Chandigarh, Friday, July 9, 1999
Chandigarh, Friday, July 9, 1999 |
Out to change pin-up boy image By Jyoti Mahajan FRESH from the success of his latest film “Soldier”, Bobby Deol is confident that with his forthcoming films, he would be acknowledged as a good actor and not a pin-up and poster boy. Natural
to the core Carrying
flame of art Musical
homage to Kargil heroes |
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Out to change pin-up boy
image FRESH from the success of his latest film “Soldier”, Bobby Deol is confident that with his forthcoming films, he would be acknowledged as a good actor and not a pin-up and poster boy. The younger son of the famous actor, Dharmendra, Bobby is nowadays in Shimla shooting for the film “Badal” being directed by renowned director Raj Kanwar (of “Daag, the Fire” fame). The last from the Deol family to make his way to the big screen, Bobby talked in detail about himself during an interview with the writer on the sets of “Badal” at Woodville Palace Welcome Heritage Hotel where the shooting of the film is going on. Bobby says he has a great liking for Shimla where he came two years ago while shooting for the film “Kareeb”. Bobby says “Badal” is an action-based love story and drama set up in the high Himalayan ranges. He is playing the title role of a lad, Badal, who comes to avenge the death of his dear ones. Despite being an action film it is devoid of fights, but shows war on the mountainous terrain. He says the film is shot in the picturesque environs of Shimla. Kufri and Narkanda and will portray his acting prowess. The handsome son of Dharmendra and Prakash Kaur says he aspired to become an actor ever since his childhood days. Obviously, his father was his role model. Things today are very different from his carefree childhood days when life demanded absolutely nothing... when it was a bliss just to be known as Dharmendra’s son. Bobby reveals he enjoyed acting as a child star for his father’s childhood role in “Dharmaveer” shot in the ’70s. However, Bobby shot into the limelight four years ago with his debut film “Barsaat” followed by Rahul Rawail’s “Aur Pyar Ho Gaya”, Vinod Chopra’s “Kareeb” and Abbas Mastaan’s “Soldier”. His forthcoming films include “Dillagi” with Sunny Deol and Urmila Matondkar, “Hum to Mohabbat Karenge” with Kundan Shah and another film with Abbas Mastaan. The Acquarian (born on January 27) reveals that his father Dharmendra is his favourite hero who inspired him to join films. He intends being an all-round actor like him. Bobby considers “Chupke Chupke”, “Yaadon ki Baraat”. “Jugnu”, “Aankhen”, “Sita aur Gita”, “Mera Gaon Mera Desh” and “Gazab” amongst Dharmendra’s best films. When asked if it is an advantage being Dharmendra’s son, pat replies Bobby, “It is both an advantage and a disadvantage. It is an advantage since you get a launch and it is a disadvantage as people expect a lot from you. When I ask him if he faces competition from his elder brother Sunny, Bobby says, “There can be no competition between Sunny and me since he is like my father, brother, sister and mother and is very protective about me”. He states that besides acting he would also try his hand at production and is also producing a film “Dillagi” with his brother. The macho actor is very particular about his physique and daily devotes at least 45 minutes for workouts. “I feel that it is in the present situation when there is lot of competition, it is important for every actor to be physically fit”. The youngest Jat in the Deol family is fond of homemade vegetarian food. Non-vegetarian food is never cooked in their home, he informs. Bobby is thrilled with the success of “Soldier’ and considers Preity Zinta a good friend. When I ask him if Himachali girls have acting potential, he says, “I think girls from everywhere have potential provided they are lucky and have the right kind of roles.” Bobby considers “Barsaat”, “Gupt” and “Soldier” amongst his best films till now. What are Bobby’s
hobbies? “I like listening to the music of R.D.
