Emotions in the Garden...

Fireflies in the Garden…the name itself sets the tone & the feel of the movie. Hence I went to watch the film, expecting it to be on the lines of The Reader or Milk or Closure and it didn’t disappoint me at all. I was really excited about the film as it had my sweetheart Julia Roberts in it. The last film that I saw of hers on big screen was Ocean’s 11 as I watched Mona Lisa Smile, Ocean’s 12 & Charlie Wilson’s War on HBO. Though I knew she wouldn’t have much screen space as the film was all about Ryan Reynolds but one thing I guaranteed about was Julia’s role & performance! She has never ever let me down & I’m certain she never would.

Film sensitively deals with family values & its importance in everyone’s life. The tagline of the film is the crux of it. It says “sometimes family has to fall apart to come together” & the entire film was about it.

In his feature writing/directing debut, award-winning filmmaker Dennis Lee guides a stellar ensemble in this haunting family drama of recrimination and reconciliation in Fireflies in the Garden. Oscar-winner Julia Roberts is at the center of the story playing a beleaguered family matriarch who has subordinated her needs and desires to those of her family, particularly her cold, demanding husband (Oscar-nominee Willem Dafoe). Roberts’ sudden death brings her entire clan together and triggers a series of flashbacks that reveal how the today’s seeds of discontent were planted years earlier.

The opening scene sets the whole atmosphere of the film & establishes the characters resolutely. The scene has Julia Roberts, Williem Dafoe and Cayden Boyd as kid Ryan. The trio is coming back from some gathering and its raining cats & dogs. With in few minutes, director, Denis Lee, establishes a completely sour & strained relationship between the father & the son and consequently it has disturbed the equation between the father & the mother too. Julia is a protective, doting mother who always tries to shield the son from the father who can abandon the 10-12 year old in the middle of the road when its raining profoundly & zooms off with the mother sitting inside the car, helplessly trying to stop him. And the son is a rebel already at the age of 10 or 12. He dislikes his father, may be hates him, we don’t know yet. He loves the mother & sympathies with her helplessness. The 10-min-first-scene just drags you to their world. Visually the film was one of the most appealing pieces in recent past, thanks to Daniel Moder (Spider Man 3, Monalisa Smile & Déjà Vu etc.) for the unblemished cinematography.

The non-linear narrative makes it lyrically rich & convoluted. Its not one of those popcorn cinema where you can enjoy your popcorn & do everything except watching the film! It challenges your sensibilities in the sense that you’ve to concentrate to comprehend. I got involved in the film hotfooted. The characters were so meticulously crafted that you feel like you know them since many years! For instance the character of Julia’s sister, played by Emily Watson, is one of the most engaging & refreshing characters that I’ve seen in many years. She is cheeky, rude yet warm, blunt, brutally honest & has a sexual undercurrent with her nephew. Of course the film is meant to appease the family audience but it also tackles the situations today’s youth would connect immediately with.

The only stereotype character I found was that of Julia’s husband, played by Willem Dafoe. He is garish, loves to hate people, ruthless & merciless like many other evil fathers we’ve come across over the years in our own Bollywood & Hollywood as well. His scene with his son at the garage is one of the prominent & most imperative scenes of the film.

Ryan’s character as an introvert, almost stone hearted & someone who has nursed the grudges against his father since his troubled childhood was refreshing & challenging to play. He still has a child in him & it was established very subtly & warmly. His relationship with his nephew & niece was cute & intense and eventually he becomes extremely influential in their lives. Ryan is getting divorced with his wife & the family doesn’t know about it. Carrie Ann Moss, who played Ryan's wife, had ABSOLUTELY nothing to do in the film except having sex with her estranged husband on the day of memorial service of his mother. The mother (Julia Roberts) dies in an accident while going to the airport to pick her son (Ryan) up as he was returning to the town after many years.

