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Amitabh Bachchan
BIGBlog
DAY 1519
June 16, 2012 - 2:50 am

There has been a constant remark from some and one of those that respond and from the Ef, for more references to films done with Prakash Mehra. They have felt that more attention has been paid to Man Mohan Desai and his works than the other. This is obviously not a very fair accusation, but worthy of attention all the same. There was a desire to talk about one of his films – ‘Sharaabi’ .

‘Sharaabi’ has been a particular favorite of mine too and one that needed a lot of effort and thought. But perhaps it needs to be shared now, how it all started. I was away from the country on a World Concert Tour in 1983 and after a few concerts in the USA we were heading for Trinidad and Tobago, for our next performance, another experience most memorable of description. Prakash ji had been invited by Kirit Trivedi, the organizer from a managerial point of view, dear friend and one with great ideas – we talked about him when he suddenly passed away – to accompany us and it was on the flight from the US to T&T, somewhere past the ‘pan handle’ Florida that PM gave me an idea of the film. We discussed it for most of that 4-5 hour flight and when we got back we started to work on the story and its finalization. After ‘Zanjeer’ Prakash ji never worked again with Salim-Javed, and developed his own team of writers, like Kadar Khan and Bhatnagar ji, with large contributions from Prakash ji himself – be it screenplay, dialogue, lyrics or the music, all of which he was personally quite proficient with. He had great sense of music, and he had a great sense of storytelling. He lacked the flamboyance of Man ji, but he hardly bothered about it. His story telling abilities were so strong that he never felt the need to enter that domain, unless it was absolutely essential to the film. He also cared little on technique and camera angles. His approach was simple. A stationary camera, without much fuss, capturing the scene through some very powerful writing and moving in on a few close ups, if the take was not completed because of a faulty delivery of the artist. He was fond of technology and constructed his own preview theatre, Sumeet named after one of his sons’ names – he had three and another he named after my name Amit – and sound recording equipments. He was the first to bring in the blimped version of the Mitchell camera, for soundless recording on set. The blimp, is a cover that goes over a camera and prevents its running sound, much like a silencer, for the benefit of sync sound recording. The Mitchell was a large outfit, used extensively, until the compact and more maneuverable Arriflex came about. The Mitchell is now seen only in film Museums !

He had great sense of music, and was himself learned enough on its intricacies. His positioning of the songs in situations was always correct. You never felt that it had been forced in deliberately, just because a song was needed to lighten up matters. His language in film was detailed extended and in todays times of brevity, could have sounded verbose, but they were beautifully written. He knew how much to give whom and how and where. For ‘Sharaabi’ though I had to give an input, which to his credit, he immediately accepted. He was fond of long spoken scenes, loved to express in words what he wished his main characters to say. Keeping that sentiment in mind I brought out a factor when we discussed how the role was to be played, that drew his attention. In the film my character is drunk throughout the entire three hour of film. A drunk takes time to speak. It is laced with effort in forming words due to the intoxication. It was fine if there was a single drunk scene in a film. For that short moment the space for extended delivery was approved. But here to have such space for an entire film would make the film not only too boring to wait for the character to finish what he had to say, it would need for the film to have a length of six hours – a concept we could not possibly go by. So I told him whatever needs to be written for me, must be short, brisk and devoid of length. This he readily agreed, thank God ! His settings were simple, but the emotion was never lacking. In most of his story ideas he had the concept of a Father-Son relationship. Relationships that were frail and discordant – perhaps a legacy of his own personal equation with his Father. Though I could be mistaken. On some private moments spent with me he has hinted of the strain. Whenever I would give a shot that he liked or was happy with, he would come across, embrace me and give me a gentle peck on my cheek.

Two directors of that time, who would celebrate Holi with me at my house each year, took two of the songs that I would sing informally on this festive occasion – Yash Chopra took ‘Rang Barse’ and Prakash ji took ‘Mere Angane Mein’ . It amused me a great deal as to how and why they would want it. But I gave it to them and to top it all they even asked me to sing it … horrors of the worst kind for me. ‘Mere Angane Mein’ became my signature song at all the concerts on stage, as did ‘Rang Barse’, its value and interest even after almost 25 years amazes me. Once done I felt I should go into it whole hog. It was my idea to dress up in drag for ‘Mere Angane..’. It came a day after the song had begun shooting. Prakash ji agreed and from then on it was a scream ! There were some unpleasant remarks on this act of mine from near and dear, but of that later !

Just before the shoot for ‘Sharaabi’ started, I blew up my left hand at Diwali when a firecracker went off in my hand. It was a mess. Two films had been scheduled – ‘Sharaabi’ and ‘Inquilab’ in the South. The schedule could not be changed, so I worked in both with this damaged hand. Most of ‘Inquilab’ I wore a handkerchief over the left hand, making it look like an effect, and for ‘Sharaabi’ the hand remained in my pant pocket. Everyone thought it was a great style statement to possess for the film, a carefree casual feel, but no one realized it was to hide the burnt to bits left paw ! Ahh … so many stories to tell and moments to recall …

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