Burman and S.D. Burman and holidaying in Switzerland with
my wife, Tanya. I also like dancing and I think it shows
on the screen”. |
Natural to the core IN the past couple of years, the name Kapil Kalyan has come to be a force to be reckoned with at college-level acting competitions. Having remained a crowd favourite at Panjab University Chemical Engineering Department’s ‘Cyanide’ festivals over the past three years and won the first prize in the mono-acting competition at Chandigarh Carnival in February’ 98, this final-year student of Chandigarh’s Government College, Sector 11, went on to win the Best Actor award at PEC Fest’ 98 and also the first prize in the inter-college Histrionics Competition at Malwa College, Samrala, last year. Above all, by winning the coveted first prize in the “histrionics” event at Panjab University’s 40th Inter-Zonal Youth Festival, held at SPN college, Mukerian, early this year, he added a shining feather to his (already) much-decorated cap! At the same time, his potential as a director also came to the fore when his presentation “Imandari Chal Basi” won his college troupe the second prize at PEC Fest’ 98. Here, it must be mentioned that ‘Rajniti Ke Mahajan’, another play directed by him and staged at ‘Jhankar’, the All-India Inter-University Youth Festival, had bagged the overall Theatre Trophy in 1997. Interestingly though, while his list of achievements may appear to point at a carefully cultivated association with the stage, it transpires that Kapil has received no formal training in theatre and is a natural to the core. Indeed, it was at the tender age of three when, to the immense delight of his family, the (now) budding thespian started of with “drawing room renditions” of verses from the Ram Lila. Ebullient and extremely observant from his earliest years, all he ever needed to succeed on stage was a pat on the back which, happily for him, he was never denied at home or school. When asked about his guru, Kapil names the God-given “power of observation” that allows him to latch on to a person’s peculiarities of speech and body language in a jiffy (watch out, all ye unsuspecting interlocutors!). Besides, his tremendous power of voice modulation allows him to mate tone and words most effectively. Today, having completed college, Kapil has his sights trained on pursuing theatre at the National School of Drama. However, his prime wish is to be directed by Neelam Mansingh Chowdhary whom he reveres as his icon. It is a known fact that
nature and nurture complement each other in the
development of a personality. In Kapil’s case, it is
nature that has, so far, almost single-handedly powered
him to his on-stage achievements. However, today, as he
waits in the wings to take off, the young performer is in
need of a guide to nurture and hone his raw talent to the
fullest and prepare him for the long haul ahead. We hope
he finds one! |
Carrying flame of art ORGANISING 65 annuals of art on an All-India level by any organisation is an achievement. This also proves how solidly the organisation is rooted. The organisation is none other than the Indian Academy of Fine Arts, Amritsar, which was set up in 1928 and headed by the legendary artist S.G. Thakur Singh till he breathed his last in 1976. The goodwill and the infrastructure that this man created with the support of artists and art lovers was enough to carry the flame of art in Punjab One outstanding example is that of Dharam Singh Engineer who not only joined hands with member colleagues in bringing up this important institution, but also designed, executed and nurtured it with an abiding love, faith and devotion. His son Mohinderjit Singh, a well-known architect, is now the president of the academy and making positive efforts towards the growth and development of the institution with his team of artists and art lovers. The year 1999 saw the organisation of the 65th All-India Art Exhibition by the academy. The exhibition was inaugurated by Kartar Singh Duggal, an eminent Punjabi writer and Member of Parliament, who lauded the effort of the academy and lamented over the lackadaisical approach of the Punjab Government towards it. As many as 604 paintings, drawings, graphics and sculptures were received from 318 artists practising in different corners of the country. A five-man jury after a marathon session of discussions and deliberations, selected 201 works of art by 150 artists for display. Eight awards of Rs 4,000 each were given to Ved Prakash (New Delhi), Murli Dhar Rai (Noida), Suresh Raval (Rajkot), Ravi Narayan Gupta (Khairagarh), Barun Chaudhary (Baroda), Jaspal S. (Hoshiarpur), Vinay S. Awatare (Nagpur) and Basudeb Biswas (Jalandhar). The AIFACS Award of Rs 5,000 was bagged by Satya Prakash (New Delhi). In addition, 10 highly commended certificates were also presented to the artists. The wide variety of artistic expressions received from different parts of the country gave the exhibition a distinct character. It also manifested an artist’s struggle for a contemporary image. The range of styles and techniques were from the academic to the modernistic. Graphics and drawings received from Khairagarh and Baroda stood out. The most redeeming feature of the exhibition was the ever-increasing participation by young and upcoming artists who held a promising future. The exhibition was on at
the galleries of the Indian Academy of Fine Arts, M.M.