Shannon Lucio, who played Ryan’s sister, did justice to her character completely and had never come out of her character. Ioan Gruffudd (Mr. Fantastic from Fantastic Four) played Julia’s lover out of her marriage had nothing much to do & was passable. The confrontation scene of him & Ryan in a restaurant is worth & deserves a mention.

Ryan’s association with his aunt is more of a friend than a mother figure & had sexual undertones throughout the film. And his relationship with his mother was never vocal & expressive but both used to communicate through emotions.

It’s a lyrical flow of relations with lots of clichés & sluggish moments but the film draws you in because of its emotions & warmth. The semi-autobiographical story centers on the complexities of love and commitment in a family torn apart when faced by an unexpected tragedy.

Fireflies in the Garden juxtapositions the past and present in a fluid, lyrical,and emotionally resonant manner to show us that, while family is hard to live with, it is impossible to live without...

10 Best Male Actors of Bollywood Ever...

Now it’s the turn for the Best Male Actor Ever in Bollywood, pre-2000. Again there are hundreds of names which flashed in my mind for the list but I would try to justify every name I’ve in my list. Have a look at them and let me know if you guys agree with me or not (especially if you don’t!!)

10. SHAHRUKH KHAN

I know it might frown crores of the King Khan’s fans (especially my friends Debashree & Vikas) that I’ve put him at the bottom in my list but it’s not my fault at all! The other actors in my list compelled me to do so. They’re such huge powerhouses of talent that Mr. Khan’s tremendous star power somehow, gets lost; or paled rather. I always felt & believed that he is more of a star than an actor but he has proved in time & again that he can act too (not the best though!). But no matter what I think of him, he has done it all, romance, comedy, action, tragedy, drama, slapstick, negative & horror to name a few. He has not only done all but was successful in most of them also. Romance being his forte, Shahrukh redefined the romantic hero image that people like Rajesh Khanna or Rajendra Kumar has created. Dil Toh Pagal Hai, Devdas, DDLJ, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Dil Se, Kal Ho Na Ho, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi & Pardes etc. are the few examples of it. Even his maha repugnant films like Mohabbatein, Veer-Zara, Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna or Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham are hugely successful ventures which show the kind of star power that the man has. Very few actors in the industry have got that strength or you can say the ability to rise above the script & take it to a level where audience forgets the film & the script but just remember them. I think he is the only actor right now who can carry off roles like Anjaam, Baazigar, Ram Jaane & Darr as well as Swades, Chak De India, Main Hoon Na & Om Shanti Om with élan. My only concern with Shahrukh is his repetition, single dimensioned & droning approach towards his characters. It might sound like a very swaggering statement coming from someone who hasn’t achieved even 1% of what Mr. Khan has but it’s just my opinion & I guess in our country, everyone is entitled for their views. Now since he has chosen a public domain as his career, he should be ready for everyone’s judgment about him as once you enter a public domain, the first thing you ever face is a criticism!!! So I’m sorry Debashree, Vikas & crores of his admirers but he fits at the bottom of my list of Best Male Actor Ever in Bollywood.

9. FAROOQ SHIEKH

Ok, I know he has never enjoyed the eminence or the star power that most of commercial actors do but when it comes to performance, he is no less than brilliant! There is something very poised & innocent in his face which immediately makes you fall in love with him. He came to the industry when the parallel cinema was at its peak. His contemporaries were no less than Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Anant Nag, Satish Shah & Rakesh Bedi etc. To be able to survive in front of these baaps of acting, I’m sure, wasn’t easy for him but he did hold his ground and that too extremely steadfastly! The best part about him is, he was & he is always open to experiment. Whether it’s a parallel cinema like Gaban, Bazaar & Umrao Jaan etc. or hardcore commercial masala flicks like Biwi Ho Toh Aisi etc. or the light hearted romantic comedies like Katha, Chashm-E-Baddoor, Saath-Saath & Kisi Se Na Kehna etc. he did it all with full conviction & buoyancy. He has worked with legendary directors like Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Sai Paranjpe & Mujaffar Ali et al. He is one of the most underrated actors that we’ve in our film industry.

