Navin Nischol

I started my career with Saawan Bhadon. Incidentally, it was Rekha’s first film as well. Though she was do­ing a few films with Biswajeet and oth­ers, she had hit the headlines by then. She was the first heroine in Indian cin­ema, to pose for a kiss, for a leading foreign magazine. But Saawan Bhadon was her first released film. There were a lot of newcomers in the film apart from us, which included Narendra Nath and Jayshree T.

Though  I was interested in acting, I never planned my career. I had modelled for the Wills ad when I was in college. When people noticed me, they suggested that I should try my hand at Bengali films, since I was in Calcutta at that time. Later on, a friend of mine pointed at the producers’ tal­ent search contest which was to be held. I did apply and came to Mumbai for it, where I met Mohan Saigal. He was a good friend of my father, who asked me if I wanted to join him. He later gave me an option to assist him in direction or to join the Poona film institute. He advised me on the latter and I did my course in acting for three years. As promised, when I returned, Mohanji offered me a film. Before join­ing the Film Institute, I had signed a contract with him. So when I came to Mumbai, I was sure at least mere paas ek film to hogi.

When Saawan Bhadon was released, I felt rather strange be­cause barely three days earlier I was a non entity and suddenly, I was in the eyes of everyone. I didn’t know what was happening and why. I have still not been able to figure out how a star be­comes a star overnight and how they fall all of a sudden. This is a mystery which I don’t think anyone can answer.

Saawan Bhadon was a major hit! It was a regular jubilee and in those days, a regular jubilee meant a jubi­lee on three shows. It did a jubilee at 37 or 38 centres, all over India. I quite enjoyed my success and it gave’ me a great high. Once your film is a hit, there is a row of producers outside your house, waiting to sign you. Everyone is running after you. I signed a lot of films, some, of course, of which were the wrong ones. It’s very difficult to remember the lot. But among the ones I enjoyed doing most, was Buddha Mil Gaya. It was a total fun film. That was also the second film I signed after Saawan Bhadon. Then I also did Parwana with Amitabh. I enjoyed working in Woh Main Nahin, Victoria No. 203 ,Dharma and Hanste Zakham, which were all hits. Lekh Tandon’s Ek Baar Kaho and Dhund remain my favorites till date. Similarly, I still like Barkha Bahaar though it was a total disaster at the box-office. It was based on Leo Tolstoy’s Resurrection.

A lot of hard work was put in to Hanste Zakham . I remember, during the making of the film, some of my college friends came to Mumbai for a day, so we had a bash which looted till late at night. The next day morning, when I reported for shooting, my eyes were all swelled up due to lack of sleep. When I went to Chetan saab to wish him, ‘Good Morning’, he looked at me and asked, ‘Did you have a late night’? I said yes. He told me, ‘I was to use a lens of 100 on your face today but with the condition it is in, I can’t. So it’s pack-up for you.’ He told me that they would shoot with me only the next day. So after that, when it was a Hanste Zakham shooting, I would be tucked in bed by 10.00 p.m.!

Chetanji was one of the finest directors we ever had on the Indian screen. Again, there was a very funny incident. The song ‘Turn jo mil gaye ho’, no doubt a lovely number, is very difficult to lip sync. So when I asked Chetanji whether he would take lengthy shots for it, he replied, `If you are a good actor, you will give me lengthy shots, otherwise, I have no choice’. To practice the song, I would play it in my car even while shuttling between studios. No way was I going to let Chetanji call me a bad actor.

Priya Rajvansh was a pleasant lady to work with. Though she was very beautiful, she never made it. Perhaps it was her sing song manner of speak­ing that the audience did not accept. Nevertheless, she only worked in Chetan saab’s films.

I have been lucky that most of the  songs of my films were hits. The song `Raat kali… ‘ from Buddha Mil Gaya, till date, remains an evergreen number. Victoria No. 203, Parwana, Saawan Bhadon, Hanste Zakham, Nadaan, and Paise Ki Gudia, all had good music.

