God Created Some Men And Women And Then He Created Pandhari Juker, Who He Gave The Divine Gift Of Changing Those Faces And Making Them Immortal.. Farewell, Pandhari Dada...

Ali Peter John

How many times must I thank God for giving me the unique privilege of meeting and knowing some of the most talented, powerful and ever so gifted people in my life! I have known the most mighty and the most humble and lowly, I have made the legends and the people who made those legends, I have made some of the greatest actors, writers, poets, filmmakers and and musicians who have made me a rich man, richer than any of the richest people in India or in the world.

Among the many people I have known and met with and formed a bond with which will last till the end, is Pandhari Juker or Pandhari Dada as he was known as in the industry for more than 60 years, a man respected, love and needed by some of the most handsome actors, the most beautiful actresses and the most eminent filmmakers who wanted their actors to look the way they had conceived them to be in their films. And Pandhari Dada never let them down in any way, he worked his magic with his God-given touch which changed and transformed faces all together. My Guru K A Abbas, with whom Pandhari Dada had worked without once asking how much he would be paid, once called him, “The God on earth who has the gumption and the gift to change even what God couldn't recreate after he had once created".

I used to meet Pandhari Dada very often and he used to regale me and enlighten me with stories about legendary actors like Dilip Kumar, Nargis, Meena Kumari, Madhubala and down to Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan and so many others in whose lives he had played a very vital role. He had also worked on the faces of the actresses of new generations like Madhuri Dixit, Meenakshi Sheshadri, Manisha Koirala, Mahima Chaudhary, all of them were discoveries of Subhash Ghai, who had tremendous faith in his talent as one of the greatest makeup artist, not only in India but also in the world, in spite of having the minimum requirements makeup artist needed to do full justice to his very creative and most difficult job which directly involved lives of stars on whose names there were crores of rupees involved. In all his 60 years of being in the business of painting faces, there was not a single instance when anyone could blame him aur going wrong in anyway. In fact, several big wigs of Hollywood who visited Bombay never went back without meeting Pandhari Dada and praising him and his work done within limited resources and with the highest quality that could complete with Hollywood and even beat it.

Pandhari Dada had made it point to see not to only recreate the faces of handsome and the beautiful. His services were required given by some of the best villains like Pran. He was the only makeup man the Mangeshkar sisters, especially Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle asked for whenever they had to face a camera. He was also the makeup artist for kings and queens, industrialists and business magnets and some of the leading Indian cricketers.

He kept changing with the times and when TV shows became the in thing, he was still the most wanted Pandhari Dada. He was a legend on his own who had come up the hard way and had reached the stage when those who lived in mansions, palaces and Mannat  had to bow before him, not because he was a very powerful man, but because he was an artist who painted faces which was considered one of the most difficult jobs done by great men like Pandhari Dada who had to spend their whole life as secondary citizens where only the high and the mighty matter and the rest keep struggling to make two ends meet.

Pandhari Dada could have flown away to any country where he wanted, where he would have been treated like royalty, but he preferred to stay back and do his best for the country and the industry which he felt had given him enough to be satisfied in life.

He was taking things easy after a long innings which seemed to come to an end, but he made sure that all that he knew the art of makeup was passed on to the next generation and started his own school of the art of makeup. He had any number of admirers and what they all loved about him unanimously was his humility in his greatness.

It is very difficult to pay complete tribute to a man so great and yet so humble, but I hope the industry realises his true contributions and gives him the due respect which sincerely feels that he never received which ended last week at the age of 88 and I don't know why always have this image of him in my mind, the image of a man who could have asked and demanded for his pound of flesh, but never found it right to do.

They have been tributes flowing ever since he died. The best like always was from Amitabh Bachchan who was extremely kind to remember how Pandhari Dada was the first to paint his face in “Saat Hindustani" and how once she waited for Pandhari Dada to return from an outdoor shooting without touching the makeup he had already done for him and that was for 4 long days. His son, Abhishek went one step ahead even though he had done his makeup only for one film, when he said Pandhari Dada would be busy making heaven and all the saints and angels look more beautiful than they are supposed to be.

It is not only legends like stars and superstars and showman who comes once in a way. makeup artists like Pandhari Juker comes once in a way. The industry will miss you Dada, if they don't they are either lying or letting their egos  to get the better of them. And if they do that, they will and should not be forgiven.

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Tags: Bollywood, Bollywood News, Bollywood Updates, Television, Telly News, Pandhari Juker, Pandhari Dada