Showing posts with label Muqaddar Ka Sikandar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Muqaddar Ka Sikandar. Show all posts
The lost legacy of Mahesh and Naresh Kanodia
8:00 AM
How the two brothers, who died earlier this week in a span of two days, became one of the most successful musical pairs in Gujarat
Utkarsh Mazumdar (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 1, 2020)
In many ways, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, which means ‘a man of destiny’, reflects the life story of these two fine brothers. Mahesh bhai was born on January 27, 1937 in Kanoda, a village near Mehsana, Gujarat, and Naresh bhai on August 20, 1943. They were the oldest among seven siblings. Their parents, Dali Ben and Mitha bhai, hailed from the community of weavers. They lived in a one-room apartment, in which they used to also weave, before they moved to Ahmedabad. Both brothers, in a bid to support their family, began to take up menial jobs from an early age. Due to abject poverty, they also received no education. At the time, Mahesh began to seek refuge in music. He was blessed with a golden voice and had an innate talent for picking up musical instruments. He could also sing beautifully in a female voice, and that became his USP. Soon enough, he started singing in programmes, which led to the formation of Mahesh Kumar and Party, a musical group, which would perform at functions.
After the successful Africa tour, they began to perform regularly in Mumbai. The shows were a roaring success. Naresh bhai, apart from being a gifted dancer, was also an excellent mimic, and would even call himself ‘Johnny Junior’ after Johnny Walker. I remember watching a show of Mahesh Kumar and Party and being mesmerised by their performances. In the late 1960s, the brothers shifted to Mumbai from Ahmedabad, and bought a flat in the posh Pedder Road area. Both families used to live together, and, as their families began to expand, they then shifted to a bigger home in Andheri West. By now, their days of poverty were far behind them.
Popat Lal Shah, the longtime manager of Mahesh bhai, fondly remembers how the music director had one unusual ritual. “After every show, he would keep a bundle of notes in his pocket, while returning home. When the car would stop at a signal, he would distribute the cash to the beggars,” he says. “Whenever we went to Ahmedabad for a show, a crowd of at least a hundred people would gather at the hotel to meet him. Most of these people would belong from his community. Mahesh bhai would always patiently listen to their problems and help them financially out. As a rule, he would also never take the profits of a tour in Gujarat back to Mumbai.”
It is said that Mahesh Kumar and Party performed over 15,000 shows and apparently not once in their entire career was a show that was announced ever canceled. Naresh bhai, much like his brother, was also a gem of a person. And was greatly attached to his elder brother.
As their fame grew, the Gujarati film industry began to take notice. When Mafatlal Shah, producer, along with Madhukant Patel, Gujarati films director, attended one of their shows, they offered them work. The film was Veli Ne Avya Phul (1970). This was the beginning of their next successful phase in life. As music directors, they did more than a hundred films, and won countless awards. Naresh’s popularity began to grow by leaps and bounds. He was the first dancing star, and began to be labelled as the ‘Amitabh Bachhan of Gujarati films’. When the brother produced a Hindi film, Chhota Aadmi, in 1986, starring Naresh as the hero, they composed a song, which went: ‘Chhota sa aadmi hoon. Amitabh nahin hoon’, which was sung by Kishore Kumar.
The brothers then made their foray into politics. In 1991, Mahesh was offered a ticket by the BJP to contest for the Lok Sabha seat from Patan, which he won comfortably, and won four times. Naresh, too, was offered to contest an Assembly seat from Karjan constituency, in 2002, which he won. Before joining politics, they shifted back to Gujarat. Naresh’s son Hitu Kanodia, also a major star in Gujarati films, was elected as an MLA from Idar, Banaskantha in 2017. In 2012, Naresh was awarded with the Dadasaheb Phalke Academy Award.
Gujarati drama and film producer and publicist Niranjan Mehta says that the most redeeming quality of the two brothers was that they were extremely down to earth: “Along with Purushottam Upadhyay [the renowned Gujarati music composer and singer], I would organise musical programmes. Once I decided to do a show based on Gujarati film songs and wanted Mahesh bhai to sing two of his well-known songs. They came without any fuss and even refused to take any payment for the show,” he says. “Mahesh bhai was always soft-spoken and a bit of an introvert. He would not speak much, that department was handled by Naresh bhai, who was always flamboyant. I once asked Naresh bhai if he had any regrets, he immediately replied, ‘Niru bhai, I have a major regret of not getting an education’.”