Working in Dhund was also quite an experience, where I had to carefully portray each and every expression of my scene. Had I made a mistake, it would have all been messed up because it was basically a suspense film where, till the end, nobody guesses who the murderer is. I had to be very careful.

I did films with all the leading heroines of my time. Rekha, Raakhee, Saira Banu, Asha Parekh and Yogeeta Bali, were all very nice to work with. But it always happens that you tend to build a rapport with the person you work with in your first film. We started our careers together and perhaps this was the reason Rekha and I got along very well. She is a lovely person and a lovely human being. Even when we meet today, we meet fondly. In fact, when we did Aastha, she told me that when Basuda asked her whom she would like to be seduced by in the scene, she said, `Ninni’. I asked her the rea­son and she said, ‘I feel safe with you’. I laughed and told her that was hardly a compliment. I basically never got into any kind of controversies with any of my heroines, nor was I linked with them. Perhaps they did not find me good looking! But I was not spared anyway. They did write a few things about Rekha and me. I was already married when I came into films and that is the reason I wasn’t linked with the heroines. It is a little difficult to keep your personal and professional life totally separate. One has to put in an effort to do so. Mohan Saigal always advised me never to get carried away with suc­cess for it is a transitory phase. He told me, ‘If your movie flops, don’t get disheartened. But if it is a hit, don’t let it go to your head’. That helped me to keep these two departments of my life separate.

Nobody, apart from me, actually made it from my batch of the Poona Institute. But there was this guy, who, though he didn’t make it in films, he became an M.L.A. Shatrughan Sinha was senior to me whereas Danny, Anil Dhawan and Jaya Bachchan were juniors.

All my colleagues  were good friends of mine. At the time I was living in Nibhana, a whole gang of us stayed in the same building. This included Prem Chopra, Vinod Mehra, Moushumi and Anil Dhawan. We would have a get-togethers on Sundays at somebody’s house for lunch, which, of course, would never be served before 3.30.p.m. It was great fun.

The criteria for films has always been the box-office. If there’s a houseful board for your film, then you are a hit. If not, you are a nobody. Then, whether your film is a good one or not, is immaterial. All this has happened with me too, but it was Mohanji’s advice that helped me dur­ing the low phase of my career. I distinctly remember, I was going to the premiere of a film at Metro theatre. I had this long swanky car, the Impala, which was a sta­tus symbol in those days. Incidentally, at that time, I had a few flops to my credit. My car stopped outside the theatre, where all the media people were waiting for the stars to arrive. The moment my car door opened, all cameras went up but when they saw me emerging, they put their cam­eras down. I felt so bad and it was humili­ating also because there were a whole lot of other people who also witnessed this. But that’s the way it  has always been. One flop and they write you off, whereas, another hit and they say, ‘Arre yeh mara nahin hai, yeh to zinda hai’.

In the process of signing too many films  at the beginning of my career, I also missed out on some good projects as I did not have the required dates. I missed out on Vinod Khanna’s role in Mere Apne , Shashi Kapoor’s role in Deewar and again, Shashi’s role in Roti Kapda Aur Makaan. That reminds me, J.P. Dutta had started a very beautiful film called Sarhad, which, unfortunately was shelved. It was a war film with Vinod Khanna, Mithun, Pran saab and me. It was a very sensitive subject about two child­hood friends, Akbar and Ashok. After Par­tition, Akbar goes to Pakistan and joins the army whereas Ashok joins the Indian army. When the Indo-Pak war takes place, Akbar becomes a prisoner of war and Ashok is the camp commander. Then, story proceeds. One of my deepest regrets is, had the film been made at that time, it would definitely have been one of the big­gest blockbusters Indian cinema ever had.

I faced a very bad patch in between, before doing television. At that time some people within the industry spread rumors that I had packed my bags and gone to America. All sorts of things can happen while you are going through a low phase.

