33 SAAL PAHELE EK AAM AADMI, SHAM APNE RABH PAR BAROSA RAKH KAR MUMBAI AAYA, AUR AAJ USKE RAB KE MEHERBAANI NE USSE WOH SAB KUCH DIYA HAI JO SHAMJI NE KABHI KHWAAB MEIN BHI NAHI DEKHA THA..... BY ALI PETER JOHN

I don't believe in insane beliefs like superstition, in astrology, palmistry or even the latest insanity called Vastu, but there are certain incidents in my life that attract me and tempt me to believe in destiny, coincidence or the hand of God - Ali Peter John

I have been living in a small house on Yaari ( friendship ) Road for the last 48 years and nothing great has really happened to me except that I am still alive. But, there is something about my house that has brought all kinds of people to my house.

I have had the opportunity of welcoming and hosting small and big people with a cup of tea and lots of love. I have had all the so called small people in my heart, but there have been celebrities like Dev Anand, M F Husain, Sunil Dutt, Rajendra Kumar, Dara Singh, Ramanand Sagar, Sarika, Naseeruddin Shah, Anupam Kher, Om Puri, Manoj Bajpayee, Deepak Tijori and writers like my guru K A Abbas, Vijay Tendulkar, Javed Siddiqui and Gulzar as my guests, some who started their careers just before they came to my house and then rose to become masters, legends, and great success stories ......

It was a Sunday morning and one of my friends brought a young man to my house and introduced the man as Sham Kaushal.

He was a very humble man and I wondered and was worried about what a simple man like Sham Kaushal was doing with a fraud like the one he had come to my house with.

However Sham Kaushal must have realised my predicament and told me something about himself.

He was a M A in English Literature from one of the universities in Punjab and had come to the city of dreams to find some job, any job to make a living for himself and his family who he had left behind in his village in Punjab.

All I could tell him was that he could try and if he was good enough, Mumbai would certainly embrace him and open bright doors of opportunities for him too, like it had for other young men like him. We parted on that note .

I met Sham a few days later and he told me about how he was living in a one room tenement in the midst of some "tabelas" ( stables) and had started working as a fighter in films.

His "Rabh" had started being kind to him and he got his first break as a fight director in a Malyalam film called "Indrajalam" which led him to getting a major break in Nana Patekar's first film as a director , " Prahaar".

His real test had just began. A major accident during the shooting of "Prahaar" in which his guts were ripped open and he has to stay at the Nanavati Hospital for several months and his treatment was done under the guidance and care of Nana himself led to his survival .....

And then began the survivor's assault on his own Everest, with the encouragement of his seniors like Veeru Devgn and others like him who proved that there were good human beings in the industry .

His " Rabh " had taken a vow not to give him up come what may and with his " Rabh" standing by him and holding him whenever there was a fear of slipping or falling, Sham who was now known as Shamji went on to become the number one fight director or action coordinator or stunt choreographer as he was called .

I was closely watching his success and found that even when he had reached his Everest, he was still the same humble and simple follower of his "Rabh" who he gave all the credit to for his success.

The day he came to my book release function driving a Mercedes himself, I knew that this man Shamji would never ever change. He had now become an internationally known action coordinator and was a star in his own sky.

His "Rabh" wanted to bless him with more gifts and he gave him the best gift when his son, Vicky Kaushal who I have seen as a little boy had grown into a star - actor and who became the loved one of millions when he excelled in every role he played and he was loved all the more when he fell in love with Katrina Kaif, one of the leading actresses of our time.

Shamji's second son Sunny Kaushal is also on the rise and with Mrs Veena Kaushal, the strongest support and strength in Shamji's life, there certainly will be a new Kaushal tree in the film industry

That Shaamji has a heart of gold was proved when he distributed boxes of sweets in his village in Punjab and made sure that the sweets even reached his teachers and professors of his school and college days .

Shaamji is a loving father and father-in-law today, but his work always comes first for him , is worship for him. He still follows his fitness regimen to keep himself fit and follows a strict diet and above all he never misses a single day when it comes to his prayers, mostly to thank and be grateful to his "Rabh" who he says and believes has always been kind to him.

Incidentally, Shamji was the action director who the eighty year old Shyam Benegal opted for when he was asked to direct " Banga Bandhu" the biopic of the first Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

That a maker of the calibre of Shyam Benegal says that the film would not be what it is without all the good work put in by Shamji is a feather of gold in Shamji's humble cap full of feathers made especially created by his " Rabh", only for him .

And at the age and stage at which Shaamji is, I can only hope and pray to his " Rabh" to make his rise to newer peaks be, bright, blessed and the best.

WOH AAM AADMI, SHAMJI AAJ AISE MUKAAM PAR PAHUNCHE HAI JAHAN JEETNA AUR HAARNA BADI BAATEIN NAHI HOTI . WOH SHAMJI KO AAJ SHAM BHI BHARI DOPAHAR AUR SUHAANI SUBAH AUR KAAMYAAB KHWAABON KI DUNIYA HOTI . AUR JAB TAK SHAMJI KE SAATH UNKA RABH HAI, UNKO KOUN KYA KAR SAKTA HAI AUR KYON KAREGA ?