While channel surfing a few days back, I saw Mika Singh punning upon Diana Penty’s surname and adding to good effect, “And Mika Kaccha!” I guarantee that you will not hear anyone in the film fraternity rising up in instinctive disgust over this comment just as most of them kept quiet when Salman Khan rose from the ignominy of being a hit and run undertrial, a wildlife hunter and an irresponsible and sexist brat to become India’s leading superstar. After Mika had cracked what he thought was a great joke, there was footage of Diana meekly dancing with him. The bottomline being, in the film industry, success is the measure of what you can get away with. Mika is more successful than Diana, hence nobody will speak for her. The same Mika will not dare to be as disrespectful towards a Kajol, a Rani Mukherjee or a Priyanka Chopra. Salman is ofcourse even more successful than him so he can get away with saying anything to anyone.
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Rishi Kapoor is also fond of tweeting about the weight and physical attributes of female actors and recently went into the realm of politics by tweeting a meme about Hillary Clinton where she is asking Monica Lewinsky for tips on what according to him is perhaps a more relevant life skill for a woman than having the brains to run for the presidency of a nation. And when called out for his sexism, he retorted that people should lighten up. If the same joke had been cracked by a KRK or if he had shamed an industry stalwart’s wife the same way, the industry would have come after him with visible revulsion.
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So the likes of Rishi Kapoor are allowed to post distasteful, personal and sexist comments but a Naseeruddin Shah cannot question the success of another actor because that is how the rules are made in the industry. And if Shah who can teach most of Bollywood’s frat brats a thing or two about acting, dares to do so, watch with what alacrity, his work, his life and his credibility are taken apart. Karan Johar said in a recent tweet that it was just not done for a fraternity member to talk disrespectfully about an icon. Yes, Karan Johar who encourages members of the same fraternity to gossip about each other on his show though most of the jibes are reserved for smaller players like Mallika Sherawat and Rakhi Sawant. That disdain is of course all in the spirit of fun and games but God forbid if someone of Shah’s caliber voices a professional opinion about someone who in the industry’s view was more successful than him.
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One can understand why Mr Khanna’s daughter would feel hurt by Shah’s uncomplimentary summation of Rajesh Khanna’s career but the others who pounced on him for making the comment? Were these not the same members of the fraternity who did nothing when Khanna after experiencing the absolute pinnacle of success was allowed to slip into cruel anonymity for decades? It is said that Mr Khanna realised that his reign was over when flowers stopped coming on his birthday. For years he stayed off the industry’s radar but now in his death, he has somehow become a decorated legend.
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Watch also how thick the silence is in the industry when anyone, especially a woman within the so called fraternity dares to take on a reigning male star. Whether it is Renuka Shahane or Sona Mahapatra, their comments on Salman were dissed as insignificant because they are middle-aged and not successful enough to have an opinion. But back to Mr Khanna whose work I have written about with affection and who was my first crush when I was just five and who I will continue to think of as an indelible cinematic memory. His is not the only story that began in the dazzling light and ended in darkness. The industry is notorious for loyalties that shift with success and failure. That is why a legendary singer like Mubarak Begum dies in near penury, Manoj Kumar and Saroj Khan are mocked by a Farah Khan in her films, the editor of Sholay dies in a hovel unsung and forgotten and nobody’s feelings are hurt. But well, Naseer saab’s comments are against the spirit of the fraternity.
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Just recently, I read a comment by Javed Akhtar that Naseeruddin Shah does not like successful people, implying perhaps that Shah is not successful enough even though his body of work is diverse, rich with narratives that mainstream cinema never touches. In one lifetime, this man has played an activist lawyer, a bitter, idealistic poet, a meek Parsi bachelor, an angry marginalised Christian boy, a brothel worm, a blind principle, a starving dalit, a rebellious sepoy and counting. He revived Mirza Ghalib for a generation that had never heard of him, rekindled the interest in Ismat Chughtai’s writing with his plays but he has no string of commercial hits, hence is a failure?
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In his recently published autobiography, Shah has extolled Geoffrey Kendal and how standing in the same frame as him in Shyam Benegal’s Junoon was a memorable moment. So yes, his idea of success and merit differs from the rest of the industry that grovels before box-office Gods. Forget about Shah praising his peers, have you ever heard him flattering himself? He is a perfectionist and only the purest, most integrated work wins his respect. You can differ with him on his understanding of mainstream cinema and why its stars make it big. You can disagree with him but you cannot say that he is jealous of mainstream superstars because he is not successful enough. That a man with countless milestone performances should be derided as jealous itself reveals the true nature of the big boy’s club that celebrates mainstream successes in every rigged award show but refuses to acknowledge stalwarts of parallel cinema or to educate itself about what lies beyond jaded box-office baits.
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The rules in the industry are made according to the convenience of the card carrying members of the fraternity. No wonder then that they don’t get a Naseeruddin Shah. Or the fact that he does not care about being part of their club. In the meanwhile, the Mikas, Salmans and Yo Yo Honey Singhs redefine the parameters of success. There is no mention of excellence because nobody cares. And God forbid that anybody should.
Reema Moudgil is the editor and co-founder of Unboxed Writers, the author of Perfect Eight, the editor of Chicken Soup for the Soul-Indian Women, a translator who recently interpreted Dominican poet Josefina Baez’s book Comrade Bliss Ain’t Playing in Hindi, an RJ and an artist who has exhibited her work in India and the US and is now retailing some of her art at http://paintcollar.com/reema. She won an award for her writing/book from the Public Relations Council of India in association with Bangalore University, has written for a host of national and international magazines since 1994 on cinema, theatre, music, art, architecture and more. She hopes to travel more and to grow more dimensions as a person. And to be restful, and alive in equal measure.