I then switched to character roles, with Jawani being the first film where I did so. I played Karan
Shah’s father. To be honest, it wasn’t really difficult to switch to character roles. I have never approached anybody for work till date. Ramesh Behl sent his assistant to approach me for Jawani and the assistant was very reluctant to. Ramesh insisted saying, ‘Jyada se jyada kya hoga?Woh tumhe khidki se bahar phenk dega na’? He came to me and I agreed. For me, it was very simple. Either I sat at home with no work and nursed my ego or I went out and worked. So what if it was a character role? After all, aren’t you here to act? Actually, Dadamoni and other senior people from the industry, told me
that there was nothing wrong with character roles. They said that they had all started their careers with character roles. I consider myself fortunate to have been guided by the right kind of people

Later on, I was offered a role in the tele serial, `Rishte Naate’ which was my first. Though television was not happening, I told Vivek Vaswani, ‘This is going to be the future, stick to it’. I did a few serials like `Farmaan’, ‘Junoon’ and now ‘Waqt Ki Raftaar’ but the most popular of them was `Dekh Bhai Dekh’. Farida, Shekhar and I, all benefitted from it but Shekhar really took off from there.

These days, I am working in television as well as in films but I have cut down on my work. Nevertheless, I am doing the R. K. film, Aa Ab Laut Chalein, Aakrosh, Hindustaan Ki Kasam and Major Saab with Amitabh Bachchan. I know many people feel that he should stop acting in lead roles. All I can say, is that the age factor is definitely not on his side. Speak­ing of today’s actors, I think they are quite talented but at the same time, I think they are very brash. Times have changed and so have values. So many actors are coming in every week, that one hardly remembers their names. As far as the hero­ines are concerned, they are always scantily dressed. Of the actors, I quite like Aamir Khan, who does very selective work but whatever he does is worth watching (As told to Ranjeeta in 1998).

Rajendra Kumar

My grandfather was the only Indian who held the post of a military contractor. He made tonnes of money. And my father, who settled in Karachi, started his own textile business. But during Partition, we had to leave all the land and property behind and were ruined. However, when we came to Bombay, I decided to try my luck in the film industry. I never wanted to be a hero, so I became an assistant to director H.S. Rawail. For five years, I worked with him in films like Patanga, Sagai, Pocketmaar….I also played a small role in Kidar Sharma’s Jogan, a Dilip Kumar starrer.

Producer Devendra Goel noticed me in this film and promised me a break. After one-and-a-half years he remembered and signed me on for Vachan. I was paid only 15 hundred rupees for the film. But even though I’d become a hero, I still played it safe and continued assisting H.S. Rawail. I didn’t want to risk my steady job. What if the film flopped? But I needn’t have worried. It was a silver jubilee hit and I was given a title — ‘A star is Born’. I never looked back.

Vachan was a story about a brother and sister and Geeta Bali, a wonderful actress, played my sister. She was also a fabulous person. Later, when she turned producer, she wanted me to play hero opposite her but I refused. Because I’d played her brother in Vachan, mentally, I could never bring myself to act her lover.

One day, I accompanied a distant relative of mine to his friend’s house. It was here that I met my wife to be. Her family liked me and asked if I’d be interested in marrying her. I saw her, explained that I was a poor man staying in a guest house and things were settled. When I went to Delhi to attend some wedding, I was told that they had found a girl for me. I told them that I had already committed myself to someone else. We had a simple, ordinary wedding and shifted into a paying guest accommodation.

Even though I had signed a lot of films by then, I saw to it that my personal life didn’t suffer. After pack-up I’d come straight home and by seven we’d go out together. I’ve always kept my home territory and work into two separate compartments. Anyone trying to encroach upon my home, is not tolerated.

