You Come And Dance At Our Show, We Give You An Award

Ali Peter John

I had attended  a few  award functions  .I had  seen actors  ,even  absolutely  new  actors like Raj Babbar turning  down Filmfare awards  after he was  asked  to  shell out  rupees  two thousand five  hundred for the  award  and he had said  he would  rather buy  a  second hand Fiat car than look at an award every  morning  and  tell himself  that  he had  bought  the  award  and  had  sworn  never to accept  any award again  ,a practice  which  was later followed  by  other  actors  like  Aamir  Khan  ,Ajay Devgn  and Naseeruddin  Shah .....

It was  1994 when  my own weekly  ,"Screen"decided  to have its own  awards .We had to have  a jury and for  reasons best  known  to my editor  and  the  management  ,i was  put  in-charge  of forming  the  jury and  my seniors  looked  at me almost  with pitty because  they  were  sure that  i would  not be  able  to  keep  up to the  task  given to me  .I however  took it up as a challenge  and within  a  week  i had  a formidable  jury  headed by  none other  than  Dilip Kumar who agreed within  fifteen  minutes  after i agreed  to  a menu he had given  to me in his own  writing  which  he  said  would  have to be served  during  all the  screenings for  the jury,the others i had  on the  jury  were B.R.Chopra,G.P.Sippy,Hrishikesh  Mukherjee  ,Kalyanji ,Gulzar,Narinder Singh and art director  Paresh ,father of writer-director  Sanjay Chhel .It was  a  major  victory  for  me .

But ,my task was not  yet  over  .An award  function  also meant an entertainment  show  which  would  take  the  awards night  to three to four hours  .A set would  have  to  be  built.I talked  to  my friend  ,the showman Subhash Ghai  who  was  already  doing a major  event  to  celebrate  hundred years of  cinema at the  Wankhede Stadium in South  Mumbai  ,but he  was  a friend  and he proved it by agreeing  to  supervise  the building of a set  on the table  land at Film City  .People  said it was  very  risky but the showman  said that  there  was no  show without  taking  risks and the  set was built  after  days and  nights  of hard work .

We had to have  known  faces to perform  on stage  on the  night  of the  awards  and i was told that  no one  preformed  without  charging a hefty fee .I first  approached  Ravi Dewan ,the well-known  fight director  and  he gave  me  the idea of approaching  the  new actor  Sunil  Shetty to do the  daring unveiling  of the  statuette of the  first"  Screen  "award .I remember  how Ravi and I met Sunil on the rocks at  Band Stand out side the now  defunct  Sea Rock  Hotel and  how  Sunil  agreed  to  do it without  any  talk of money  .

In a  similar  way,i spoke  to  another  friend  ,Anupam Kher who was  only  too gladto perform  at the  "Screen" awards  .I had to  just tell Madhoo who had  just  grown popular  after  "Roja"to do a dance  item and she too was very  happy  to  be a part of the show. I had another  idea .I couldn't  get my friend,Amjad Khan  to do the  "Arre Oh Samba"from "Sholay ",so i asked  his  son ,Shaadaab Khan to replace  his father  and  i had all the  original  actors  from  "Sholay ",Mac Mohan ,Viju Khote and Major Anand.

There was  bad news  the  previous  evening  as Subhash Ghai'show had flopped and  the  chairman  of  the  Indian Express Group ,Mr.Vivek Goenka said  he did not  want  Ghai  to have  anything  to  do with  the " Screen" awards ...

The worst was still  to  come  .No one had  made any plans  for  the  traffic leading to the table  land and there  was  a  traffic  snarl and  some  of  the biggest  stars were held up in a traffic jam  .The show  however  started in time  .Dilip  Kumar,Saira Banu ,Sunil Dutt and  Rajendra Kumar  were  sitting  in  the  same  row .The  popular villain  ,Roopesh Kumar  was not invited  to  the  function  ,but  he  still  climbed  up and reached  the  row were the big stars were seated and  collapsed  .He was a heart patient  and  had gone through  a bypass  surgery. Saira saw him turning  blue and  alerted her husband and  Sunil Dutt  and  they  all rushed him to a hospital in  an ambulance  ,but  he  had  died on the  way  .....

The show however  had to  go on and if there were two men  who stole  the  show  completely  ,they were  Dilip Kumar  for making  yet another  outstanding  speech  and  Anupam  Kher  for making  the audience know that he  was an all-rounder here to stay on and on .

The  next  year. I was not  interested  as i had come  to  know  that  money had  started  playing  a powerful  role  in  the" Screen"  awards too .I took  members  of  my management staff with  me to the  few  places  i went  to  .I went  to  Salman Khan  and he straight  away  said  he would  charge  fifteen  Lakhs  for  a ten minutes  performance  and would  hand over the money to the cinema workers  trust .My management  ran for thier lives  .I  told  them meeting  Kareena Kapoor  was going  to  be  more nightmarish  ,but they  wanted  to  meet  her  and i took  them to her.

She and her  sister  ,Karishma stood  at  the  entrance  of  their  ground  floor  house  and  wanted  to  talk business  then and their  .One of the  more smart men  told  her about  the business  they had with  her and  without  blinking  an eye or putting  her hand down,she said ,"Give me  a  crore and  i will even strip on your stage ".

That was the a last time I  had  anything  to  do  with awards and i  am very  happy  and peaceful  ever since then .I now hear that  this bazar of awards has become  a  very  dirty and  stinking  place  and i don't know  what  the  future  of  these  awards which  are now given  in every  suburb,lane,gaon.and gully will be  .

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