8. GURU DUTT

Guru Dutt was always more accepted for his direction more than his performances but if you observe him closely, he was equally good an actor as he was a director. He was very smart in his choice of roles and never actually pushed his envelope in acting. Most of his roles were dramatic & always portrayed him as a loser, be it Pyaasa, Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam or the masterpiece Kaagaz Ke Phool. Even in the comedies like Mr. and Mrs. 55, his character was a satire, subtly sarcastic and a rude comment on the society of that time. Though he pioneered in such roles, it actually has become his curtail later. He himself never tried to attempt something different or more challenging, except few films like 12 O’clock etc. which failed miserably to set the box-office on blaze. Also he had this patent look on his face which never ever changed, no matter what the situation or the scene is! He never looked happy on screen, which is strange considering he was always paired opposite his real-life lover Wahida Rehman in most of his films. (look at the pictures to believe me!) All said and done, his dramatic performances are par excellence & are the institutions of acting in themselves. Like Shabana Azmi who had limitations during her evolving period but she was such a brilliant dramatic actress that she transcends all her competition in that area, similarly Guru Dutt was so gleaming in dramatic roles that it would be a sin NOT to involve him in this list. Hence Guru Dutt grabs no. 8 spot in my list of Best Male Actor Ever in Bollywood.

7. ASHOK KUMAR

His biggest & most laudable triumph as an actor was his naturalism in an epoch where over-the-top, melodramatic way of performance was considered outstanding & accolade worthy. Ashok Kumar came as a fresh air, thanks to his mentor Himanshu Rai & Devika Rani’s influence on him. They were the ones who played the key role in influencing Ashok Kumar to watch western films & learn from them rather learning from our own cinema. And the result itself was enormously inspirational for many many more generations to come and still is stimulating for the Gen-X actors. Always more popular for character roles, Ashok Kumar played lead roles in dozens of films in 40s & 50s including the cults like Mahal, Achhoot Kanya, Bandini, Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi & Howrah Bridge to name a few. His pairing with Madhubala had taken the nation by storm; they were giving hits after hits. If Madhubala had her ways at that time, these two would be together in personal life as well but she was tremendously fond of Ashok Kumar’s wife that she obliterated her feeling for him completely. Later in his career, he started getting character roles which were equally integral to the film as the lead role. Subsequently, he had shined out everyone in that league. Films like Bheegi Raat, Khatta-Meetha, Chhoti Si Baat & Khoobsurat etc. saw an awe-inspiring character actor who can be comical, dramatic & intense at the same time, with equal conviction, convenience & finesse! He was the face of real, down to earth, natural actors which were the rarity at that time. His award winning, tragic, middle aged man portrayal in Aashirwad is still fresh in everyone’s mind whoever has seen the film and the film still haunts you & pierced your psyche. The first ‘rap-song’ in the history of Indian film industry was sung by this man and was also featured in the exceedingly venerated rail gaadi song from the same film. Even his exposé of the main villain in another classic by one of my favourite directors Vijay Anand, Jewel Thief could easily be qualified as the most real & natural baddie vis-à-vis the larger than life, caricaturished Gabbar, Mogambo & Ghajini et al.
Even his TV outing Ujaale Ki Ore was successful as it was a well written, crisply directed & naturally performed by him, Archana Joglekar & Raja Bundela etc. Dotingly known as “dada moni” by everyone, Ashok Kumar’s prevalent & the only hitch was his look. He never looked young & a ‘boy’ but always looked like a ‘man’ in his 40s and this is where his juniors & contemporaries like Motilal, Dev Anand, Bhagwan Dada, Raj Kapoor, Prithvi Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar & Guru Dutt etc. surpassed him. He always lacked that X-factor which the above mentioned actors had in profusion. But when it comes to acting, dada moni was literally everyone’s dada!!!

