Phanishwar Nath "Renu" Ek Mahaan Sahityakar Jo Hindi Filmon Mein Nakaam Rahe

God must be really kind to me . Otherwise , how would I a nobody from somewhere be so blessed when it came to meet some of the greatest actors , actresses , filmmakers , poets , painters and some of the most amazing creations of the same God who made me and many others like me- Ali Peter John

I sometimes wonder if I would not met all this mahan aatmas if I had not first met the greatest human being I have met , Khwaja Ahmad Abbas

Dinesh Thakur was a young actor who I had to interview to prove my ability . He had just done his first film , "Rajnigandha directed by a former journalist and film enthusiast .

He had his background in literature and theater and was making his debut in films after going through a journey of humiliation and sometimes hunger in the dream city of Bombay .

If I say that he was an angry young man before Amitabh Bachchan , I would not be wrong. He had played the angry young man in some crass commercial films and had decided not to work in such films.

And instead had started his own theatre group called ANK which after an initial struggle had grown into a leading theater company with plays mostly acted and directed by him becoming known all over the country and even in theatre circles in different parts of the world.

Thakur who had no permanent house in Bombay , moved into a comfortable apartment called" Nalini" on the famous Linking Road.

We had grown into good friends after my interview with him was published in Screen and we met almost every week .

One of the major reasons for my meeting him was his huge collection of books and his discussions of writers and their work.

He called me one morning and asked me to come to his house as he wanted to introduce me to " one of the leading lights of Hindi literature ".

Those days I was hungry to meet anyone who could enrich me with their experience and knowledge , and so I was in the presence of Phanishwar Nath Renu, a man with long hair and dressed in coarse khadi kurta and pyjama and whose talk was so inspiring that I stayed on to listen to him for more then three hours ,which included a delicious vegetarian lunch.

Renu had earlier been associated with Hindi films only once . It was when Basu Bhattacharya decided to make "Teesri Kasam" based on Renu's popular novel , "Maare Gaye Gulfaam".

The film produced by the lyricist Shailendra and starring Raj Kapoor and Waheeda Rehman was a commercial disaster but a critically acclaimed film , and had literally "kiled" Shailendra .

Renu had not shown any interest in writing for Hindi films for years after "Teesri Kasam" turned out to be a bitter experience for him.

It was the kind of feeling many other creative writers had after a couple of experiments and experiences which were not very good.

Renu however couldn't resist the temptation when Nabendu Ghosh who had written the screenplay of Bimal Roy's "Devdas " wanted to buy the rights of his most successful novel "Maila Aanchal".

Nabendu Ghosh who was now writing films for Hrishikesh Mukherjee anounced his first film as a director and launched " "Dagdar Babu" with Dharmendra and Jaya Bhaduri in the lead roles.

I met Renu again at the muhurat of Dagdar Babu at the Mohan Studio where filmmakers and writers like Hrishida , Nabendu , Gulzar and Moni Bhattacharya had their OFFICES.

Inspired by their mentor Bimal Roy who lived in a huge bungalow near the Mount Mary Church in Bandra and travelled all the way to Mohan Studio which he found very peaceful to work in ( Mohan Studio "died" many years ago and I wonder if Bimal Roy would find the place peaceful now).

The film made slow progress because of financial constraints and was finally shelled. Dharmendra called the scrapping of the film " my bad luck , I had the role of a life time in it".

Efforts were made to start the film again , but nothing could make the story of Renu come to life again . And Renu never came back to Bombay and to Hindi films again.

Aur renu ko paane ki koshish bhi nakaam rahi kyonki 57 ke umar mein woh iss duniya se alvida keh gaye.