A JURY OF GIANTS FORMED BY A PYGMY

Ali Peter John

A dream can be fulfilled.An ambition must meet with success. Anything can be possible. Even the impossible can be possible. All a man (and even a woman) needs is the determination to pursue the dream or the ambition with passion, the sincerity, a little or more of prayers and the will to win under all circumstances and never to give up or to give in. A little of the sport's man zeal and enthusiasm can only be of greater and better help to achieve once ambition and dream in a much more fulfilling way. These are not lessons I learnt from any book or from attending any seminars or lecture. I learnt them from just one experience which I had while I was working in "Screen" for more than forty-eight years ....

"Screen "had decided to have its first awards which were to be decided by a Jury formed from within the film industry. And if it had to have a Jury from the industry, it would have find suitable members to form the first ever Jury. The senior staff started playing a game of passing the basket and for more than a week not one of them volunteered to take up the responsibility, even though they claimed to have very good contacts in the industry...

I hardly knew any of the senior actors, directors or filmmakers to think of even approaching them to be on the Jury, but when I saw no one still willing to do anything about it, I decided to stick out my neck and face the music if it came to that...

I picked up my "jhola"(does it remind you of some great men who also talked about picking up his jhola and walking out ?)And walked into the unknown battle field.

We needed a distinguished personality to be the Chairman of the Jury and I couldn't think of any one better than the thespian Dilip Kumar, but who was I and what was I to even think of asking him to do anything like that ?.I was young and full of the spirit to do or die and so I reached 34 Pali Hill, the bungalow where Dilip Kumar had been living ever since he married Saira Banu in 1967.I was lucky to find him having his tea and he was kind enough to ask me to sit with him and asked for some tea for me too .I was eager to tell him about the purpose of my visit and told him about the desperate need to have him as the Chairman of the Jury and he shot back,"where does the question of desperation come into this ?"

I explained the situation to him and I couldn't make sense of what he had in mind when he asked me to sit in his car and joined me and asked his driver ,Kutty to drive outside the gate of the bungalow. He asked Kutty to park the car and asked me if I had some paper and said that he had his own pen. He was quiet and pensive for the next forty minutes and kept writing while I kept looking at him with my heart beating faster than it usually beat. He finished writing and revised what he had written and gave the paper to me,put the cover of the pen between his lips and said in his typical Dilip Kumar style, "Ye tumhare woh sahab log ko dena aur kehna ye meri sharte hai,agar unhe manzoor hai toh main tayyar hoon ".

I asked him if I could have a look at what he had written and he said, "shauq se ".I didn't know if I was allowed to laugh and he was looking out of the window of the car. What he had written in his exquisite handwriting was a list of the items he would like to have served to all the members of the Jury. I told him I could give him an assurance there and then, but he said, "tumhare seth log marwaadi hai paise ke baare ,unse baat karo phir mujhey aake milo,humlog Khaana bhi khate hai aur kuch sharab varab bhi peete hai".I was so excited that I forgot to tell him that I had given up drinking for a while. My management was thrilled to know the good news and was willing to offer him anything and they even gave me a car to move in from the next morning .

I had to keep my evening free for the Emperor of acting as I had promised him that I would come, but I couldn't waste time. I reached the office of Dr B.R.Chopra who came to his office at 11:am sharp when he was not shooting. I had developed some contacts where I didn't need to take appointments and the B.R.Films office was one such place. I talked to Dr Chopra about the Jury and he was very happy when he heard that Dilip Kumar had agreed to be the Chairman and said, "Yusuf is a very old and dear friend .We have worked on films like "Naya Daur" ,"Daastaan"and "Mazdoor". Working together in this Jury will be a very good opportunity to meet and exchange notes after so many years.

I didn't have to get any official approval from Dr Chopra and he was in the Jury. I was now a young man in a hurry and all charged up. After all, I had two of the biggest and most illustrious names on the Jury of "Screen ".I wanted to see what more luck or destiny had in store for this man who was still struggling to find a niche . The car helped me reaching Sathe House in Santacruz which had the office of Ramesh Sippy ,the maker of "Sholay"who had also made hits like "Andaaz",Seeta aur Geeta", "Shaan","Saagar"and "Akayla"and the popular T.V.serial "Buniyaad",among others. He was busy but when I told him about the Jury and how Dilip Kumar and Dr B.R.Chopra were already on it ,he smiled and asked me if he had to sign anywhere. I now had three big names on the Jury of "Screen ".I celebrated by taking a break till I met the Emperor in the evening and had a great time like I had every time I met him.

