Prashant Singh (HINDUSTAN TIMES; June 10, 2020)

Clearly, gods are reigning supreme during the lockdown. At least, that’s what TV viewing pattern — during the Coronavirus induced shutdown — seems to indicate. So, while reruns of Ramayan and Mahabharat topped the TRP charts at the start of the lockdown [around March-end], the ‘religious reign’ continues even now. As per the latest data by Broadcast Audience Research Channel (BARC), Doordarshan’s Shri Krishna is the most watched TV show for second consecutive week. The top five shows also include Mahima Shanidev Ki, Mahabharat [new version] and Ramayan on various channels.

“To start with, people have been feeling low for the last three months, and so, these classic shows make them feel good, and also give them a sense of emotional strength. Plus, you can watch these shows with the entire family, and there’s a lot of nostalgia involved, too,” says TV producer Shashi Mittal.

Besides reruns of Ramayan and Mahabharat, a number of gods-based shows as Karmaphal Daata Shani, Uttar Ramayan, Paramavatar Shri Krishna, Vighnaharta Ganesh and Mere Sai - Shraddha Aur Saburi among many others have been running successfully on television during the lockdown.

“If you notice the pattern during the lockdown, people have gone back to not just old TV shows but also classic movies. As for out-and-out religious shows, it’s like going to back your comfort food when you are upset or angry about something. The sheer universality, relatability and the joyful nostalgia involved with such shows make people turn to them,” says exhibitor-distributor Akshaye Rathi.

Money-wise, too, mythologicals worked their magic. Apparently, six new TV commercials of a top dairy brand were launched during lockdown with the shows. “For any brand, this was the best time because of great viewership. The investment in Ramayana and Mahabharat was like a lottery. We got 100X back,” R S Sodhi, managing director of the dairy brand has said in an interview.

Lastly, a 47-year-old homemaker, Swati Paliwal puts things in perspective: “Watching religious shows give me a lot of mental peace, and it alleviates my tension during such stressful times. It gives me a feeling that all will be fine.”

Nafisa Ali on how she plans to defeat the cancer that has taken her by surprise
Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 21, 2018)

On November 16, Nafisa Ali revealed to the world through a Facebook post that she had been diagnosed with stage 3 cancer. “Life is so full of surprises and presently I am not in control. So, make a wish for me to get well in a few months. I have miles to go. I thank my family and friends for giving me the strength to enter a zone I know nothing of,” she wrote on her cyber wall.

Four days later, talking to Mirror from Delhi, the actress who was last seen in the third instalment of the Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster franchise, admitted that she was overwhelmed by all the affection, advice and applause that had poured in from all over the world, some of it coming from perfect strangers. “I didn’t know people cared for me so much. And I am glad I put out the news as it may help others to know more about the illness,” says an emotional Nafisa who arrives in Mumbai on Saturday and will check into the Tata Memorial Hospital on Monday to start her treatment.

She informs that two months ago, in mid-August, she had visited the doctor in Delhi complaining of “cramps in the tummy”. The ultrasound reports and CT scan were clear, and she was subsequently put on a five-day antibiotics course to weed out the infection, following which she took off to Goa. But the pain persisted, and on her return to the capital, she consulted an old friend, radiologist Dr R K Mathur who detected some fatty tissues in her colon and abdomen and referred her to another doctor. “By then I was running a fever and since the pain was centered around my appendix, I told the doctors that they had got it all wrong, I had appendicitis,” she laughs.

But the CT scan reports revealed that it was something far more serious. Her stomach had bloated with acetes and cancer cells were detected in the fluid. Laparoscopy, biopsy other tests confirmed that it was primary peritoneal cancer (PPC), a relatively rare cancer mostly common in women whose cause is unknown. It occurs when certain cells in the peritoneum, a cellophane-like tissue which covers the abdominal cavity as well as the surface of all organs in the abdomen, transforms into cancerous cells. Advancing age is a risk factor and at 61, Nafisa is vulnerable.

“I’ve lost some time in wrong diagnosis which I have since learnt could have been averted with a simple CA125 blood test. It’s not very expensive and I would urge all women over 50 to please go in for it. I knew nothing about all this because no one in the family has ever had cancer,” she points out, as she prepares herself for a surgery that will assess the extent of the disease and involves removal off all visible traces of the disease as also certain organs. “The good thing is that my oncologist, Dr Nitesh Rohati, General Velu Nair who has just retired as Director General of Medical Services in the army, Dr Darius Ankelsaria, my childhood friend and a top surgeon in Kolkata, and Dr Anita Borges, the pathology expert in Mumbai, are all coordinating with each other and consulting with oncology experts at Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York to ensure that I get the best possible treatment. If all our political parties and governments got together to work like this, India would be a great country,” Nafisa says lightly.

Meanwhile, when Sonia Gandhi learnt that her fellow Congress member was ailing, she invited her over immediately. “I went with my daughter and she greeted me with a hug. We chatted for almost 40 minutes. I know how strong she is and how much she loves this country and its people. The meeting was very inspiring,” she avers.

