Sham Kaushal, Vicky Kaushal, Sunny Kaushal And Talent Unlimited!

Ali Peter John

It is certainly very difficult to say what will happen to who, when and how. I have always challenged astrologists and palmist to tell me if they have answers to these tricky questions and they have always proved to be like the Hatha Yogi who some 40 years ago said that he could walk on water and gained the attention of the entire world, but drowned when he had not even placed his 1 foot on the pool of water, his admirers and followers had built for the grand occasion. I have always believed that man creates his own destiny with some help from the circumstances around him and by the grace of God if he believes in God.

Let me tell you the true story of my very dear friend, Sham Kaushal, who is the most popular and ace action coordinator of films made anywhere in India and even in Hollywood. He was a young man from Punjab, who was more interested in academics and pursued his studies till he did his MA in English literature and came down to Bombay in quest of a job. It took him very little time to realise how difficult it was to find a job even if one had a  postgraduate degree  in English. He however was in no mood to give up. He lived in some chawls in the suburbs where his neighbours and friends were mostly men who worked as fighters and junior artists for at best as assistant directors in films. He mixed around with them and came to know more about how the film industry functioned and before he could know more that force called fate or circumstances played its  part and he was asked to be  the fight director of a Malayalam film called “Indrajalam" and he put his life into it and his work  was recognised and he found more work as the fruit of his labour. He was known as one of the better and then one of the best action-coordinators in Indian films.

He however shot into the LimeLight when Nana Patekar who was making his debut as a director with “Prahaar" which was all about the tough life of the commandos chose Sham Kaushal to supervise all the dare-devil action scenes, especially for Nana. The film went on the floors only after Nana with Sham Kaushal did 2 months of rigorous practicing of all the scenes. The film when released strangely  did not do well at the box office and Nana took a decision never to to direct a film again and the producer Sudhakar Bokade who had made a hit like “Saajan" and was planning “Kalinga" to be directed by Dilip Kumar son died of a massive heart attack.

The success story of Sham Kaushal however continued and he was soon the man behind all the action and death-defying sequences of some of the most important films made in the coming years and some of the best directors depended on him to make the most daring scenes come alive and he never let them down. He reached a stage when he was as important as any of the stars or the star-directors, but he was known as a very  humble, grateful and mild man who gave thanks for all his success to the God he believed in who he always said was ‘very kind' to him.

Like his elder in the profession, Veeru Devgn, he was always concerned about his two sons, Vicky and Sunny and always kept praying for a better future for them, but made it a point to say that he was a mere technician and would not use his position or whatever influence he had to push their careers in films. He didn't have to. Circumstances again took care of them. Vicky joined Anurag Kashyap as an assistant after doing course in engineering and soon he was chosen to be the hero of an unusual film called “Masaan" and it marked the beginning of what was to be a glorious career as an actor. Every film Vicky has done during the last few years has only seen him grow and rise into one of the best actors we have today. One has to just see him in films that have gone by like “Raman Raghav",“2.0",“Raazi",“Sanju" and “URI" to know what calibre this unusual actor is made of. And one has to see  the kind of films he has been signed for in the time to come, films like the biopics on Udham Singh, Field Marshal Maneckshaw a very big film called “The Immortal Ashwathama" in which he will play the title role and will also be putting on weight to the extent of 100 to 150 kilos and then there is the mighty Karan Johar film based on Mughal Period called “Takht" in which he will be seen as the Emperor Aurangzeb and will be sharing screen space with actors like Kareena Kapoor, Ranbir Singh, Anil Kapoor and Bhumi Pednekar among others. To add to his status as the new  big star on the horizon, the social media and the glamour magazines are also busy linking him with the glamour girl and the big star Katrina Kaif and ask his father about it and the gentleman that he is, he says it would be better to talk about the right things at the right time.

Circumstances have also been playing a part in Sunny Kaushal's life. He had watched his father and his brother taking rapid strides and was busy pursuing his studies in commerce and planning to be a chartered accountant, but he couldn't keep the magic of films away for long. He started assisting some directors. He got his first break as an actor in “Sun Rise Music Tours and Travels", which didn't do anything good for him, which was followed by “Gold" and then came Kabir Khan's web-series “The Forgotten Army" for Amazon Prime, which has opened up a whole new world for him as an actor. The web series has been getting the attention of leading filmmakers like Rakesh Roshan who have been calling his father to tell him how good Sunny is  as an actor which is giving Sunny one big boost to keep going and now there seems to be no looking back for him and it is only going to be the sunny side up for him.

And before I can close this version of the story of the Kaushals, there is news about Sham Kaushal doing the action sequences for Mani Ratnam's film which he says is going to be the most ambitious, the most expensive, the most star-studded and the most lavishly made film ever in India. Ask him for any details and he just smiles that smile which makes him look only a little less than an Angel or a Farishta and as usual, he ends or talks with those three magical words ‘God is kind'.

WHO SAYS NANA DOESN'T HAVE A HEART?

Nana and his new action co-ordinator Sham Kaushal had made all the arrangements to start the shooting of “Prahaar" on locations in Kolhapur with Nana himself and a number of young actors and real life commandos. He had told Sham Kaushal and the ‘boys' that he would not be satisfied unless he got perfection even if he had to to take several shots of the most risky scenes and people who watched the shooting again said the same thing about him, they said he was mad to go in to make a film like “Prahaar" and shoot scenes that could be seen affecting the lives of so many young men and putting their lives at stake, but Nana would have none of it and went  ahead to shoot his film just the way he wanted to....

One morning, there was complete chaos and even fear among all the brave boys. Shamji as Sham Kaushal was called met with a serious accident in which he had seriously injured his stomach externally and internally. He was bleading profusely. Nana called a halt to the shooting which involved several hundred young man dressed in the uniform of commandos and made every arrangement to see that Shamji was rushed in the nearest and best hospital.

When the doctors told him that it was a very serious case and that he would have to be taken to Bombay, Nana who had several doctor-friends at the Nanavati Hospital in Vile Parle made arrangements to fly him there. And for the next few months, Nana cancelled some of his most important commitments and assignments and to complete care of Shamji till he recovered completely.

It is more than 25 years now. Nana is a superstar in his own word and Shamji is a superstar technician, but the two are very close family friends. Shamji who is an extremely busy technician never loses any opportunity to be with Nana on all the important occasions and events in his life and the one festival celebrated by Nana he never misses come what may is the Ganesh Chaturthi festival he celebrates at his old house near the Mahim railway station where he sits with the idol of Lord Ganesh for all the 10 days of the festival, without moving, not even moving to receive ministers, high police officers, stars and filmmakers who come to have a Darshan of his Ganpati. On the last day, he himself carries the idol of Lord Ganesh on his head till he immerses it in the sea. People like Shamji, me and many others are often baffled as to who the real Nana is, the one who abuses and drives away writers and filmmakers who come to him with bad scripts, the Nana who touched the feet of Naseeruddin Shah after seeing him tperform in the  play on Einstein or this Nana sitting before Lord Ganesh for 10 days and 10 nights without drinking, without abusing or without indulging any kind of acts that would earn him the wrath of Lord Ganesh.

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