THOSE WERE THE DAYS, MY FRIENDS WHEN A TALL AND UNKNOWN ACTOR ADMIRED STUDENTS FROM THE FTII

Ali Peter John

He had come from Calcutta to try and make it in Hindi films as an actor, but even after going through a very tough struggle and even after making a debut in a film called "Saat Hindustani ", he had to keep looking for work , which came once in a way ....

He lived in a room in the bungalow of the popular comedian and director Mehmood because of his friendship with Anwar Ali who was the brother of Mehmood and was one of the actors in "Saat Hindustani". That tall man was Amitabh Bachchan.....

Amitabh kept visiting the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Poona.He gradually made friends with some of the students like Shatrughan Sinha, Danny Denzongpa , Romesh Sharma , Asrani , Paintal and Jaya Bhaduri . He used to admire all the students and had built up a special relationship with Shatrughan ,Danny , Romesh ,Asrani and Jaya ...

When Shatrughan came to Bombay and made headway and was successful as a villain, Amitabh had become an admirer of Shatru as he was making it big as a villain. They gradually became the best of friends and even had the same secretary ,Mr.Pawan Kumar . Shatru introduced Amitabh to some of the filmmakers he knew and was working with . One of his directors once asked Shatru ,"Tum ye oont (Camel) kahaan se lekar aaye ? And within a few months , Amitabh was the leading man of a film made by the same director who had referred to him as an "oont "and Shatru was the villain in the same film . Shatru often talks about how he could never in his wildest dreams visualise Amitabh , the struggler becoming the "Super Duper Star of Indian Cinema".

Amitabh used to spend a lot of his time at" Devdoot " where Shatru had an apartment, the old building opposite the known defunct five star hotel,"Searock" and used to go with Shatru to all the places they wanted to go to together .

Amitabh keeps remembering the days when Shatru was a star and was the only one who had a car in which all his friends traveled together and how when Shatru's car broke down in the middle of a road they all had to push the car while Shatru kept sitting inside

Amitabh also remembers how Shatru used to be late and sometimes very late whether it was going to a function ,going to see a film in town and even when taking a flight.

All was well till Amitabh also was a star and the two friends were working together as stars in films like "Shaan ,"Naseeb"and

"Dostaana" .Shatru kept coming late and kept Amitabh and the entire units of the film waiting for hours and what irritated Amitabh and all those who had to wait for him were that Shatru took his late coming as a way of life which he wanted everyone else to accept as his style or attitude .

Amitabh was always a stickler for time and people believed that the two friends would one day clash because of their two very different attitudes to time and that was exactly what happened during the shooting of "Dostaana ",a prestigious film directed by Raj Khosla and produced by Yash Johar ,one of the finest human beings and producers and the father of Karan Johar .Shatru continued with his habit of reporting three ,four and at times even six hours late for the shooting of "Dostaana ".

Amitabh kept tolerating Shatru's tantrums with time ....And one day ,Amitabh lost his cool and told Khosla and Johar that he would not shoot if Shatru kept coming late for the shootings .That was the end of a beautiful ties between two friends and their "dostaana ".....

They have not worked together again after that incident on the sets of " Dostaana ".Their friendship took another beating years later when Amitabh's son Abhishek was getting married and Shatru and his family were not even invited to the reception. Shatru didn't spare the Bachchans in his snides and sarcastic jibes there was a further thaw in their relationship.....

Shatru and Jaya however have had a very good friendship going for more than fifty years and they have even worked in one of their early films ,"Gaai aur Gauri ".The last time they came together was in a Hindi play called "Pati Patni aur Main "directed by the well known filmmaker Ramesh Talwar.....There is talk about the two friends ,Amitabh and Shatru coming together again .And as someone who has seen them all the way from their early days to this day, I hope they become friends again now that Shatru is seventy nine and Amitabh is seventy seven .At a recent social media meet, the two friends where supposed to come together for the first time after their scuffle over time. And for perhaps the first time the "Late Lateef "Shatru reached thirty minutes before Amitabh could reach .Was it a case of "der aaye durust aaye "and the beginning of a new "dostaana" ?