6. AMITABH BACHCHAN

I know many of you must be conjecturing how come he is not on the top & some may find it shocking that he is not even in top 5, after all he is THE Amitabh Bachchan! You must be thinking “Manish is out of his mind & his list is preposterous!” Even I have the same reaction whenever I find Aishwarya Rai ‘Bachchan’ in top 10 in most of the lists but like I’ve to accept it without any say, so you guys also have to control your waters and accept it quietly even if you don’t concur with it! For me Mr. Bachchan is definitely one of the most versatile actors that Bollywood has produced but certainly NOT the greatest one! There are better actors & bigger stars in Hindi & regional film industries so for me Mr. Bachchan is a little overrated but brilliant actor nonetheless. In fact he is the only actor in the history of Indian cinema to give ‘at least’ one superhit every year from 1972 to 1984! Among his myriad superhits & flops, my favourite performances are Chupke-Chupke, Amar Akbar Anthony, Sharabi, Deewar, Namak Halal & Haram and Shakti. His impeccable zest for life & learning something new everyday is really laudable and till date he keeps on experimenting with his roles like Black, Baghban, Bhoothnath, Mohabbatein & Khakee etc. But my concern with him lies here only. He indubitably does different roles & even horn different looks as well but his performance & body language remains the same everywhere & every time. If you look at the actors of Hollywood or else where they change their whole identities according to their characters! Let’s take the example of oh-not-so-great actor Brad Pitt. Everyone admits that he is more of a star than an actor & all the emphasis goes to his looks more than his depth in performances. But if you see his films, he kept on changing his body language, his looks & his expressions! Watch Burn After Reading, Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Babel & Ocean’s 11 or 12 or 13. All the films are radically different from each other and so are his characters. Though I’m not a Brad Pitt fan at all but I would love to give him the credit of bringing amazing variety & layers to each of the character and was a different Brad in all the four films. So if someone like Brad Pitt could bring that assortment & profundity to his characters why not the mega star of India could do it? Amitabh Bachchan’s performances, strictly according to me, are always one-dimensional & never allowed the audience to sub-consciously communicate to any of his characters. We all loved his roles but if you pore over his performances closely, you would realise that his approach towards most of his characters is same! May it be Ajooba or Silsila or Zanjeer or Ganga Jamuna Saraswati or Kabhi Kabhie or Laawaris or any other of his work… His love affair with Rekha still shoots up gossip magazines’ sales and if you believe the industry insiders, the love isn’t yet lost completely between the two! Anyways keeping his personal life aside, as an actor I would NOT like to keep him in top 5 and certainly not on the top spot.

