What does it mean to be white and desi? Late actor Tom Alter's YouTuber son, who is also an established sports journalist, breaks it down one video at a time
Jane Borges (MID-DAY; April 5, 2020)

A Hindi-speaking, white man is an anomaly. The last person, we remember, who made it look so easy on stage and screen, was late actor Tom Alter. It was then but natural that when the co-writers of the mini-series Afsos, which released on Amazon Prime in February, were looking at casting a white man for the role of Dr Goldfish, whose grasp over Hindi is a defining twist in the plot, they would be reminded of the veteran. "After searching a lot, when we did not get anything [a person who fit the bill], we thought Tom Alter would have been great for this role," Sourav Ghosh, who has co-written the Gulshan Devaiah-starrer mini-series, had later shared. "We decided to check if Tom Alter has any family." A Google search led them to his son Jamie Alter, who not known to many, had enjoyed a popular stint as funnyman Tinku Jiya, an anchor on a news satire show, Fake It India.

"Namaskar doston, main hoon apne ghar waalo ka lalla aur aapke jigar ka challa, Tinku Jiya," the opening lines, which Jamie rattled effortlessly on his show, won the writers over. "It was extremely overwhelming. Someone had seen me in a role that I had never envisioned myself in. But it had come at a perfect time," says Jamie, 39, over the phone from Noida.

Jamie, unlike most children who grew up in homes where acting was bread and butter, never took a shine to it. His father, lived two lives every day, he says. "It used to be surreal to see him at home, as this man, who drinks tea, eats mangoes and toast, watches cricket and plays games with us. And then, as soon as he was out, he'd put a wig on, wear a white suit, and hold a machine gun."

"I actually had a great time, joining dad on the outdoor shoots, visiting him on set and attending those movie premieres and screenings. But, as I hit my teenage years, I grappled with whether I should be doing what my father was doing, or try something different." Jamie found his passion in sports journalism, and continued at it for nearly 15 years, while his father, followed his success from the side-lines. "Dad, I think, was happier that I got into journalism. It was something he did, too. In fact, he had been associated with mid-day, ever since the newspaper launched, and balanced a lot of sports writing with his acting in the 1980s and early '90s."

Even until the last few months before he passed away in September 2017, Jamie remembers his father taking a keen interest in his writing. "Once, when he was to come to Delhi for work, he called, saying, 'I don't have the time to read online, but will you get me the print-outs of all your articles when we meet.' He was so happy the first time, I interviewed Rahul Dravid."

Jamie's stint as Tinku Jiya—the name has been lifted from a Bollywood music number—came about in 2017, when he was a digital sports editor with a newspaper. "During one of our very dull, daily edit meetings, my colleague Neeraj Badhwar, a humourist, suddenly had a brainwave and asked if I would play a character that he had in mind, for his show. He told me, 'You are the white guy, speaking in Hindi. It's disruptive as an idea. People are going to catch on, and love the show." As Badhwar predicted, Tinku Jiya really took off. Alter, who happened to see just two shows that featured his son, was impressed. "He said this [my character] was real fun, and that I should keep doing it. Dad was always so encouraging and supportive. I still remember the number of actors who'd show up at our house, requesting five minutes of dad's time… he'd give them five hours."

Tinku Jiya took a break, after Jamie switched jobs. But the demand from his followers continued. "I went back to Neeraj, after I started freelancing last year, and we revived the character," he says.

Last year, Jamie started his own YouTube channel, which currently has 85.2K subscribers. Here, he shares videos that include everything from comedy sketches, to cricket discussions, stories of his father, and his white identity. "There are a lot of misconceptions around my identity. I have also been asked if I am an albino. Some think my father was British or that he came here as a hippie. That was not the case at all."

Alter was the son of American missionaries. His grandfather moved to India in the early 1900s. "I attempt to answer those questions through these videos," he says. "I also enjoy humour. I did an episode on what it means to be travelling abroad with an Indian passport, and being white. That got me seven lakh views."

For now, Jamie is enjoying this phase, where he is trying just about everything that's coming his way. But, he says, when it comes to acting, the legacy his father left behind, will be unmatched. Some of his fondest memories are of watching him in the Doordarshan show, Jugalbandi, which also featured Radha Seth and Girish Karnad. He even tweeted to DD National last week, asking if they would consider a re-run of the show, during the national lockdown. "As actor, I don't have the drive that my father did. It is humbling that people have such nice things to say about my work. But, we both did very different things. I make YouTube videos, and dad was a great stage actor. Afsos, which is possibly my only body of acting work, literally fell onto my lap. Nothing came easily for dad. He worked very hard for it."

Sonil DeDhia (MID-DAY; August 2, 2019)

Audiobook Karadi Tales, which has been voiced by actors including Vidya Balan, Sanjay Dutt and Soha Ali Khan, will make its way to the digital medium, Voot. The project has Dutt narrate the tales of the shows, The Monkeys On A Fast And The Monkeys And The Cap Seller. Vidya Balan is associated with Little Vinayak and The Lizard’s Tail.

