KISMAT NE FARAH NAAZ KO HARA DIYA

If you are not a believer in what is called fate, bhagya or destiny as they are called, you must try to be a part of this good, bad, sad and mad world of Hindi films - Ali Peter John

If you have to have proof that there are such mysterious forces that governs the lives of people here, you must listen to the story of Farha Naaz.

I was called by my ‘father', Dev Anand and he wanted to know if I was free at around three o'clock as he wanted to show me ‘someone who has come down from the skies'. I knew it would be one more girl he was fascinated by and wanted to launch....

He introduced me to a truly beautiful girl called Farha Naaz, who was the stuff which could inspire the greatest poets to write poems and more poems about.

She was the kind of beauty that could inspire painters and sculptors. She was the kind of beauty who could tempt the most holy men who had taken their vows of celibacy and their vows to keep away from beautiful women who could distract them in their path to find God or salvation.

She was the kind of beauty young men would be ready to sell their hearts and souls for and she was the kind of beauty who could inspire Dev Anand or any other genuine film-maker and make them come up with stories and scripts with which they could make films which would suit her beauty.

I looked at her and kept looking at her. I would not be human if I had neglected her or not recognised her presence even in the presence of the evergreen Dev Anand who had been the source of inspiration for so many young girls and men down the years....

Farha Naaz was accompanied by her little sister, whose name was Tabassum and they had come from Hyderabad which was and still is known as the city which has always had some of the most beautiful women,a gift granted to the city by God himself.

The little sister sat in a corner quietly while Farha Naaz continued to play her magic with Dev Sahab and me.

Dev Sahab had already made up his mind to make Farha Naaz one more of his discoveries. He was ready to do photo sessions with her and told me that he had already thought of a story to cast her in, I was sure that he would do it....

I didn't know how the word about Dev Sahab discovering a new female talent spread in the industry and every big producer and director wanted to know more about this girl.

Yash Chopra who was planning “Faasle" needed a fresh new face to cast opposite Ruhan Kapoor, the son of the well-known singer, Mahendra Kapoor.

He called Dev Sahab and asked him if he could cast his discovery in the role for which he was finding it difficult to find the right girl.

Dev Sahab proved again that he was not a possessive man and gave Yash Chopra the permission to cast Farha Naaz in his film and he told Farha how it was a prestige issue to work with a director like Yash Chopra.

Farha who hardly knew anything about the industry followed the advice of Dev Sahab and was soon the younger heroine in “Faasle".

The film however was one rare films of Yash Chopra, which was a big flop and Dev Sahab and many others like me were worried about what would happen to the future of the girl who could not be blamed for the failure of “Faasle".

We however didn't have to worry for long, because Farha had become hot property even though her first film flopped.

One of the first big filmmakers to approach her was N. Chandra who had already made a name for himself as a director.

Like I said, destiny had a big hand in shaping the career of Farha Naaz and she couldn't work with Chandra who has always regretted not having had the opportunity to work with her.

“I could have taken Farha to heights she could never imagine, but what could I do if she was not destined to work with me", Chandra told me more than many times.....

Farha however went on a spree, signing one new film every week and growing into one of the most wanted leading ladies in both Bombay and in the South where they had started making Hindi films again after the glorious fifties and sixties when there were banners like Venus, AVM,Gemini,Prasad and other leading banners which made films with almost all the big stars from Bombay....

Some of the films in which Farha shone out were “Naseeb Apna Apna" , “Imaandaar" , “Hamara Khandaan" , “Naqab", “Yateem", “Baap Numbri Beta Dus Numbri" , “Begunaah" , “Bhai Ho To Aisa" and “Sautela Bhai" .

And among the leading men she was working with were Rajesh Khanna, Rishi Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt, Sunny Deol, Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Mithun, Govinda, Aditya Pancholi and Aamir Khan.

And if you read this list again, you will know what chances Farha had to make it to the very top, but....

Soon, all the attractions, trappings and temptations of stardom grabbed the girl from a small town and she was not the Farha she was when I first met her in Dev Sahab's office.

The only positive affair of the heart was with Rajesh Sethi who was one of the talented assistants of Yash Chopra.

They made a very attractive pair and I know because they often came to my house together on my birthdays and other days.

She even played the host when Rajesh who was the son of a leading distributor from Delhi, launched his own film, “Jeene Do" which was something of a male version of “Mother India" with Anupam Kher in the role of some kind of ‘father India'.

It was Farha who welcomed all the guests to the launch and stories about the affair between Rajesh and Farha grew stronger.

The film, “Jeene Do" however failed to make an impact and Rajesh had to face tough times till he started another film,“Angaarey" based on a script by Salim Khan who had just split with Javed Akhtar of the famous Salim-Javed team.

This film also could not make waves and Rajesh could never find his way again and Farha went her own ways....

As I said, stardom had shown signs of turning her head and the first ‘bad' thing she learnt was to drink and a nip of vodka after a day's shoot became a must for her.

She then got married to Vindoo Dara Singh, the son of the legendary wrestler, actor and filmmaker and moved into his bungalow below Mamta Apartments built by Dara Singh.

There were stories about how she couldn't get along with her in-laws and even dared to call her father-in-law names.

The couple had a son who they named Fatehi and their differences kept growing wider till they decided to separate and Farha left with her son and was no longer in demand in films and had started doing TV-shows, during which she met the struggling actor Sumeet Saigal who had separated from his wife, Shaheen, the niece of Saira Banu and Farha and Sumeet got married, a marriage which went on the rocks within a short time and Farha has now been living all by herself and has dedicated her life to bringing up her son, Fatehi Randhawa who is now all set to make it big as an actor....

And what happened to her little sister, Tabassum, who was a baby sitting in a corner in Dev Anand's office?

Dev Sahab who was always ready to take on risks and challenges decided to make “Hum Naujawaan" which was the story of a girl-child being raped by four spoilt sons of rich men and how Dev Anand playing the prosecutor fighting the case for Baby Tabassum (the name Dev Sahab had given her).

The rape scene and Dev Sahab displaying her lingerie as proof was a highlight, but Dev Sahab's admirers too didn't like the bold ways of making the film, but Baby Tabassum showed sparks as an actress.

She was signed by Boney Kapoor when she was hardly in her teens to be teamed with his younger brother, Sanjay Kapoor in “Prem".

The film took years to make and Tabu as she was called now was growing restless.

She signed some bad films where both critics and the masses wrote about her ‘thunder thighs' than her talent.

She had to wait till a film called “Haqeeqat" was made by Kuku Kohli, with Ajay Devgn as the hero and she played a young widow who falls in love with Ajay.

The film was nominated in nine different categories at the ‘Screen Awards', which included a nomination for the best actress for Tabu, but none of the nominations ended up with the awards.

Tabu first shot to fame with Gulzar's “Maachis" for which she won the National Award for best actress and today she is considered to be one of the most outstanding actresses of Indian cinema.

She lives alone in a posh apartment where Boney Kapoor and Sridevi were her neighbours and there is a story going round that she has turned a recluse.

Tabu, who is now in her late forties however denies the story and asks, “what is wrong in a woman if she decides to live all by herself? When will our society learn to accept the facts of life?"

And if there is one woman who is always proud of Tabu and stands by her at all times and under all circumstances, it is her elder sister, Farha Naaz.

And if there is one man the two sisters cannot stop being grateful to, it is Dev Sahab as I know him and Dev Anand as the world knows him.

How can they ever forget a man who cannot be forgotten by anyone whose lives he has touched even once?