5. DILIP KUMAR

And the legend continues…Yusuf Khan aka Dilip Kumar’s success story is nothing short of a film’s script. His story forces you to deem the lady luck even more. Who could believe that a canteen boy from Dehradun one day would swept the entire Nation off its feet? Young girls went Ga-Ga over his looks and the guys were trying to ape his unrivaled style. He was the most good looking one among the trio-toofan of Raj Kapoor, Dev Anand & himself. These three never let anyone challenge them in star power or popularity. Every girl wanted a boyfriend or husband like him, every parent wanted a son like him & every guy wanted a friend like him. Watch any of Dilip Kumar’s film and I can bet, you would come out remembering only him! Take Madhumati for the instance, the way Dilip Kumar melted & cried in the film was simply out of this world! The way he crooned toote hue khwabon ne or suhana safar, it just arrests you with the word go! Then take Dulari, Kohinoor, Aan, Andaz & the superlative Ganga Jumna, he just makes you fall in love with him every time he comes on-screen. He induces breath in every role he chooses. He was always been popular as Tragedy King, the male counterpart of Meena Kumari. Though I scrupulously agree with this title but I think he was equally brilliant in comedies like Gopi, Sagina or Ram Aur Shyam and in dramas like Naya Daur, Udan Khatola or Shakti. No one, and I mean ABSOLUTELY no one, can play a dehati villager the way he does and surprisingly at the same time he can play a Sauvé, sophisticated, foreign return lad with equal ease & fervor!!
Provided the kind of actors we had at that time, can you even visualize or imagine anyone else playing the legendary roles like Devdas or Mughal-E-Azam other than Dilip Kumar? In our times, we’ve seen SRK playing the former & Hrithik playing the latter (kind of) so it’s easier for us now to envisage others in such roles but I still believe that the pause, the layers, the make-belief and the magnetism that he brought in those roles, today’s star sons & furniture look-a-likes couldn’t even dream of! He has this Midas touch so whatever he does or touches, turns into a miracle. His ‘ae bhai’ rendering in Mashaal made people cry and sob as he did it with such ease that he convinced the audience that his wife is dying and he needs aid! His Saudagar, Karma & Shakti etc. are still the benchmarks when it comes to character roles. His personal life was equally popular & colorful as his professional one. The legendary affair that he had with Madhubala still sparks the audience & still is a gossip material. Though towards the end he turned into a villain when came to know the she was double timing him with Premnath. He left her for good and even didn’t come back when she was dying! He is the man with ego much more than it is needed but that’s Dilip Kumar for you! He lived his life on his own terms and never permitted anyone to cross his/her limits. He was often in loggerheads with many actors & directors. He never had spoken to K Asif (who gave him Mughal-E-Azam) after he found out that Asif was having affair with his sister. He had issues with Mehboob Khan as well who gave him Aan & Andaz etc. Never mind his personal life, as actor he is par excellence & incomparable!

4. SANJEEV KUMAR

One of most underrated & unlucky actors of Hindi cinema…I keep Sanjeev Kumar at the same regards of Omar Sharif, Al Pacino or Clint Eastwood et al. With a name that would be the biggest encumbrance in becoming a Hindi film actor, Haribhai Zariwala changed his name to Sanjeev Kumar as suggested by some one and went on to become one of the greatest and most natural actor of the history of Indian cinema. He did it all, lead roles, character roles, negative roles, comedies, dramas, action, fantasy & even horror! Among his innumerable awe-inspiring performances, my favourite are the little known Basu Bhattacharya’s Tumhare Liye, the cult Anubhav with Tanuja & marvelous songs by Geeta Roy, Khilona with Mumtaz, Aandhi with Suchitra Sen and Koshish & Naya Din Nayi Raat with Jaya Bachchan. During his struggling days, he even had done B-grade action-adventure films by the guru of Hindi film industry Homi Wadia. Films like Alibaba Aur Chalis Chor & Aladdin & the Magic Lamp etc. Even in heroine oriented flicks like Seeta Aur Geeta, he managed to leave his mark with ease. In multistarrer like Jaani Dushman & Sholay, he always made sure that he shouldn’t get lost in the crowd. It’s almost impossible to ignore Sanjeev Kumar in any film even though he is playing furniture! His trademark smile was a killer for ladies; he was a lady-killer in every sense. He would probably the only actor, except Amitabh, who played the lead opposite an actress & at the same time her father figure as well. For example, lead in Koshish & Naya Din Nayi Raat with Jaya Bachchan & her father figure in Sholay & Parichay etc. As far as I can remember Amitabh is the only other actor who has done it with Rani in Black & Babul. As I said before, there are very few actors that we’ve in our industry who could rise above the script & take the film to another tangent all in all & Sanjeev Kumar is one of them. Watch Shatranj Ke Khiladi for example, film wasn’t great at all but he took the film to a level where many consider it a cult classic today! I always loved him in comedies. Who can forget Gulzar’s classic (based on another classic) Angoor? Till date it’s one of my all time favourite comedies. The incisive irony & the spill of humor are unforgettable. In many ways he had eerie similarities with Ashok Kumar. Both of them were enormously innate & real actors, both of them played the lead as well as the character roles through out their careers, both of them were spur-of-the-moment on screen and even they share the same drawback of always looking older than their ages. More than anything else he had a heart of gold. Except for coming late on the sets, he never used to throw any tantrums & never demanded attention. Without taking the name I know a film journalist whom Sanjeev Kumar dropped till the door of her flat at 2 am after a party, went back to the same party, enjoyed till wee hours of the morning and reached the sets 8 hours late next day! Which star or actor do you think would drop a film journalist to the door of her flat on 7th floor just because it was too late in the night?
Sanjeev Kumar at no. 4…

