trailer dekhe hain. Filhaal toh use dikhaya nahi ja raha hai, but I think that it is a big deal that we can make a film on the PM. So, for the next five years, we (the film industry) will try to contribute in politics. Yeh bahut badi baat hai that we (the film industry) can (contribute to) make a Prime Minister, (and in the future) shayad humara koi hero hi (PM) bann jaye!,” he said. The filmmaker added that anybody who wants immediate publicity, targets films. “Films ek soft target toh raha hai, dekhiye Padmaavat mein jo hua. Our lives are difficult. Whoever wants immediate publicity, woh seedha films ko target karta hai, hum logon pe bahut hamlein hote hain.”
Speaking at an event in a Delhi college, the filmmaker discussed the impact of movies, how film festivals shaped his career and why he can’t objectively analyse the failure of Rangoon yet
‘I LEARNT FILMMAKING FROM FILM FESTIVALS’
Telling the audience how film festivals have a major role to play in his life, Vishal said, “I have learnt filmmaking from film festivals. I entered the industry as a music composer and never thought that I could become a writer or a director. The first time I attended a film festival was in 1996, when I had given the music for Gulzar sahab’s movie Maachis. We had gone to Trivandrum and there I saw a series made by Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski, called Dekalog. It was the modern interpretation of the Ten Commandments, and when I saw it, I realised films can have such a big impact. Before that, I was not exposed to world cinema.”
He added, “After that, I kept attending film festivals and I decided I wanted to become a filmmaker, because cinema is a combination of many different forms of art. Film festivals aapki life mein kya kar sakte hain, main uska sabse bada example hoon.”
‘IT WILL TAKE ME ANOTHER THREE-FOUR YEARS TO OBJECTIVELY ANALYSE WHY RANGOON DIDN’T WORK’
The filmmaker also interacted with the audience. When an audience member asked him whether he has analysed why Rangoon failed, he replied, “After watching all my films, 50 per cent people ask, ‘Kya banaya hai?’ Not just Rangoon, many of my films were not successful, par main fir bhi kamyaab hoon, that’s a big deal for me. As far as the analysis is concerned, you are always too close to your work. So you are not objective about your work. I finally have an opinion about my trilogy (Maqbool, Haider and Omkara) after so many years. I saw those film like the audience now. Rangoon ki bahut burayi huyi hai, so it’s possible that it was a bad film, but I will be able to analyse that after three-four years,” he said.
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