Their humility aside, they were close as a fist. Their families, too, all stayed under one roof. They were like the proverbial ‘Ram-Lakshman jodi’. In their stage programmes, an oft repeated stanza in the medley was ‘Sathe harshyu sathe farshyu sathe jivashyu sathev marshyun” (We will roam together, live together and die together). Perhaps this is why I find it no major coincidence that the two brothers have also left this stage of life together.
Alvida, ‘Mahesh-Naresh’.
— The writer is an actor, singer, director and a columnist for Gujarati newspapers
Mumbai’s first drive-in theatre had to fight mosquitoes & other villains
9:13 AM
Sharmila Ganesan (THE TIMES OF INDIA; October 16, 2020)
“What are people in cars watching a movie supposed to do during the monsoon—keep the wipers on?” This was among the milder insults tossed toward Mumbai’s first drive-in theatre before it was born in 1977. Not everyone in Bandra owned a car then and Bandra-Kurla Complex—the commercial counter-magnet to bursting South Bombay—was a mere newborn yet to be nicknamed BKC. Beyond the mouth of Mahim creek, a revolving restaurant had manifested atop a luxury hotel built on the rocks even as low-income housing promised for slum-dwellers on both sides of the Western Express Highway during the Emergency preoccupied the city’s conscience. The ’70s everyman viewed the eight-hectare-wide imminent cinema experience meant for privileged car owners with the scorn outsiders now reserve for cine dynasts. Today, a multiplex player is looking to invest in a drive-in theatre at BKC as a safe mass entertainment option.
But back then, “frivolous”, “decadent”, “criminal waste of land”, “project of the upper classes” were the expressions used by the press and the public to greet the 1,000-car monolith. Doomed to controversy from birth and fraught with villains ranging from mosquitoes to resentful hutment dwellers, the arc of the city’s first drive-in theatre in the marshy heart of Bombay is the stuff of OTT docu-dramas.
For one, the ‘bhumi pujan’ happened in 1970 at the hands of then revenue minister HG Vartak even before the commencement certificate was issued for the plans submitted in 1971 by the Indian Film Combine Limited (IFCL) — a company owned by two Gujarati men who ran drive-in theatres in Nairobi, Mombasa and Ahmedabad. An area behind Kalanagar had been leased that year by the collector of Bombay. As it was the first proposal of this type in Bombay and no rules were framed for it, the plan was kept pending. The rules finally came in 1973 and the plan was approved in 1975. The state offered the plot on lease to IFCL for a mere Rs 6 lakh a year.
Rumour had hyped the imminent BKC drive-in to be the first in India though that distinction belonged to Ahmedabad, which boasted a 700-car drive-in theatre. Soon after the theatre was inaugurated by then CM Vasantrao Patil, Janata Party volunteers staged demonstrations against the project whose construction work had been largely completed during the Emergency. “Whom is the drive-in supposed to cater to?” balked a TOI article. “Certainly not the rugged urchins who lived in the shanty towns all around the reclaimed land on which the theatre is coming up.”
The three-tier theatre housed a restaurant that could seat 1,000 people. It had an amphitheatre-like auditorium to seat around 2,000 patrons. Screenings were initially at 9pm daily. Bandra’s Neale Murray recalls getting “plastered with the boys” while watching Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau movies, and octagenarian Jayant Shetty says they took chairs along to watch the 6 pm show of ‘Muqaddar Ka Sikandar’. But mosquitoes from the marshy area and the TV and video boom of the ’80s put off many visitors from paying Rs 20-odd for a movie. Then, apart from deliberate intervals to make patrons buy dosas and samosas, the sudden hail of stones pelted by rioting workers of a political party would supply unscripted drama. At times, when the canteen staff would leave at midnight, entire reels would be omitted and hordes would start their cars not knowing how ‘Namak Halaal’ ended.
Shetty guesses it was probably the damage to property caused by drunk patrons who would steal speakers that caused the theatre’s undoing. When it failed to rake in profits, the Maker Group of Enterprises, one of the city’s biggest builders known for their clout with the government, bought the place and ran it for two decades before it shut down in the early noughties without fanfare or redemption, its end an omitted reel.
Even Rekha ji didn’t have full-length role in Muqaddar Ka Sikandar-Rakul Preet Singh
8:26 AM
Rakul Preet Singh explains why screen time is inconsequential to her, promises more releases in the coming year and talks about being single in the city
Hiren Kotwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 5, 2019)
Marjaavaan is your fourth film since your debut in Yaariyan five years ago. What makes you so selective?