Soha Ali Khan who has given the voice for A Hundred Cartloads, says, “Since the digital medium has become part of our lives, we must leverage on its popularity for the benefit of our children. We must educate them through entertainment. The music and story-telling of the shows will stir every child’s imagination.”

Other celebrities who are associated with the project include Naseeruddin Shah, Gulzar, Usha Uthup, Jaaved Jaaferi, R Madhavan, and sports personalities like Rahul Dravid.

Narayan Parasuram, creative director or Karadi Tales, says, “The tradition of storytelling in our country spans 3,000 years. This experience of storytelling involves not just the written word, but also visual imagery, vibrant narration and music texture. The songs are based on indian classical music traditions.”

Angad on how the cricketers serve as references for his role in The Zoya Factor
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; September 3, 2018)

Before daddy duties come calling, Angad Bedi intends to wrap up The Zoya Factor, a project close to his heart. He is set to kick off the shoot of the romance comedy, featuring Dulquer Salmaan and Sonam K Ahuja, later this week.

One would assume playing a cricketer will be a cakewalk for Bedi, considering his father Bishan Singh Bedi has been one of the brightest stars of the sport. He says it’s not the cricketing skills but his “gregarious character” that will need work. “My character Robin has the bad boy charm. It’s demanding to play a guy who is the object of adulation. I have not ventured into a gregarious character like this before,” says Bedi, who is toiling away at the gym to achieve a lean look. “I have to look ripped, so I am already working on that.”

While the Abhishek Sharma-directed film is an adaptation of Anuja Chauhan’s popular novel by the same name, the actor says his part has been specially developed for the screen. Ask him if his role is modelled on any particular cricketer, and he says, “I am not sure parallels can be drawn, and it’s best we don’t put names to who plays what. If one has to understand my character sketch, it would be a mix of Yuvraj Singh and Virat Kohli. Dulquer’s would probably be along the lines of M S Dhoni and Rahul Dravid. But it is up to us to bring our own interpretation to the roles.”

Clockwise from top left: Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and MS Dhoni

In last-minute final-edit call, MSD biopic makers delete names of three top cricketers embroiled in 2008 selection fracas with India captain
Mayank Shekhar (MID-DAY; September 27, 2016)

With just days to go before M.S. Dhoni - The Untold Story hits the screens, the makers have decided to delete the names of three legendary cricketers from a crucial scene.

Ever since the trailer was launched on August 11, online buzz has been centred around the scene where Sushant Singh Rajput, playing MS Dhoni, is being lambasted by selectors for ruthlessly asking for the axing of three senior cricketers.

“Yeh teenon ko nikaalke rukne wala nahin hai (He won’t stop at dropping these three alone),” says a selector in the film, to which Dhoni responds over a video call, “We’re all servants, and we’re all doing national duty.”

The line that follows in the original version of the film names the three said cricketers who, sources told mid-day, are VVS Laxman, Saurav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid. Now, in a last-minute call, the filmmakers have self-censored the line directly referring to the names from the final edit of the biopic, the sources added.

Confirming the development, director Neeraj Pandey told mid-day, “The sequence from the promo is very much there in the movie. All we have done is knock off names of the three cricketers who were mentioned. This is as per the original plan, discussed with Dhoni a year and half ago, where we had decided to shoot the scene with the names, yes, but take a call on this only in the final edit.”

The reason behind the decision, as Pandey put it, is to desist from “unnecessarily ruffling feathers, when that is not the intention or tone of the movie.” Asked to name the cricketers who were mentioned in the original version, Pandey laughed, “Are you seriously asking me that question? Obviously I can’t. That would be highly disrespectful of me to do.”

Ganguly, Dravid and Laxman were dropped from the one-day squad for the 2008 Commonwealth Bank Series down under, even as they were set to play the crucial fourth Test of the acrimonious Monkeygate series under Kumble’s leadership.

The selectors and limited overs captain Dhoni, who debuted under Ganguly in ODIs and Dravid in Tests, came under criticism for the axing of the three senior players, that too before the fourth Test was played. While Dravid and Laxman had been out of contention in white ball cricket for some time then, Ganguly’s exclusion became a hot-button issue at the time. The BCCI had to field the then Secretary Niranjan Shah to justify the decision. “The emphasis was on fielding abilities and the team management wanted a young fielding side for the series,” Shah had told the press.

The team management and Dhoni, however, would have eventually felt vindicated as a sprightly India — riding on two Sachin Tendulkar specials — won the series to end a 23-year ODI series win drought in Australia. Dhoni, incidentally, watched the first cut of his biopic last month. What did he think of it?
“Well he just sat in silence for 10 minutes, didn’t speak a word. It was quite an awkward feeling for him, watching his own self, being played by an actor, on the big screen,” Pandey said.