HUM WOH HAI JO KALE BADALON KE SEENE KO CHEER KAR AASMAAN PAR APNA NAAM LIKHENGE AAJ NAHI TOH KAL - By Ali Peter John

If there is one section of people who have been affected in Bollywood the most, it is the thousands of aspiring actors and actresses who have passed out of different acting schools and boys and girls with all the requirements to make it who have come to Mumbai in the hope of chasing their dreams - ALI PETER JOHN

Those who didn't have the courage or the confidence in themselves have packed up their bags and left for their native places to play in the laps of their parents and other well-wishers.

But there are some who have been made of tough stuff and have stayed on to continue their chase. They live as paying guests or in hostels and find it difficult to carry on with their daily difficulties, but they are well-fed with the passion and the determination to make it one day.

Their common belief is that if a man like Ajay Devgn or even Shah Rukh Khan can make it big, then why can't we. And it is this belief in them that keeps them going even when the odds are entirely against them."

We will conquer" and " We shall overcome" is their motto and their motivation to keep them going.
In all my 50 years, I must have met thousands of such young people, but the youngsters of today are in a class of their own.

They are better educated , they have diplomas and degrees in the fields they want to excel in and what they have in abundance is the will to win in a world which doesn't seen to be interested in giving them the opportunities, that 2 minute chance to shine.

The day these youngsters find the "chance" they are looking for, I am sure they will be as good or even better then some of the stars and so called stars.

I have been meeting three such young people who are talented and have the confidences to make it, but besides the other odds in their ways, they are now facing an entirely unexpected road block in their path to success in the form of the Corona virus and now the sister of Corona virus , omicron.

Nitin Anand is a brilliant stand up comedian who has done shows in different parts of Indian and even abroad.

He has Even done small but interesting roles and cameos in a number of films, but ever since the pandemic has stuck, Nitin like hundreds of other actors has been waiting for those calls which can get him some good work to prove his talent, in the two years of the pandemic, he has only received only two calls which have brought the light back into his life and he is now waiting for many such calls which can make his life better and face the future with a greater sense of confidence.

I met this pretty little girl in a Café where one of those lecherous men was trying to take her into a world about which she knew nothing.

She had been trained as an actress at the Kishore Namit School of acting. She was also a Trained dancer and could speak the most lines with eloquence and ease .

Her name is Arti Mishra and she is on the move to let people in high places know what she is capable of. I have taken on the responsibility of doing whatever I can to see that she doesn't give up.

Every time I speak to her and ask her how she is, she has only one confident answer, "Badiya hun" and these two words she speaks and the smile on her face when she says those two words gives me all the reasons to hope for a very bright future for her.

And as I am writing this piece, I know that I am sitting with a sweet girl from Madhya Pradesh , Meghna Panchal who I also found in my favorite Cafe and it took me only two meetings to foretell her future.

Meghna is a student of Hindi Theatre and has qualified herself in every way to face the challenges that will come her way in the near future.

She has been tempted to give it all up and go back, but it is the fire and the drive in her that has kept her back to face, fight and defeat all the negative forces that may come in her way.

That she is typing this piece for me in her spare time speaks volumes for her will to not surrender under any circumstances.

I see her as one or the lights that can dispel the growing darkness around and I hope my dream for her comes true and success comes to her like a flood which will not end soon....

There are thousands of Nitins , Artis and Meghnas around and they will have to succeed if we have to have a bright , better and even brilliant future.

And I am not yet taking about all those young men and women who live in places like Ganesh wadi , Mahada, Aram Nagar and other places.

They too have their ambitions and dreams, but I keep worrying about them and wondering what their future will be in this world of bollywood.

HUM HONGE KAMIYAAB, HUM ZAMANE SE TAKRAYENGE, JAB TAK HUMARE KHAWAAB PURE NAHI HONGE.