I moved to Mumbai after the Miss India contest and landed Yaariyan. Two days after wrapping that, I rolled with my first Telugu film. Yaariyan took a year to release by when I’d signed three-four more Telugu films. Being young and naïve, I didn’t know I’d to live in Mumbai to get work here. I was to do M S Dhoni - The Untold Story, but the dates changed because of the length of Sushant’s (Singh Rajput) hair. Neeraj sir (Pandey, producer-director) offered me Aiyaary, before that opened, I’d got De De Pyaar De and before that released, I’d landed Marjaavaan. I moved to the city after De De Pyaar De and have already bagged four films.
Isn’t Marjaavaan a special appearance?
Milap (Zaveri, director) sold it to me saying, “This is my Rekha of Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, my Chandramukhi of Devdas.” Aarzoo is a tawaif of the ’90s with nazaaqat and shayari. I’ve grown up on characters like her but haven’t seen them lately. Arzoo has raw sex appeal as opposed to De De Pyaar De’s girl-next-door Ayesha. Plus, there are Milap’s bhaari bharkam dialogues. As for screen time, Rekha ji didn’t have a full-length role, neither did Tabu in Jeet. Even Chandramukhi was a supporting role. Yet, they are all remembered. I’d rather see a role for what it is than compare it with what it is not.
Didn’t you want Tara Sutaria’s lead role?
Both roles are great and different. If offered Zoya’s role, I’d have done it.
Buzz is, you’ve signed up Attack opposite John Abraham.
I’ve signed four films which will be announced by the month-end.
And you’ve started Shankar’s Indian 2 with Kamal Haasan...
Shankar sir is a visionary, always calm and knows exactly what he wants. Kamal sir is one of the finest actors, I feel blessed to work with them in a film.
When the first Indian released, you must have been six years old?
(Laughs) I saw it much later, after I started working in Telugu films. When I was a kid, Kamal sir’s Chachi 420 was a favourite. When working with those who know so much, you end up learning a little too, without much effort.
How nervous were you?
If it had been my first or second film, I’d have been nervous but now I’m more excited. I always wanted to do big films with big actors. I’m greedy, give me better co-stars, and I will do better.
It also has Kajal Aggarwal...
Kajal is in the flashback portions with Kamal sir. I’m with Siddharth, who plays the younger guy in the present.
Do you have a secret man tucked away?
In the last five years, I’ve been busy with 30 films, there was no time for romance. Had I met the right guy, I wouldn’t have turned him away, saying “Now, is the time to work.” Even my parents are complaining, “The whole world knows you’re single.” This Diwali, my mom told me to go party and find a guy for myself.
Rekha in Muqaddar Ka Sikandar; Rakul in Marjaavaan
I kept getting calls and messages from the film fraternity after De De Pyaar De released-Rakul Preet Singh
7:44 AM
Happy to bag a pivotal part in Marjaavaan, South star Rakul Preet Singh on how Bollywood warmed up to her after De De Pyaar De
Sonil Dedhia (MID-DAY; November 4, 2019)
One of the leading actors in the South industry, Rakul Preet Singh is now focussing on finding her feet in Bollywood. The year has been lucky for her so far — while her last release, De De Pyaar De, was a box-office success, she has another promising outing in Marjaavaan. Unperturbed that she has an extended cameo in the Sidharth Malhotra-Riteish Deshmukh starrer, Singh emphasises that screen time is not a criterion while selecting projects."I play a sex worker, who is headstrong and often indulges in shayari. When Milap [Zaveri, director] approached me, he said that my character is like that of Rekha in Muqaddar Ka Sikandar [1978] or Tabu in Jeet [1997]. He explained that it was a powerful role. The screen time didn't bother me as I didn't want to go by perception; instead, I wanted to take the risk," says the actor.
After making her Bollywood debut with Yaariyaan (2014), the actor found herself gravitating towards Tamil and Telugu offerings. But she says the Ajay Devgn and Tabu starrer gave her the much-needed impetus in Bollywood. "I have signed four films post the release of De De... The film chose me and I am forever grateful for it. I kept getting calls and messages from the film fraternity after it released; the response from the industry has been overwhelming since then. People noticed me in the film because it was a commercial [fare] that had everything, from dance to drama and emotions."
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