MYSORE PALACE MEIN KAISE EK AADMI NE MUMBAI KE SITAARON KO DARRAA DIYA

There are times when even some of the biggest stars suffer from a strong inferrioty complex and the impact of the complex lasts for a very long time - Ali Peter John

Sanjeev Kumar's youngest brother, Nakul Jariwala was making his debut as a producer with a film called "Do Waqt Ki Roti" with Feroz Khan, Sanjeev , Reena Roy , Sulakshana Pandit and Amjad Khan.

The film was being directed by Satpal who was once an assistant director working with Narinder Bedi , the son of the writer Rajinder Singh Bedi and who had seen The Godfather more than ,40 times and had made a statement saying , " I can make ten films based on this one film and had directed his version with the name ,"Adaalat" with Amitabh Bachchan in a double role .

The young producer , Nakul believed that it would be very easy to make a film with his brother , Sanjeev being a big star , but faced problems all through the making of his film especially problem with his stars.

The entire unit of the film was shooting at the famous Mysore Palace in Bangalore . The shootings never used to start before two pm and there was tension all the time , because none of the stars arrived in time and there was no one who could drill discipline into them .

On one particular day , all the stars surprisingly reported for shooting in time . There was Feroz Khan , Sanjeev , Amjad Khan, Reena Roy and Sulakshana who were to be a part of one long scene.

The director Satpal was all set to shoot the crucial scene ,when a white Ambassador car drove into the Mysore Palace with a neatly bald man in stark white trouser and a matching shirt sitting in the back seat .

There were thousands of people watching the shooting of "Do Waqt Ki Roti, " but as soon as the Ambassador was parked and the man in white came out , there was a strong wave of excitement in the crowd.

And within a second , the entire crowd left the shooting of" Do Waqt Ki Roti" and rushed to where the man in white was shooting .

That man in white was Dr Rajkumar , " the God of Kannada Cinema " . And after seeing how the crowd reacted to Dr Rajkumar , Sanjeev Kumar said , " hum log kaayeke star aur superstar , star toh ye sahab hai jo saat saal ke umar mein bhi solah saal ke ladkiyo ke saath ishq bhi karta hai, sau aadmi ko akele maarta bhi hai aur hamesha jeettha bhi hai ".

All the stars from Bombay , led by Feroz Khan went to the sets of Dr Rajkumar's film and he was a picture of humility and stood up to welcome to he stars from Bombay .

That afternoon , the stars from Bombay must have learnt some lessons from the veteran actor which they can never forget.

It was the muhurat of a Hindi film called. Asha Jyoti" at the Annapurna Studios on Banjaara Hills in Hyderabad .

The film in Hindi was being produced by a leading politician , Kovai Chezian who was producing his first Hindi films and it was being directed by Dasari Naraina Rao who had the unique distinction of shooting for seven films in a day . Rajesh Khanna who had fallen from his throne , Rekha and Shabana Azmi were the stars.

There was a massive crowd all around the studio and the stars from Bombay felt that the crowd had come for them . But within minutes , they were proved miserably wrong.

This time too , a white Ambassador drove into the studio and the man in the car looked exactly like the man in white at the Mysore Palace and when the man came out of his car , I could see the entire crowd falling at his feet and trying to touch him .

I was very young and even a little mischievous and casually asked , " ye ganjaa kaun hai bhai ?

" There was a man who was standing next to me when I said this and he immediately told me " young man, don't say anything like this again ,the crowd will lynch you " .

I took his advice seriously , especially when I came to know that the man was the chief guest at the muhurat ceremony .

I had to learn more about the man . He was known as " the Dilip Kumar of Telugu cinema " and his name was Dr Akkineni Nageswra Rao and was besides being a formidable actor the owner of Annapurna Studio and the father of the upcoming actor Nagarjuna .

I followed him to the next floor and found him in his costume as a king and I went up to him and asked him if I could interview him and without any hesitation , he said ,.

" Come to my house opposite The Banjara Hotel at five in the morning tomorrow " in all my years, I have never interviewed any one at that undgodly hour , but I had to do it .

I interviewed him with hundreds of photographers and journalists around . I finished my interview in a hour and then started an endless procession of men women and , children who had visited the Sabrimala temple and were returning , but who believed that having a darshan of their hero was as important as visiting the temple.

That morning I realised what real stardom was all about . I wrote an article on him based on my interview with him and three days after my article was published , I received a letter of gratitude from the great man .

I still have the letter he wrote to me and have published it in a book which is a collection of letters written to me by legends.

And there is this story from Rajahmundry in the former state of Hyderabad. A film was being shot in both Hindi and Telugu .

It was called "Jaani Dost" . Jeetendra' and Shatrughan Sinha were the heroes in the Hindi version and Krishna and Krishnam Raju were the stars in the Telugu version.

The two versions were shot simultaneously . There were huge crowds in the jungles where the films were being shot .

It was interesting to see how the crowds cheered the Telugu stars and completely ignored the stars from Bombay .

Jeetendra' and Shatru got terribly complexed by the popularity of the Telugu star and the Telugu stars considered Jeetendra' and Shatru as their idols who inspired them to become actors .

In the early 80s Rajnikant tried his luck in Hindi films , but could not make it as big as he was in Tamil films .

But , he loved coming to Bombay and shooting for Hindi films , because he loved his not being recognized by the people in Bombay and he once told me , " I can go to the market and any department stores and any bar without any problem of being recognised or mobed .

YE SITAARON KI DUNIYA BHI KITNI AJEEB HAI . HAR SITAARA KO APNE GHAR MEIN HI LOG POOCH THE HAI . AUR WOH BAHUT KHUSHNASEEB HOTE HAI JINKO SAARI DUNIYA JAANTI HAI AUR MAANTI HAI