V. Shantaram signed me for Toofan Aur Diya. I accepted this film even though I had a small role, because it was a big honor to work with him. The film was a hit — a golden jubilee — and I signed Mehboob Khan’s Mother India. A great man, fabulous director and a wonderful human being. He was a father to us — Nargis, Raaj Kumar, Sunil Dutt and me. We had a great relationship. At work he was like a headmaster and at other times he’d feed us with his own hands. I learnt a lot from him.

Nargis was a great star. I remember how Mehboob Khan introduced us. He said, ‘This is your mother and they are your two sons’ (Sunil Dutt and I). From that day on, she actually treated us that way. She’d wake us up with the toothpaste already on the brush and we’d keep pestering her to take us for a film or get us candy. Our ‘father’, Raaj Kumar, was always addressed as ‘Daddy, ullu ka patha’ by us. Even today, when he goes all out to play the eccentric with everybody around him, I can easily make him shut up. We worked in quite a few films together.

After Mother India, I became a star.

I did films like Ghar Sansar, Talak, Goonj Uthi Shehnai (which was a hit), and Maa Baap which was the first film to celebrate a jubilee in Nairobi. This was my first trip abroad and I was showered with love and affection. Then came Devar Bhabhi and Dhool Ka Phool with Mala Sinha, Aayee Milan Ki Bela with Saira Banu… Yes, people talked about us being seriously involved. This was her second film after Junglee. She was a nice person. We only did two more films together, Jhukh Gaya Aasman and Aman.

Personally, I was a well-settled family man. After Mother India my son was born and I couldn’t even afford to think of bringing disrespect to the family. I don’t deny that one can get attracted to another person, but I feel that sense of responsibility should not be ignored. If I misbehaved, I’d have to accept my wife doing the same. It’s not as though we never fooled around. We used to laugh, crack dirty jokes — why, I used to call Waheeda ‘Hai, meri chaundvi ka chand’ with a big sigh; and she’d laugh it off with ‘Keep sighing, this janam you’re not going to get me’. And I’d finish with ‘O.K.’, I’ll wait till next janam’.

Sadhana was and is my greatest, dearest friend. We use to love each other. Even though I did only three films with her Mere Mehboob, Arzoo and Aap Aaye Bahar Aayee — we were very close to each other, a part of a family. Her husband and my wife have also been very friendly with each other. But before she got married, her mother used to come and tell me that I would make an ideal husband for her. She’d bring special lunch for me, and Sadhana would get jealous.

Actually I’ve had quite a few good friends amongst my leading ladies, but my relationship with Sadhana was most superior. She is special. Maybe, because she’s never been a hypocrite. If she has wanted to smoke or drink, she’s done it openly. She’s not complexed. That’s what I like about her.

I was also very close to my co-star of many films, Meena Kumari. Chirag Kahan Roshni Kahan, Pyar Ka Sagar, Zindagi Aur Khwaab, Dil Ek Mandir… We did some beautiful films together. In fact, her husband Kamal Amrohi once told me, ‘Rajendra Kumar is the one who pairs best as a hero with Meena’ A wonderful human being, she was a very soft and emotional person and I respected her very much.

Another big star, Vyjayanthimala, was a great artiste and a good friend. But she was always very moody. Sometimes, she’d be very friendly and sweet, and suddenly she’d be very difficult. Maybe because of that, we never had a great rapport. It was never the same as with Sadhana and Meena. Though in spite of her temperamental altitude, we worked in quite a few films — Aas Ka Panchhi, Zindagi, Suraj, Saathi, most important of all, Sangam. I even signed her for my own film, Gawar, which she told me she’d accepted as her last film.

Sangam brings Raj Kapoor to my mind, though he’s never far from it. Our relationship went beyond films. He was a friend in the real sense of the word — a shoulder to cry on. We couldn’t live without each other. I remember the day he narrated Satyam Shivam Sundaram to me. I disliked it immensely. I was very open about it and told him not to make it. He flung the script at me and went ahead and made it. Anyway, I was proved right but he never held it against me.