3. NASEERUDDIN SHAH & OM PURI

Ok now it’s a first clash in the list but it was inevitable! I don’t think choosing one out of these two actors would be fair to either of them and more than that it’s simply NOT possible to pick one! These two are two of the most prolific contemporary actors from India’s ‘New Age Cinema’, Smita & Shabana being the female counterparts. Whenever you watch their films, it’s like they’re saying, “Here is the world, and here are the possibilities we have”. Both of them explode the contradictions, the ferments & the transition of their characters with their unique styles which are drastically different from each other. Their films are like the mirror of the society & these two have like a fraught of changing it! Films like Mandi, Junoon, Arohan, Paar, Masoom, Ardh Satya, Sparsh, Susman, Aastha, Antarnaad & Nishant are the perfect examples for my statement. Often disparaged for doing only didactic & socially relevant films, these two shut their critics’ mouths by doing films like Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, Katha, Hero Hiralal, Tridev, Mohra, China Gate & Premgranth etc. Among the two Naseeruddin Shah proved to be luckier as he gets the lead roles till today in the form of A Wednesday or Maharathi whereas the equally talented Om Puri has to settle down with character roles like in Pukar, Kisna or even the C-graders like Buddha Mar Gaya etc. After getting a 15-min part in Kisna, he stated that it took him 27 long years to get a film in a banner like Mukta Arts! Om had also stated once that if he had continued doing the films he believed in, he would be living in some place like Dahisar or Nallasopara today! (For those who’re coming late, these two are Mumbai suburbs far far away from the city, more than 100 kms). The other similarity that both of them has is their participation in International cinema. Unlike few synthetic dolls who go crazy & let even the nuts & bolts of the world know that they’ve signed a “Hollywood” production & are the self-proclaimed “ambassador” of Indian cinema in Hollywood, Naseer and Om always let their work speak rather than press conferences! They’re the ones who’ve done the Hollywood productions with complete international cast & crew in REAL sense and not with some Gurinder Chadhha or some Jagmohan Mundhra! Films like The Ghost & The Darkness, League of Seven Extraordinary Gentlemen, City of Joy & East is East etc. Both of them worked together in so many films and never had any insecurity about each other, rather Om Puri often jokes that Naseer got meatier role because his English was better! Both of them always learnt from their frailties and that’s the only reason they’re such accomplished & polished actors today. In spite of tasting such success, accolades & awards, both, domestically as well as internationally, the duo till date are as meek & simple as they could be. Another similarity both of them share that they never let their personal lives overshadow their work & it’s a lesson for today’s generation as now they’re more interested in talking about their break-ups, affairs & finally lavish weddings rather than concentrating on their work but they keep claiming that they don’t like to share their personal lives in media! Phew! Anyways talking about the two living legends, Om Puri & Naseeruddin Shah, my personal favourite performances of Naseer bhai are Mirch Masala, Mandi, Nishant, Paar, Maqbool & A Wednesday and that of Om Puri are of course Ardh Satya, Arohan, Dharavi, Maqbool, Pitaah & City of Joy. Needless to say both of them are equally brilliant in comedies, drama, action or any other genre concerned. It really hurts to see both of them so dissatisfied & dismissive about the film industry today & they’re also not hesitant to make it palpable. Naseeruddin Shah keeps complaining for getting Mr. Bachchan’s rejects & looked very apathetic on the success of his own A Wednesday and on the other hand Om Puri felt cheated on certain films where he trusted the director completely & didn’t even read the script (read it as Buddha Mar Gaya!). So it’s my own little way to respect their gargantuan contribution to the industry & just to tell them there still are few people like me who tremendously believe in their kind of cinema & wants them to keep giving us more Khuda Ke Liye, Firaaq & Dharavi!

