USS DIN SHAKTI SAMANTA KO EK JAWAAN LADKE NE THAPAD KYOON MAARI ?..... BY ALI PETER JOHN

I was passing by the Natraj Studio at 11 am , when I saw a huge crowd and a convoy of police men armed with guns and laatis outside the office of the filmmaker Shakti Samanta - Ali Peter John

I left my bus and ran into the compound where I had spent half my life meeting and exchanging views with some of the biggest filmmakers and stars.

I asked thd police men and others who were in the crowd what the matter was and Shakti Samanta asked the police to send me into his cabin . I had never seen him so shaken up and scared . There was panic all around the studio and the offices had still to open

When Shakti Samanta regained his composure, he said. " I had just entered the compound of thd studio and was getting into my office when I saw a young man running after and before I could think of what to do next , he opened fire on me with his gun and luckily his bulet didn't hit me.

And then the police arrested him and took him to near by Andheri police station and it was only the officer on duty who told me the story of that boy ."

He looked scared when he saw the open cell where he was going to be questioned and before any question to be asked, he told the police that he had come Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh after seeing the roles played by Ajay Devgn in some of his early films and he took the first train to Bombay .

All the way from Jaunpur to Bombay Central, he thought of only one thing. He angrily wondered why if Ajay Devgn could be a hero in films, he couldn't . He told Shakti Samanta the same thing and filmmaker had told him that it was kismat ( luck) and God and a little talent that made stars ou of young man like Ajay Devgn and even Mithun Chakraborty, Akshay Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan .

The life of that boy from Jaunpur could have been ruined had Shakti Samanta not asked the police to take a lenient view about the whole situation in which the boy was trapped. Inspector Kulkarni gave the boy a few light slaps and told him " aaj ke aaj jaunpur ki gaadi pakkad aur phir se yahan dikhaayi nahi dena .

Tere ko maloom hai Ajay Devgn banna kitna mushkil kaam hai '. The boys name was Pyarelaal was offered plate of batata wada and some tea and two constable took him to the Andheri railway station and pushed him into the luggage compartment and told him ,. ' Bombay Central Station hi utarna aur gaadi pakkad kare seeda Jaunpur hi pahunchna . Nahi toh bhatak jaayegaa aur na Ajay Devgn banega na Pyaarelaal banega," . That was the last time Pyaarelaal was seen in Bombay.....

Pyaarelaal must be doing well for himself in any profession in jaunpur, but had lived on in Bombay to try his luck or his gun to be another Ajay Devgn, it could have ended up being a spot boy of Ajay Devgn or in any other production company how could have been another star who rises for a short while and drowns in the dark sea never to be found again

YE EK HI SACCHA KISSA HAI JO MERI ANKON SE DEKHA AUR NA JAANE KITNE SAARE PYAARELAAL HOGE JO AJAY DVGN BANNE KE SAPNE SE APNI SAARI KHUSHIYAN AUR SAARE SAPNE KO MUMBAI KE UNGINAT KUDE KE DIBBE MEIN PHEK KAR WITHOUT TICKET APNE GHAR CHALE JAATE HAI YA MUMBAI MEIN HI MAR JAATE HAI . YE BHI HO JAATA HAI SAPNA NAGRI MEIN.