INHI KAMAAL KE LOGON NE MUJHE TARAASH TARAASH KAR VOH BANAAYA JO MAIN AAJ HOON - By Ali Peter John

I didn't know why my mother called me a mad boy till I was twenty and I lost her and was busy walking the streets and looking for ways to find meanings to my life. But, more and more people kept calling me mad and other odd names and kept asking me what I would do in the future - ALI PETER JOHN

My barbar birbal kept asking me when I would become a 'wakeel'. My neighbour Joseph kept worrying about whether I would become a BEST bus conductor or not and all my other christian neighbours wanted me to be a christian priest an ambition I had thrown out of my window when I saw how a christian priest had tried to fleece me of all my money in the name of my mother's last rites and funeral.

And the girl I loved only wanted to see me dressed up in a suit and wear a tie and Bata shoes. I however disappointed all of them and became a film journalist. Thank God with one of the leading or rather the only good film weekly in India called ' Screen' where I worked for 48 long years...

I worked very hard during all these years and I especially remember the issues I brought out on Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan , Yash Chopra, B.R. Chopra, the only woman star-actress Nutan.

But I also brought out an issue which was called the work of a mad young man. At a time when all the magazine and even newspaper had gone in for colour, I told my female editor that I would like to try and bring out an entire issue of 100 pages in black and white.

Her first reaction was, " Ali , have you gone mad? Who will see the paper and will be mad enough to advertise in it? ". She however thought for a few moments and said," You are mad , go ahead and do what you want , but I will not take any responsibility and I will not ask the other staff to help you in anyway." I took what she said as a challenge and got to work.

I thought it would be a very good idea to get the most colourful and successful actors of the time Madhuri Dixit to be specially photographed to be only black and white.

I got hold of Mr. J.H. Thakkar who was one of the oldest photographers alive and who had an outdated studio in Parel where he shot pictures of the locals with a huge wooden box camera with which he once used to shoot pictures of every big star and superstar and the last struggling star he has shot was that of Mithoon Chakravarti when he had absolutely no work and was a friend of his son Hemant which he had put up in his showcase and told everyone that a boy Mithoon would be a very big star one day.

Mr. Thakkar who was 85 years old was very happy when I told him about a cover picture for Screen being shot with Madhuri Dixit. He closed down the studio for the day.

We reached his studio in Madhuri's car at 11 am sharp as he had asked and Madhuri kept wondering and marvelling at the box camera and within minutes there was panic all over Bombay.

A leader of the BJP from Bandra Mr. Ramdas Nayak was shot dead in broad daylight at 10.30 and there were signs of riots all over the city.

But Madhuri 'the marathi girl' was as calm as ever and just told Mr. Thakkar to pull down the shutter from the front and keep shooting in the darkroom. And that is exactly what Mr. Thakkar did and he was all praise for Madhuri's bravery.

We finished the shoot at 2 pm and Mr. Thakkar ordered for garama garam vada pav and chai which Madhuri gobbled down in haste and loved the taste of the vadas and the tea both and remembered her days in college.

At 3 the riots had calmed down and Madhuri got into her car and drove down to filmcity to continue with her shooting which she had left incomplete the previous day.

The riots had made no impact on whatsoever on her. Results of the shoot dazzled Madhuri and she said, " I wish I could have worked during the days of Madhubala, Meena Kumari and Nutan".

But my real challenge had begun now. Neither the editor nor any of my seniors were willing to even move from their seats to try and help me to get all the photographs that I needed if I had to bring out a complete issue in black and white.

I panicked at first , but my senior peon who I hated calling a peon, Mr. Pramod Manjrekar told me," Ali sahab, humko sirf bataao tumko kya chahiye, Patil (he is junior) , Chandran aur Chari (the typists) aapka sab kaam kar denge."

I had to not only collect all the hundreds of photographs and put them in order but also write stories about each photograph and my typists (sorry my friends) and me worked day and night and lived on glasses of tea from the canteen.

We had to complete the issue on a thursday , but we gave the first copy of the issue to the editor on the tuesday. The issue hit the market on the wednesday instead of friday and repots from different parts of the city and even from places near the airports said that the copies were being sold for 50 rs each when the original price was only 5 rs.

Was it a victory for me or for Pramod or for Chandran or for Chari or for Patil or for all the workers in the press? No, it was a combined victory for all of us which once again proved that where there was a will there had to be a way and hardwork was the only key to any success, not just in bringing out a black and white issue but also in giving new hope to the world.

Today, there is no Screen , there are no dedicated workers who could work with a mad man like me and there are no workers who could share my madness and above all there are no bosses who knew the value of all those vintage photographs.

I had asked the management to preserve every black and white photographs in those days ,but they had turned a deaf ear to my suggestion and today all those photographs supposed to be lying in the godown of some channel which is only interested in making more and more money and cares a damn for history, values , principles and other mad things which have gone into the kind of dustbins which no one cares to have a look at.

JAI SCREEN , JAI PRAMOD , JAI CHANDRAN, JAI CHARI AUR JAY MERE PRESS KE VOH SAARE SAATHI JINKE BINA MAIN MERA KOI BHI KHWAAB BADA YA CHOTA POORA NAHIN KAR SAKTA THA.