2. MOTILAL

I’m sure many of you who’re reading this must be wondering who the hell this Motilal is. But let me assure you that if you watch any of his film, you will pat my back for keeping him in the list. I literally swear on his performances. He was modish, he was pulsating, he was flamboyant, he was handsome, he was a lady killer, a mammoth star & a stupendous actor as well. A rare combo, isn’t it? Like Ashok Kumar, he was never strident & over-the-top but rather always played it subtle & grounded but unlike Ashok Kumar, he has that X-factor which is a stipulation to attain a star status. His entry in the industry was also a rebel as those were the times of excessive body language & disproportionate facial expressions! He was a welcoming change with measured expressions & he was widely accepted. The competition could never frisson his stand in the industry. He was one of the highest paid actors at 30s, 40s & 50s; he had incendiary affairs with the crème-de-crème of the industry at that time, including Nutan’s mother & Kajol’s maternal grandmother Shobhna Samarth. In fact, both of them even launched Nutan in Humari Beti where Nutan played the title role at the age of 13 or 14 & Motilal played her screen father. It’s a shame that we generally avoid him in most of the books on Indian cinema & from the 30s & 40s, the only name today’s generation ‘might’ be knowing is K L Sehgal because of his peculiar voice more than anything else. Anyways, coming back to Motilal, he was equally good & accepted in character roles as he was in the lead. Watch Jaagte Raho & Parakh for instance, he was so comfortable in his space that he literally heaves you into his world & you just wish not to come out of it ever. His watertight rendering of Chunnilal in Devdas is an institution of acting for every aspiring actor till date! Even as a lead, his films like Waqt, Ab Dilli Door Nahi, Humari Beti & Mr. Sampat are the bible of character improvisation & depth. I’m certain that most of you wouldn’t agree with the list, especially having Motilal in top 3 but you’ve to watch him to believe me…go, buy the DVDs of his movies if you don’t want to miss the real acting…

