Subhash ghai ka maanna hai ki mann ki shakti hi sachhi shakti hai (yahi unki teesri marathi film )"vijeta"ka vishay hai

Ali Peter John

Sometimes I feel it is the mind or what is now called the mindset that has made Subhash Ghai the showman he is still known as even though he has not made a film for some years and is better known as an educationist and for his putting his mind and his heart into making his pet project Whistling Woods International better than one of the best that it is already known as in different parts of the world...

It was his strength of mind that made him join the FTII to pursue a course in acting. It was his strength of mind which made him, a boy from a middle-class family rise to be one of the outstanding student who could even write a thesis on Dilip Kumar's performance in "Devdas". It was his strength of mind that made him face all the humiliation in Bombay till he was recognised as an actor.

It was his strength of mind that made him realise that he would not succeed as an actor, but that he could succeed in grooming actors. It was his strength of mind that made him succeed as a writer and ultimately as a superb director and a producer and finally as a showman. It was his strength of mind that made him take an unusual decision to build a film school of the best kind when he could have easily build empires in different fields of life.

It was his strength of mind that made him take success in his stride and also take failure when it almost threatened to cripple him and his grand show, but again it was his strength of mind that made him stand up again like a Colossus and rule the waves with his own baton and see every kind of wave obey his commands because every wave knew the intentions behind his commands.

Some years ago, when his big films like "Yuvraj", "Kissna", "Black and White" and finally "Kanchi" badly bombed at the box office, many felt it was time to bid farewell to the great showman, but while his detractors and biased historians were busy writing him off, he was doing a private course in knowing himself and trying to know where he was going and what was going wrong.

He realised that he could be a showman, but not a superman who could do as many things as he wanted. He learned some new lessons to live a new life and to give new life to thousands of others. He decided that mind strength was a force for the future.

It was while he was still meditating and trying to practise the art of using the mind in a stronger way that he found a script presented to him by one of my Indian Express day friends, Amol Shetge who wanted to make a Marathi film with sports as the theme. Ghai who had earlier made Marathi films like "Vallu" and "Sannai Chaugade" and had very positive experiences loved the subject basically because of the theme which talked about mind strength, positivity and the will to defeat defeat, which were prime qualities for any sportsman playing any kind of sports on any level.

Ghai not only agreed to present the film which was to be called "Vijeta", but gave Amol Shetge the freedom to make the film the way he wanted, with the artists of his choice and even the technicians, the composers and the lyricists. What more could a director serious about making a serious film ask for? The film was completed in less than six months.

Subhash Ghai has been so excited about the film that he has been using every platform to promote it, their is something new on his WhatsApp which makes one curious to know what is to come next.

On February 28th, the sprawling grounds of WWI were agog with excitement which it always is, but this time it was because of the launching of the trailer and the music of "Vijeta". The function was to officially start at 4:30 pm in the auditorium where some of the most prestigious events have been held under the auspicious of WWI, but it was getting late and later and for someone who has been attending events organized by WWI ever since its inception, it was not the done thing, but all was forgiven, when I was told that a very big politician who had just joined politics was expected to attend as the chief guest, but had to stay away because of other important developments, leaving the mindset free to imagine what those developments could be.

Ghai was however lucky to have an ideal chief guest for the ideal occasion in Ms. Anjali Bhagwat, one of the most celebrated sportpersons of India, Anjali, the World Number One in 10m Air Rifle in 2002. She also won her first World Cup Final in Milan, in 2003, with a score of 399/400, who has set 13 new records in International competitions and has won 55 Gold, 35 Silver and 16 Bronze medals, with 8 new records in national competitions in India.

Ms Bhagwat is the only woman to have won the world cup for India. The event started with the team being introduced on stage and the highlight was the theme song first sung by the original singer Avdhoot Gupte who is a cult figure with the song composed by the team of Rohan-Rohan. What was more interesting was the same song being rendered by the students of the Music class of WWI which seems to be growing better and more confident with every effort they make.

There is this very glowing feeling growing in me whenever I see anything being done or performed by the students of WWI that there is the guiding hand, the source of inspiration and even a mother-like prayer and blessings of Meghna Ghai Puri behind it all.

Ms. Bhagwat said she had no formal training or anything like mindset training during her heydays but she could still make it as a World Champion and still could win a World Cup for the country, but with some better help, especially lik4 mindset training she could have reached much greater heights and shoot at more difficult targets. Ms. Bhagwat who had perhaps attended her first film event was given the honour of releasing the trailer of the film.

Subhash Ghai looked visibly excited with the response to the trailer and the music and said that he was eagerly looking forward to the release of the film on March 6.

Incidentally, it was a little disappointing not to see Amol Shetge, the brain behind the film present on this great day for which he had spent days and nights as he was not keeping good health. I remembered how when he was a photographer with The Express, he used to ask me if I could introduce him to Subhash Ghai. I don't know if I had fulfilled his request then. But i am very happy that he has done whatever he had wanted to do and has now become one of the favourites of Subhash Ghai and will soon become the favourite of millions all over Maharashtra, then India and may be one day all over the world.

My good wishes to the team of producers headed by Rahul Puri and his partners, Suresh Pai and Ashish Gharde.