“I Consider Dada Moni (Ashok Kumar) My Film-Acting Inspiring Guide-Guru’”, Says  Veteran Actor-Singer Biswajeet-Da On Teachers’ Day

Chaitanya Padukone

Illustrious veteran compere-Radio Jockey-musicologist Ameen Sayani watched in disbelief when at a recent live packed-house concert in Mumbai, the otherwise ‘living legend’ super-actor Biswajeet ‘sang’ seven of his favourite songs ‘live’ on stage . Which included the foot-tapping ‘Bekarar Karke Humey’ the  mirthful ‘April Fool Banaya’ and the haunting ‘Yeh Nayan Darey Darey’. Reacted Ameen-bhai in his patented style, “ Behnon aur bhaaiyon, just can’t believe that dynamic, ageless great actor Biswajeet-da also sings so well”,  which elicited a thunderous audience ovation  with whistling cheers at this ‘’Biswajeet-live’ concert organized by impresario Rajni Mehta. Although the ‘Bees Saal Baad’ yesteryear handsome hero has sung a large number of ‘playback’ for himself in Bengali, he has never sung for himself in Hindi films. Explains Biswajeet, “ Even the revered film-maker Manmohan Desai who directed me in the musical super-hit ‘Kismat’, insisted that I should sing my playback, but I refused politely. Simply because in Hindi my focus was only on acting and I did not wish to deviate. This decision mattered a lot in my  Bollywood success story, “shrugs the staunch Maa Durga- devotee actor who has been religiously hosting his own Durga-Pujo pandal in Juhu, for the past 16 years.  On the occasion of Teacher’s Day, the affable Biswajeet-da recalls how as an aspiring young actor  he was hugely inspired by Dada Moni (Ashok Kumar). “ When I started off as a junior actor with a cameo in Bengali movie ‘Hospital’, my scene with Ashok-Da was ‘deleted’  and I cried like a child feeling so dejected. Later on, when I started playing lead roles, I was fortunate that Dada Moni was my co-star in many movies including ‘Paisa Ya Pyar’ and ‘Nai Roshni’ .All thru, he was my acting guru-guide and kept advising me to accept versatile contrast roles,” smiles Biswajeet who is still appreciated for  being clad in female attire and dancing gracefully in the popular song ‘Kajra Mohabbatwala’ (Kismat). “It was Ashok Kumar who started the trend of adding the suffix ‘Kumar’ in 1936 followed by top actors like Dilip Kumar-saab and currently we have Akshay Kumar,” shares  Biswajeet who will be flying to Dehradun this weekend to receive  his ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ at the Dehradun International Film Festival (DIFF).

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Tags: Bollywood, Bollywood News, Bollywood Updates, Television, Telly News, Ashok Kumar, Teacher Day