1. BALRAJ SAHNI

Now the top spot…I’m sure many of you must be incensed and giving me gaalis for wasting your time if you’re reading this by any chance! Must be muttering kahan-kahan se pakad ke laaya hai yeh logon ko, never even heard such names, isn’t it? Well, I’m genuinely sorry for that but I can’t just put popular names for the sake of it when I don’t even believe in them, right? Anyways, talking about Balraj Sahni, the lesser said the better as words will fall short for him. He had the most beatific face in the industry ever, which, by many, is considered as his curb because he could never played a villain, courtesy: his face! He was THE most sorted & meek actor/star Bollywood has ever produced. According to me, he is THE best actor of India, including regional cinema & is in par with any actor in the entire world. Sahni was always interested in acting, and started his acting career with the plays of the Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA). It was in 1953, with Bimal Roy's classic Do Bigha Zameen, that his true forte as an actor was first recognised. The film won the international prize at the Cannes Film Festival. He was the personification of natural & grounded performances. For the well-educated Sahni, evolving as a performer and human being was more important than cultivating an image or wooing stardom. Aesthetic satisfaction rather than monetary emoluments motivated him. This rare quality backed by prodiguous talent made him an icon, notwithstanding the fact that he never really fit into the idiom of the regular hero. His characters were always made of blood & flesh and he was never larger-than-life. To be on the same bandwidth as me, you’ve to watch the classics like Seema, Kabuliwala & Do Bigha Zameen etc. The moment he comes on screen, you just instantly bond with him and wants to know more about him as a person and not about the character that he is playing. It is very rare coup for an actor. His on-screen image was exactly what he was in the real life, a simple, down-to-ground, uncomplicated person. He was completely a non-controversial person, which in today’s time is termed as “boring”. He never had any rancor with anyone in the industry rather he was one of the very few actors people look up to & respected immensely. Balraj Sahni's acting was very well liked and appreciated in all his films. He acted opposite top heroines like Nutan, Meena Kumari, Vyjayantimala and Nargis in films like Seema (1955), Sone Ki Chidiya (1958), Satta Bazaar (1959), Bhabhi Ki Chudiyan (1961), Kathputli (1957), Lajwanti (1958) & Ghar Sansaar (1958). However, he is perhaps best remembered by the current generation for the picturization of the legendary song ae meri zohra jabeen from the movie Waqt (1965) on him. Like most of the great actors, his popularity as a character actor was as colossal as it was for his lead roles. Performances like Pavitra Papi, Heera Moti, Garam Coat, Mere Apne & Garam Hawa are unimpeachable & unparalleled. Sahni made his bow as a director with Lal Batti (1957), an experimental suspense thriller. Commercially, the film went out like a light during a power failure. Ae meri zohrazabeen & tu pyar ka sagar hai wouldn’t be half as accepted as they’re if it wasn’t for Balraj Sahni. People often deprecated him to be limited to positive, simple, dramatic roles but he repatriated his critics with roles like Sangharsh starring Dilip Kumar & Vyjyanthimala. Though film bombed at box-office, he played one of the best villains Bollywood has ever produced! The biggest raison d'être for film’s hapless fate was its subject which was way ahead of it’s time. Film deals with religion & how opportunists use it as a rabble-rouser to veil their peccadilloes. It’s one of my all time favourite films for it’s bold theme & for Balraj Sahni’s convoluted performance & role. The legend emanated with Insaaf in 1946 and continued till the intellectually stimulating Garam Hawa in 1972. In my opinion, the latter is one of the preeminent roles & performances ever by any actor anywhere in the world. He always believed in what is known as 'Neo-Realistic' cinema. He was an extremely well read and politically conscious person. Balraj Sahni also dabbled in screenwriting; he wrote the 1951 movie Baazi which starred Dev Anand and was directed by Guru Dutt. He was also a recipient of the Padma Shri Award. Sahni would have notched many more milestones in his career but the death of his young daughter Shabnam left him hearbroken. At the age of 60, Sahni himself succumbed to a heart attack April 13, 1973.

Anyways, I don’t think I’m adequate enough to talk about this man whom I idolize & always wished to know him better as a person. I’m trying to get a hand on his autobiography which was released in 1978, not yet succeeded but am still optimistic for it. My wish to meet him would remain a reverie forever and I will bewail it for eternity…BALRAJ SAHNI…The Best Male Actor Ever in Bollywood…


Now there are few more actors I’m dying to have in my list, esp. Sohrab Modi, Pran, Pankaj Kapoor & Raghubir Yadav but they seldom played the lead roles, they were more of the character actors through out their careers. Also if I include them in the list then I HAVE to embrace Om Prakash, Rehman, Amrish Puri, Satish Shah, Ravi Vasvani, David, Rakesh Bedi, Mehmood, Ajit and many more such actors too. And if you talk about other lead actors then I don’t think very highly of the pretentious, Aamir Khan as an actor, same is the case with Dev Anand & Raj Kapoor. The latter two were great directors & were much ahead of their times but as actors, they could never overwhelmed me. I don’t count Salman in actors’ list & other Kapoors were only good but not the greats! Probably only Prithvi Raj Kapoor should be in the list but his rein in was his exaggeratedly rigid Pathan personality which always restricted him in pushing the envelope. The list is endless so let’s hold it here let me know who all according to you should be in this list…