Now, as she gears up for a long treatment, Nafisa confides that she was always physically fit and feels caged in her body now. “I never went to the doctor and on the rare occasions that I did, I’d do the opposite of what they prescribed. I am quite a badmash. Now, Pickles (husband Colonel R S Sodhi) brings me my medicines and makes sure I take them. He is 75 and shattered by the diagnosis, but my family is rallying around me. I tell them now that the reason for my bloated tummy was all the fluid that had accumulated inside. The doctors tell me I will lose weight so there’s something good coming out of all this,” she laughs.

On Sunday, she celebrated daughter Pia’s birthday and posted pictures with both her daughters, Pia and Armana, her “cuddly son” Ajit and her husband. “My children are the reason for me to overcome the cancer. My daughter is three months pregnant, she’s due in the first week of June. I have to get better by then in time to welcome my third grandchild,” Nafisa signs off optimistically.

Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 12, 2015)

Nafisa Ali who made her acting debut in 1979 with Shashi Kapoor's first production, Junoon, insists that she was destined to be launched by the Kapoors. Rishi Kapoor spotted the 16-year-old national swimming champ on the cover of a magazine and showed it to his father. Raj Kapoor was keen to cast them in his next film. But Nafisa's dad didn't want his school-going daughter getting into the movies.

"When Bobby premiered in Kolkata, Rishi invited my parents and me over and introduced us to his family," reminisces Nafisa, who on her next trip to Mumbai for a modelling assignment met Shashi Kapoor and his son Kunal at Raj Kapoor's birthday party. Soon, she was swimming with Shashi, his wife Jennifer Kendal and their children, Kunal and Karan, at the Breach Candy Club and she was admiring his long eyelashes which knotted when he swam.

"The day before I was to return to Kolkata, Kunal told me that Shyam Benegal who was directing a film for his dad, was looking for a new girl. He coaxed me to leave my photographs behind and showed them to him," she says.

Back in Kolkata, Nafisa got a call from Benegal and since it was her 21st birthday the next day— January 18—her dad told her to make her own decision. An interest in fashion and cinema brought her back to Mumbai where Shashi put her up at the Taj and the next day, she met Benegal over breakfast.

"I was the only one eating and chattering. He just kept looking at me till I told him it would give me a stomach ache," she laughs, recalling how the director invited her to his studio where she was given the famous white dress and told to turn left, then right. "That was my screen test. If he'd made me enact a scene, I'd have been a nervous wreck because I was an athlete, not an actress. Shyam understood that," she reasons.

Soon after, she was cast in Junoon, an adapation of Ruskin Bond's A Flight of the Pigeons, set against the background of the Mutiny of 1857. Shashi played Javed Khan, a feudal chieftain, who falls desperately in love with an English girl, Ruth Labadoor, played by Nafisa. "When I met Raj Kapoor he complained that I hadn't done his film. I pointed out that I was working with his brother, so my first film was still with the Kapoors," she laughs.

It wasn't easy working with several National Award winners but she found two acting gurus in Jennifer and Naseeruddin Shah. She recalls one scene where Jennifer, who played her mother, wakes up to see an Indian sepoy creeping up on her and stabs him. "When I wake up to see the dead man I turn hysterical and start screaming I had never screamed in my life and when I told Jennifer this she just opened her mouth and let out blood-curling cries, telling me it was as easy as that. I recalled those screams when filming and got a pat on the back from Shyam," she says, remembering how she'd jokingly dubbed herself a "one-take actress' because all Shyam wanted from her was to be herself.

Quiz her on Shashi, the producer, and she says he was wonderful, ensuring that his unit stayed in the same hotel, travelled in the same cars and ate together. "He and Jennifer appointed a cousin, Tiger Kapoor, who'd take me sightseeing or to a movie when we were not shooting, so I wasn't lonely," she says.

But she was still homesick for her dad who'd refused to speak to her after she'd signed the film. So they sent her home to Kolkata with some film stills to show him and convince him it'd be a movie to be proud of.

In Mumbai, when she was dubbing for the film, Nasir Husain signed her for a film opposite Rishi. But to their dismay she dropped out and went back to Kolkata because she didn't want to be lonely in Mumbai.

She wasn't alone for long. The battle scenes of Junoon had been shot in Jaipur and the officers had become good friends. In December, she met them at a polo match in Kolkata, along with R S Sodhi, the only bachelor who'd been posted in Delhi during the shoot. He accompanied her to Delhi in January for the premiere of Junoon. Love blossomed during earning morning rides and the couple married and raised three children-Armana, Pia and Ajit.

Today, Ajit is in Mumbai gearing up for a Bollywood debut opposite J P Dutta's daughter, Nidhi, in Jee Bhar Ke Jee Le. His doting mother insists that she will give him all the support he needs to live out the dreams his 'darpok little girl' mum gave up all those years ago.