B.R Ishara The Bare _ Footed Genius

The seventies will be remembered for several reasons.There were many memorable events that happened and there were many people who happened to make the seventies one of the most happening times in the history of Hindi cinema.Look back at those times and you will know why I am saying this in 2019.

One of the most interesting beings to happen was the descending of an unusual young man called Babu Ram ( B.R.) Ishara.on the film firmament of Bombay.Babu Ram was an assistant to several known and unknown directors,who found in him a young man whose caste or creed was questionable,but whose command over Urdu was unquestionable.His job as an assistant was to sometimes write the Urdu dialogues written by known writers into Hindi.But,whose main job was to carry cups and glasses of tea to different members of the unit.But,he was a favourite of the star lovers who were working in the same films in which he was the assistant.He specialised in writing love letters and carrying them from one lover to another,which made him popular with some of the biggest stars.

But,even while he was playing more of an errand boy ,he never gave up his ambition to write and direct his own films in the way the other makers couldn't think of making films He wanted to prove that it was not necessary to have big stars and that films could even be made on a shoe_string budget.

He found a producer in a known editor of films,I.M.Kunnu and they made a sensational beginning with a film called "Chetna" with two new actors who had just passed out the FTII,Rehana Sultan,who was a gold medalist from the FTII and Anil Dhawan .

The film was seen as a shocker even when the posters with just two bare legs of a woman were put up all over the country.The Censor Board wanted to ban the film and even branded it as a blue film, but this brave young man had his way as he said he was doing his duty as a film maker with a conscience who wanted to show the mirror to the naked realities of life in society and the country."Chetna"  was a kind of revolt against the orthodox and traditional ways of making films .The bold and naked scenes of Rehana and the shocking but true language used by her and every other character made the established film makers sit up in shock and all out attempts were made by them to see that Ishara didn't make any more films.

Ishara however proved to be a rebel and continued making one more shocking film after another and was called "the high priest of sex in cinema".and other name ,that the bare _footed and bearded crusader couldn't be stopped by any power, government,legal,social and the industry itself.And the best thing for Ishara was the mass acceptance of the masses who found a way to satisfy their prurient urges and desires which were suppressed by the film makers in the business of film entertainment till then .

Ishara soon made films with all the leading stars like,Sanjeev Kumar, Shatrughan Sinha,and even the ruling star team of Dev Anand and Zeenat Aman .He also gave breaks to new actor's like Reena Roy,who even did a stark nude scene in his film,"Zaroorat" with Vijay Arora, another gold medalist from the FTII.

He could complete a film in a month,he could complete a film in a week and he even completed a film in a day with the entire film shot inside a bungalow,he always shot on actual locations,very rarely in Studios which he found expensive to shoot in, and he never shot in any place outside Poona. He could complete an entire film within a budget of a few lakhs of rupees. He was responsible for giving a new life to several producers, song writers and music composers. He was now called a messiah of the small filmmaker who saw in him the ideal maker who could help them in making quick money.

He was soon losing his magic touch, but he found a savior in Rajesh Khanna who was also in his last phase as a star and had started his own television company which made serials about the supernatural, but none of them were successful....

Ishara had married Rehana, his first heroine in“Chetna"soon after the release of the film and Rehana quit acting. Ishara shifted into Rehana's apartment in“Parchcaiyan",a five-storeyed building owned by the renowned poet and lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi.

Ishara had his own office in a lower middle class area, but luck was very kind to him when a rich fan left his bungalow opposite Amitabh Bachchan's“Prateeksha"to Ishara who shifted to the bungalow, but could never change his lifestyle. He was still the bare-footed genius who for many was the first rebel in Indian Cinema.

He was elected the president of various associations and was known for doing his job for the cause of others to the best of his abilities.

He was addressing a meeting when he suddenly collapsed and was rushed to the Kokilaben Ambani Hospital. The industry rose to the occasion and raised money for his treatment, but nothing helped. The rebel had died before fighting for all the causes that were dear and close to his heart which finally betrayed him.

His wife, Rehana has been trying to find some work as an actress. She even started a small-time hotel, but as she kept growing older and lonely (they had no children) she started falling sick and only a few months ago suffered a stroke and the industry is again rallying to come to her help.

How some stories start! How they take shape!! And how they end!!!

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