Malviya Road, Amritsar, recently. |
Musical homage to Kargil heroes Shaheedon ki chitaon par lagein ge
har varsh mele, This was the theme of the musical homage for the swelling ranks of martyrs at Kargil organised by Rama Kant Goswami, a pioneering force of the All-India Sanatan Dharam Pratinidhi Sammelan that brought diverse religious heads of the Muslim, Arya Samaj, Christian and Sikh communities besides the Gurdwara Singh Sabha to assemble under one roof at the serene surroundings of the beautiful Jheel at Prasad Nagar recently. The entire business community and residential associations in West Delhi also joined the conglomeration enthusiastically. The stage was set on fire by the choir led by Sudhanshu Bahuguna and Kailash Khair representing the Sahitya Kala Parishad, Delhi, by their inspiring patriotic numbers beginning with Sare jahan se achha, Hindustan hamara....Kailash Khair’s Sangat mat karna yaro khotee, ye duniya hai ulti sulti.... seemed to be message for Pakistan that it did not disturb India under evil and mischievous patronage. Tejinder Singh’s Itna to karna swami, jab pran tan se niklein, Gobind naam leke...explained that all of us have to go one day via Kargil or each individual’s route of his own karamsthal; so why not put in one’s best in whatever one is assigned to do by the Almighty’s orders for the country as well as society. Main andhey ki tek, tera naam khundkara,on demand seemed to lift the audience of over 2,000 to a transcendental-meditation level. Bhai Gurdial Singh
recited Awwal Allah noor upayya. kudrat de sab bandey, ek
noor te sab jag upjayyo, kaun bhalley kaun mandey...and
De Shiva var mohe eh shubh karman te kabhun na tarun, na
darun ar so jab jaye larun, nischay kar apni jeet
karun...from the sacred Gurbani with the religious calm
and fervour required for a shardhanjali sammagam before
the entire Delhi West stood up for the nation, its
heroes, their dependants and our National Anthem. Life
came to a standstill on the adjoining ranks of the Jheel
as pedestrians as well as the otherwise unstoppable
moving traffic of Delhi also stopped a while to salute
her motherland and mother’s heroes. |
Audioscan by
ASC VELVET VOICE (Venus): Hariharan is one singer who is not heard as often as his talent demands. He is equally adept in coming up with silken ghazals and “modern numbers”. Here, as the name of the album signifies, the focus is on the former. Very few of these are new ones. A majority of them have already been heard in other albums. It may be just a coincidence, but the better lot is packed on side “A”. Among them are Mujhe phir wohi yaad ..., Unse jab jab bhi mulakaten huyin ..., and Aap hamare saath nahin .... The other side has Saaqi sharab la ..., Ab woh mere kareeb ..., Kabhi khushi se ... and Raat khamosh thi .... Music has been composed by Hariharan himself. All eight ghazals are penned by different shairs: Khumar Barabankavi, Muztar Siddique, Zafar Kaleem, Tahir Faraz, Anwar Farrukhabadi, Mushir Jhunhanvi, Munnawar Rana and Mumtaz Rashid. 30 SUPER NON-STOP REMIX (Sangeet): Remixing is now a full-fledged industry. Some do it exceedingly well, some just about pass muster and most just destroy old gold. Fortunately, the cassette under review does not fall under the last category. Since no royalty has to be paid, the cassette packs as many as 30 numbers. Most of these are at least a quarter of a century old. In fact, remix works best only on the really old ones. One advantage is that you get to hear them in stereophonic magnificence. Secondly, the slow beat which does not appeal to today’s crowd is replaced with a foot-tapping one. Remixing has been done by Manish Sinha. The singers are Sanjeev Kohli, Shrikant Kulkarni, Shrikant Narayan, Rajesh Shrivastav, Pradeep Shankar, Nisha Upadhye, Nalini Kulkarni, Manish and Menka. The strange thing about remixing is that while copying immortal singers like Rafi, Lata and Kishore, even very very ordinary ones sound like them. It is only when the copycats are asked to render something original that the difference becomes clear. Among the songs which have been transformed considerably are Haal kaisa hai janaab ka ..., Gore gore o banke chhore ..., Aye dil mujhe bata de ..., Uden jab jab julfen teri ..., Dekho kasam se ..., and Jhoomta mausam mast maheena .... BEST OF THE BEST (Venus): Who are the best singers of the country? If your list includes Abhijeet, Chandana Dixit, Hema Sardesai, Altaf Raja, Aditya Narayan and Baba Khan, you can hope to get a job with Venus because they have included these in this cassette (my list does not). Here is another attempt at job placement. Which is the best song of Abhijeet? If your choice is Tu chalu hai re ..., you are in. Otherwise join me in staying out. The same selection trend
continues in picking up Maine pala maar liya ... from
Altaf Raja and I want to see you only ...from Baba Khan.
Dissenters will do well to re-learn the definition of the
best. |
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