| When the former runs out of ammunition, he brandishes a chapati and reduces the armed bandit-with-a-heart-of-gold to tears. |
| The reincarnated tragedy king? Or was he trying to hold aloft the virtue of the neo-Nehruvian slogan "" 'Roti, Kapda aur Makaan' "" in the face of a generation that swore revenge at the landed aristocrats, who had robbed them of dreams that were definitively Nehruvian? |
| Maybe we are reading too much into pedestrian silver screen metaphors. But then, is Lord Desai not doing the same by taking the natural choice of roles and characters that writers and directors created in those days and attributing all those virtues to the man who "has only once actually played a Muslim character"? |
| "I have been free and incautious in my judgements and no doubt will annoy many people," writes Meghnad Desai in the preface to his book. It is not difficult to agree with him on this point. |
| However, one must give Desai his due for having given the reader a relatively true picture of the Nehruvian era and the golden future that the socialist icon represented. |
| All the same, Desai sounds like an irritable patriarch, unable to live with the fact that socialism and governance have a different feel and context today than in the post-Independence 'feel-good' era. |
| He describes the sixties and seventies "" arguably the most glorious era for Bollywood in terms of lyricism (the music of the Burman duo, the poetry of Shailendra), writing (screenplays of Gulzar, Javed-Akhtar and Hrishikesh Mukherjee) and energy (Dev Anand, Shammi Kapoor, Rajesh Khanna and Bachchan) "" as a deteriorating reflection of "Indian public life... as it became cruder, more violent and more cynical". |
| He writes this of an era that actually saw the birth of a distinctive chapter in mainstream comedy from the likes of Mehmood, Hrishikesh Mukherjee and even Manmohan Desai. |
| What may appear vulgar and pedestrian to a peer represents the true return of the proletariat to the mainstream box office. |
| It is also obvious that in his citing of Premnath's return as a "rapist-villain" Desai has forgotten that the 50-plus portly actor is best remembered for playing a Kohli fisherman with a heart of gold in the RK Film hit Bobby and the Indian Vito Corleone in Feroze Khan's cheeseball Dharmatma, both films of the 'declining era'. |
| While the author is entitled to his opinions, it would have helped if he gave substantial reasons for looking back at the glorious years and complaining in the last section. Even the much talked about "Muslim playing a Hindu all his life" argument, is hardly an eye-opener. |
| Films on Indian epics and their leading men are not necessarily made to pander to religious sentiment; it is sheer popularity that dictates their success. |
| Should one start a book on the Khan foursome of today, as well, who despite the rapid waves of saffronisation, have played Hindu characters all their lives? (Aamir and Shahrukh have both played Muslim characters only once in their careers so far.) |
| Desai may have drawn neat parallels between the films of Yusuf Khan and the socio-economic fabric of the Nehruvian era, but like the innumerable bloggers of the world, his is as good an opinion as any film aficionado's. |
| The findings are certainly not eye-openers and most of Desai's inferences are more in-your-face than products of considered study. |
| What adds to the reader's discomfort are sweeping amateurish statements like "Leader, a lightweight film... hardly a great piece of acting... easy role "" jovial, flirtatious, mocking at the villains and winning easily". |
| Obviously, despite his dabbling in theatre with Ibsen and Tennessee Williams, the fact that it takes energy and talent required to credibly portray the incredulous is something that hasn't crossed the author's mind. |
| Dilip Kumar could not have been a great actor if he had only smouldered with brooding intensity "" his histrionics in Ram aur Shyam, Kohinoor and Leader revealed his true versatility. And versatility, not consistency, has traditionally been the stepping stone to greatness. |
| Amongst the other major irritants in the book is the author's relegation of several films, including the diabolical lover Kumar portrayed in Dil Diya Dard Liya and Aadmi. |
| Or is this a matter of convenience since Dilip Kumar's portrayal of characters in these films is a far cry of the much-touted Nehruvian image? |
| The book, is not without its share of glaring errors, such as the photo caption from Kohinoor, featuring Dilip Kumar on the sitar. It says, "Dilip Kumar spent a year learning to play the sarod for this song". |
| A book with tremendous potential as a concept could have been a far better and more objective study on the degeneration of Nehruvian socialism. |
| Dilip Kumar's acting career seems to be almost over (his directoral debut, Kalinga, is yet to see the light of day) at a time when the angry young man has changed his persona and given the senior citizen a glamourous and consumer-friendly face-lift in an era of feel-good imagery where convenience and not idealism is the order of the day. |
| However, if the hype behind the book promotes the trend of social scientists studying populist subjects, readers will stand to gain. Hopefully, with better results, though. |
| NEHRU'S HERO DILIP KUMAR In The Life Of India |
| Lord Meghnad Desai Lotus Collection, Roli Books Pages: 138 Price: Rs 295 |
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