Party, remakes and masti

After a week of releases like ‘Shudh Desi Romance’, that strikes a chord with the youth and ‘Zanjeer’, a foolish attempt to remake Prakash Mehra’s 1973 classic, it is now time for Jai Ganesh Jai Ganesh Jai Ganesh Deva

YRFilms’ ‘Shudh Desi Romance’ starring Parineeti Chopra and Sushant Singh Rajput is yet another love story but with a different take for the new generation. Publicised as a story of a live-in relationship the film is more about phobia to commitment in a relationship, something all the youngsters are going to identify with. The other release of the week is ‘Zanjeer’. I wonder what director Apoorva Lakhia was thinking when he set upon to remake Prakash Mehra’s film. It was overconfident of him to assume that he could erase the memory of the 1973 classic from the minds of the audience. It was foolish of Ram Charan to have accepted the assignment and do the scenes that were perfected by country’s best actor and suicidal of writer Suresh Nair to assume that he can improve the lines of legendary writers Salim-Javed who made history.

Actor and filmmaker Rakesh Roshan turned 64 and his family decided to host a big bash for him, Hrithik and Sussanne sent invites to all his friends and colleagues but forgot to warn the guests that it was meant to be a surprise. The guests began to call home for RSVP and Rakesh began to get suspicious. He asked his family if they were planning something behind his back and he was assured that it was nothing sensational, just a gathering of close friends and family. Come September 6 and Rakesh was taken to Blue Sea by the family where all his friends and colleagues, Amitabh Bachchan, Jeetendra, Rishi Kapoor and many others were waiting to greet him.

When I walked into the party there was a ravishing Rekha chatting with Roshan. Roshan was telling Rekha that Hrithik had a splitting headache and had disappeared upstairs to rest for a while. Some moments later Hrithik appeared on stage to tell a story. The story of a son, about his father, a story of change and conviction…It was very engaging and emotional by the end of which Sunayna, Hrithik’s older sister was summoned to the stage to tell her side of the story. Sunayna was more emotional than her brother and read the speech she had prepared amidst tears and shivers. She revealed that she had been quietly and secretly working on a book on her dad and was proud to present the book to him from the entire family on his special day. Printed by Ajay Mago of Om Publishers the book was released by the entire family amidst a thundering applause.

Ganesha in our films

The ten-day celebration exudes boundless energy. In cinema it has portrayed myriad moods – pathos, triumph, drama and in some instances, courage. But for all the attention we shower on the Elephant God; Lord Ganesha has limited presence in our films. It is difficult to list even ten memorable scenes projecting the God of wisdom:

‘Humse Badhkar Kaun’ (1980) told the story of families living in a colony and collectively celebrating the festival. The haunting number ‘Devaa ho devaa…’ singing paeans to the Lord proved a chartbuster and is chanted at all the pandals, even today. In ‘Takkar’, the villains hide the temple treasures inside the idol and hope to escape with the loot, but Jeetendra, Sanjeev Kumar and Vinod Mehra sing ‘Murti Ganesh ki, andar daulat desh ki…’and expose the villains.

In 1981, Filmwala’s ‘Kalyug’ was the first film to portray the immersion procession in all its glory. The film’s hero Shashi Kapoor is driving home and gets caught in the festival traffic. The chaos on the street reflects the turbulence in his heart. Ajanta Arts’ ‘Dard Ka Rishta’ 1983, supposedly inspired from Sunil Dutt’s personal life, delved on a young girl’s obsession with the elephant God. Baby Khushboo is in coma but hears echoes of the Lord coming home. To fulfil the dying girl’s wish, her father brings the idol to her hospital bed and she dies in peace.

In Mukul Anand’s ‘Agneepath’ (1990), the underworld don hails from a small village Mandva and it has been a family tradition to bring the idol home and the hero continues with the tradition. The film featured Amitabh Bachchan in a dramatic climax where he is stabbed by his enemies amidst excited crowds bidding farewell to the deity at the seashore. In ‘Satya’ (1998), the hero is exposed amidst the festival, dragged along a noisy street.

In ‘Dil Toh Pagal Hai’ (1997) Aruna Irani gifts identical silver idols to Shah Rukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit who are unable to express love for each other. In ‘My Friend Ganesha’ a little child bonds with the deity and keeps him a secret from his parents. In the remake of ‘Don’ Shah Rukh Khan dances a robust number on the streets and in the new ‘Agneepath’ Hrithik Roshan and Priyanka Chopra dance and dabble in colour to celebrate the Elephant Lord.