Of stars, a golden era and heroic villains

In the space of the past week, I had the uncommon pleasure of spending quality time with two of the most charming villains the Hindi film industry has turned out. A dichotomy to say the least, I saw robust good humour, dashing looks and inimitable style in both, yet villainy was their lot in films. The references are to Shatrughan Sinha and Ranjeet.

Mr Sinha was a special invitee at the TAFI (Travel Agents Federation India) convention on the balmy blue isle of Mauritius, where I was holidaying with my family. In three fun-filled evenings `Shatruji' stole hearts and captured the essence of a modern statesman culled from the heroic villain of yore. Charismatic and of pure vintage good humour, his puns and dialogues had us rollicking, night after night. He gave a tremendous speech to the Federation which was full of insight and wit, thought provoking to the core.

That gravelly deep baritone voice had Mauritius TV running reruns of the
speech virtually every news bulletin. When he left for the USA, on the last
day of the conference, to join the Prime Minister's Delegation in New York, he was sorely missed, as he had demonstrated with ample good will that he was definitely a politician and MP, certainly a media savvy actor but most of all a man who stood tall, as a good human being. Had it not been for Shashi Manoj Kumar sportingly, and in a lilting voice, lifting our collective spirits with songs like Jeevan Ke Safar Mein Rahi, our last evening in Mauritius would have been still-born.

A few days after my return to Mumbai, I attended the `STAR GOLD' evening at The Regent. I, unfortunately, missed some of the earlier speeches, of which Ranjeet's extempore counted for one of the best, I was told by a cross-section of the audience. From the time I met Ranjeet and his lovely wife Aloka along with friends, Anu, Neena Gupta and Akbar Khan, we were in a seriously humourous mood.We joked and laughed, Ranjit acted as villain and Akbar played hero, while I gamely played the `Oops, I am the victim' role.

In the ballroom, on the dance floor, at the table, Ranjit had us in splits with his mock take-off on roles of yore and a piercing, off-the-cuff repartee peppered with anecdotes and the odd expletive. Actors world over are loved more because we see ourselves in the roles they assume in films.

But to the `bad' guy must go the final accolade of method acting, as a real life `goodie' plays reel life `baddie' and oh! so well too. If I have a complaint against the films today, versus the golden era that Star is trying to invoke which such poignancy via the channel, it is that role definition has well nigh disappeared. Today the heroine plays and dances the role of the yesteryear vamp, doing away with a marvellous cameo performance that a Helen played movie after movie with great aplomb. Yet again the second hero today has shades of villainy woven into his character thereby doing away with the pure undiluted villain of yore.

Alter egos to the star of the day, the true blue villain of yore commanded as much of a fan following, perhaps with a little peppered fear even. The channel is pure inspiration in that it bridges, for those who didn't see the films of yore or only knew the songs, the time lapse, but more interestingly proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the stars of the Golden Era had more charisma in their little finger than a lot of the new crop put together.

Going down memory lane is a powerful, potent, way of unraveling one's own emotions and feelings leaving one weepy, or upbeat as the lyrics dictate, and the stars lip sync deliver. Sigh! Sigh! Peter Mukherjea the sharp shooting, suave CEO of Star in his unflappable style was co-hosting the event with Raj Nayak, the chief of Star Gold. The star cast that evening included the bubbly Moushmi Chatterji, Sunil Dutt, Mahesh Bhatt, Johnny Walker, Ramesh Sippy the lovely Kiran Juneja Sippy and the stylish, erudite Javed Akhtar. The promos and teasers on the Star Gold channel, promise night after cozy night of evergreen lilting, soul edifying music and film.

My personal favourites are the all time greats of filmdom and include, the star of stars, Dilip Kumar, the fervently patriotic `Bharat' Manoj Kumar, Dharmendra, the heart-stealer, the evergreen Dev Anand, the `Yahoo' Shammi Kapoor, the unforgettable lover-boy Raj Kapoor, the debonair Raj Kumar, the sad, sad Guru Dutt, the gorgeous Geeta Bali, the sexy Sharmila, and the soulfully beautiful Nargis. Another evening of blissful music of the here and now kind -- was by the young Taufiq for his latest album, Rhydhun.

Along with the awesome talent of brother Ustad Zakir Hussain and the free ranging voice of Shankar Mahadevan, Milestone the record label produced music of rhythmic cadence and percussion brilliance. In the flow from the audio-visual to reality, the group's synergy had tremendous energy that filled the hallowed hall to a rising wave of such might and power that it lifted the spirit to a oneness with the cycle of life itself.

Only music especially created but performed with a simplicity of cadence and style could elevate thus, in the plurality of sound that evening `the singularity of Zakir's taal prefect in each vibrating beat, rising in echo as each instrument joined in its ever reverberating chorus, to crescendo into a thunderous wonder of rhythm and beat amalgamating the perfection of each, into a infinite moment of nirvanic `taal'.

In the camaraderie of a shared work ethic Ustad Zakir Hussain, Taufiq, Shankar Mahadevan and Ranjit Bardot excelled in unifying the sounds of their respective percussion instruments and voices by coaxing and cajoling sound, to the astonishment and wonder of the audience. The Jain brothers the promoters of this wonderful album and Milestone have to be congratulated for creating a fusion album with rare care to detail.

The next decade will place Indian music, entertainment and films firmly on a world firmament and that is when the people of the world will through the sound of our music and taal, understand the power and wealth of India's ancient culture civilisation.