My search for the Jury continued and I landed at "Anupama,"The building on Carter Road where Hrishikesh Mukherjee had shifted after selling his bungalow in Union Park to the actor Vinod Mehra.I didn't know why people in my office made it sound so difficult to get a Jury together because when I talked to Hrishi da , He only asked me for the dates on which the screenings of the entries would start and end. What more could I ask for ? Could there be a better Jury than the Jury that had already come together ?

But more surprises were waiting for me. Gulzar was a very good friend who I had first met as a die-hard fan when I was just out of college. He too like all the others agreed to be on the Jury within minutes. Now, there were times when I felt like asking myself, "itne mahaan log ek Jury mein kabhi aate hai kiya?" and "ye ek ek aadmi alag alag Jury ke Chairman ho sakte hai .Aur Yahan, ye sab ek hi Jury mein milkar kaam karne walehai".I couldn't believe what I had done or my prayers had done for me....

The next day, I had the pleasure of having the brothers Kalyanji-Anandji ,the music directors who had completed fifty years in films and as if that was not enough for me, I had one of the leading sound recordist Narinder Singh who had worked with directors like Mrinal Sen,Ramanand Sagar and Gulzar and the art director Chhel of the team of Chhel-Taresh team of art directors on the Jury.

All the screenings were held at Sunil Dutt's Ajanta preview theatre and the meetings were held at the Centaur Hotel where the JW Marriott is now. The delicious snacks as I expected came from the kitchens of both Dilip Kumar and Sunil Dutt and where supervised by Dilip Kumar's begum Saira Banu,Narmada ,Dilip Kumar's favourite cook who travelled with him wherever he went in the world and their staff.

Never once during the entire session of watching films did I have to remind any of them about the schedules. They were all very punctual and came like students coming to an examination hall with their files and notes.It was an emotional high to see Gulzar who was Hrishida's junior when they worked with Bimal Roy, touching Hrishida's feet in the lobby of the Centaur Hotel. It was great to see friends like Dilip Kumar and Dr Chopra meet and embrace each other and talk about the past and Dr Chopra inviting the thespian to his house which was close to the Centaur and Dr Chopra's interest was to narrate the script of "Baaghbaan"to him ,which ultimately didn't happen and Dr Chopra's son Ravi Chopra made "Baaghbaan "with Amitabh Bachchan.

All the nominations in different categories were unanimous. I remember how there were five nominations each and when it came to the best supporting actor, Dilip Kumar said, "one, two, three,four and five all Anupam Kher ".There were many funny moments too and they were all created by the Tragedy King,who else but Dilip Kumar ?

It was time for the awards ceremony. It was to be held at the Film City.And without a trace of any pride I must say that I even organised most of the events on stage myself without any of the participants even charging a rupee.The highlights were the daring unveiling of the Screen Awards trophy by Suneil Shetty who was still not a star and the first one-man act done by Anupam Kher, besides the "kitne aadmi the" scene of Amjad Khan and his henchmen in "Sholay".Amjad had died and I asked his son Shaadaab to play his part and the act was also a highlight and so was the "Dil hai chhota sa,chhoti si asha "dance and song number performed by Madhoo who had also played Roja in Maniratnam's "'Roja".

The awards ceremony saw many of the yesteryear veterans for the first and last time.Ashok Kumar (Dadamoni) was the first recipient of the Screen Life Time Achievement Award and when Dilip Kumar walked up to the stage and presented him with the award, it seemed like the hills around Film City were also standing and clapping for the two giants of Indian cinema. That night if there was one line that played on in my mind, it was, "You are all winners but in a game or a competition,there is place only for one winner at the top ".Can you guess who had spoken that line ? It was none other than Mohammad Yusuf Khan, also known as Dilip Kumar whose language could make the storm stop,the waves recede and the moon and the stars bow before him in respect.

The following year, I had Vijay Anand as the Chairman, who was followed by Manoj Kumar and then the Screen Awards became like any of the many many awards in the country and there was even talk about the buying and selling of Screen Awards. I used to be called "the face of the Screen Awards "when they started. I was slowly pushed to the back rows and before they could humiliate me and "Screen "any further, I disappeared from "Screen "and soon "Screen" itself folded up. It was yet another fall whose thud still rings in both my years and wakes me up in a sweat at nights.