We could have an open discussion on anything at all. He was the best friend I ever had and he’ll remain so. Whenever we had a drink together, he used to say that when he’s no more I should think of him whenever I took a drink. I do.

I won many awards. One such award which I cherish is the Merit Certificate which was presented to me by Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru, for Kanoon and a Gujarati film Mehdi Rang Lagyo. Today, I am a Justice of Peace and have been on the panel of the Gujarat committee for two years. This year, I also received the international Urdu academy trophy and an award of ten thousand rupees. Besides this, I’ve got a room full of awards — but tell me where are the genuine awards today?

We all saw the end of the greats — Chandra Mohan, Motilal… I’d watched them squander away their money. They never bothered about the future. I learnt from their mistakes. Stardom, like youth, never lasts. If one doesn’t look after one’s body, how will it support you at a later age? You’ll fall. I kept this in mind and invested wisely.

Gambling, playing cards and horse racing, were never my scene. So many of my friends sat down for card sessions during the Diwali season, but not me. I just distributed hundred rupee notes as good luck money, that’s it. My wife enjoys these kitty parties but I don’t. Not that I’ve ever objected. I hate these darbars where one is surrounded by chamchas. It’s just that I don’t like to indulge in any hypocritical games. I go to very few, select places where I’m comfortable.

People call me a miser, but tell me, have you seen my bungalow? The way I live? I’ve always owned cars that people haven’t even heard of. Umpteen times, I’ve taken my kids on a world tour…I don’t waste money. Let them call me what they want.

I turned producer because of my son. When he was 17, I asked him what he wanted to be and he said ‘Producer-director-actor’. I was surprised. For two-and-a-half years, he assisted Raj Kapoor. Then I asked him if he wanted me to make a film for him. He did. So I went ahead.

People insist that his career didn’t shape up too well because I was very interfering. But let me clear up one thing. I’ve never accepted or chosen any film for him or decided how much he’d charge, except for Star. This was an exception because I met Biddu abroad. But even while the film was being shot I told Biddu that his script was not good and he should rectify it. I was proved right.

In my opinion, his career went the way it did because of the wrong selection of films. But then he never did ask for my opinion and I never thought it right to interfere. He is such an introvert.

It’s only after two drinks in the evening that he opens up.

Today, I’m making Jurrat for him and I hope it’ll help him. As a father, it’s my duty to do

whatever I can for him. After all, we’re living for our children. I’ve never felt that being a star son is a disadvantage. In fact, I’m sure it’s a wonderful feeling that you have someone to feel for you, think for you I’m doing what I can. (As told to Santosh Sud in 1989)

Madhubala

A bet of a thousand rupees was struck at a fashionable restaurant in Bom­bay—the subject of the bet being the beauteous Madhubala.

The two parties concerned were Ramesh Chandra, producer of “Meenar”, and the Cal­cutta distributor of the film.

The latter asked the producer if it would be possible to have Madhubabla—who had step­ped out of the heroine’s role in the picture due to illness and was replaced by Bina Rai—make a trip to Calcutta for the opening of the film there.

So certain was the distributor of the impossibility of the star accepting such an invitation, he took out a new thousand-rupee note scribbled the bet on it. Beneath this Ramesh Chandra, too, signified his participa­tion in the bet.

Thereupon, the distributor asked the pro­ducer how he intended to get Madhubala to accept the invitation.

“Well,” said ex-lawyer Ramesh Chandra archly, “Madhubala featured in the mahurat shot of my film. So I’ll just tell her that since the first shot of the film was of her, the open­ing of the film, too, should be by her!”

So saying, the clever producer pocketed the thousand-rupee note and walked out!

The sequel to this story can only be writ­ten after the film opens in Calcutta.

Will the lovely Madhubala go to Calcutta? Your guess is as good as ours. (Filmfare)