Bhagwan Dada Birth Anniversary : Once upon a time they used to have bungalows and vehicles, then their whole world was looted

Bhagwan Dada Birth Anniversary: He was the son of a textile mill worker in the hinterlands of Maharashtra but was completely enthralled by the magic of films. He was illiterate and had to start life as a simple laborer but his love for films grew stronger! He knew that, if he wanted to do something in films, he would have to reach Bombay and live in the then densely populated mill areas in Central Bombay and make a name for himself as a wrestler, at which he proved to be the champion and earned him the name Bhagwan Dada found.

His passion for films led him to visit studios, where he found work as a part of the mob, from where he became a junior artiste. While he was busy working in the studio, he developed his own school of dance which later became popular as "Bhagwan Dada School of Dancing".

He earned enough money to start his own film production company and after making one film that was an unmitigated disaster, he went on to produce, direct and star in the film with one of the most popular actresses of all time, Geeta Bali as the hero. Succeeded in acting. The film titled "Albela" was full of Bhagwan Dada's dances and some exceptionally popular music by C. Ramachandra, one of his best friends, and the lyrics were written by another friend, Rajinder Krishna.

The film created a frenzy and at the time of release was more successful than the films of Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor. The songs and dances with Bhagwan Dada alone and the duet between Bhagwan Dada and Geeta Bali created such a craze that, people in every theater watched the film throwing coins and even currency notes at the screen and released it in theatres. danced.

Bhagwan Data had a bungalow and cars

That one film, "Albela" changed the fortunes of a one-time laborer and wrestler! Now he had a huge sea-facing bungalow in Juhu, a bungalow with twenty-five huge rooms! He owned a variety of cars, seven of which were for his personal use! He used a car every day of the week and was richer and more popular than any other star, man, or woman.

The success of just one film prompted him to repeat the entertainment formula he had tried with “Albela”, but fate again refused to be kind to him. Three films made by him including "Jhamela" and "La Bela", inspired by the success of "Albela", flopped at the box office and Bhagwan Dada was left in ruins. Very few people had seen so much success and so much failure in such a short period of time! The seaside mansion had to be sold and so was his Jagriti studio next to the famous RK studio (in fact it was Raj Kapoor with whom he had worked in "Chori Chori" which inspired him to become a producer and director ).

The man who was a very helpful boss, who helped everyone who came to him for help, now needed help himself. To add to their misery, Some of his own relatives cheated him of whatever property he had and he was left alone, broke, bankrupt and returned to live in a chawl in Parel, where he was a laborer. His story had mercilessly come a full circle.

Anand Bakshi gave a chance to Bhagwan Dada

He didn't try to fight back because they had already surrendered! Bhagwan who used to roam from studio to studio in a suit, now went from studio to studio in search of any kind of work. Some people who knew about his glory days offered him work as a bit of role player or a dancer in the crowd and he would be paid a few hundred rupees at the end of the day's work! There was a well of sadness in his eyes, but he never begged or begged those he helped, such as the famous lyricist Anand Bakshi who was a soldier in the army and wanted to write songs and gave Bakshi his first Was given a chance! To write his first song for films.

When he was facing difficult situations in life, another cruel game was played with him. One of his relatives, who had the rights to “Albela”, released the film all over Bombay and surprisingly forty years later the film still ran in theaters and new generations of people also threw money at the screens and danced for glory And there was a strong revival of dance like Bhagwan Dada which even Amitabh Bachchan picked up and gave it its own identity. All this went on because Bhagwan Dada fell ill and confined himself to his dirty room in that chawl in Parel.

The author accompanied Sunil Dutt to Bhagwan Dada's room where he was found in a home-made wheelchair that also served as his toilet. He was in a completely helpless condition and had only a nephew and his wife to take care of him.

The man whose house served the best whiskey and all kinds of liquor at parties every evening when Sunil Dutt, knowing his weakness for whiskey, offered him a bottle of the best Indian whiskey and he grabbed the bottle. Kissed and put on the head and tried to dance like in the moment when he created “Albela” but gave up.

A few days later, Bhagwan Dadaji, a village boy in Maharashtra, dies of a heart attack and not even his best friends and those whom he had given a new life to, did not have time to attend his last rites .

All that is left of him as a reminder of an unusual story is a black plaque placed near the chawl, on which his name was written in white letters ... stars and in any corner of India and even Wherever Indians are in different parts of the world, it is a "must have" item in every kind of celebration.

A life from which every star and common people like us should also learn. (Bhagwan Dada Birth Anniversary)