Steve Jobs, the man, who changed the way of life for every single human being on the earth with his inventions, changed his address from this planet to some other planet. He made his departure from here on October October 5,2011, where he had arrived on February 24, 1955.

As a mark of respect ,  we reproduce here produce a  prepared text of the Commencement address delivered by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, on June 12, 2005 at Stanford University. (Editor)

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: “We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?” They said: “Of course.” My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents’ savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn’t all romantic. I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends’ rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it’s likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down – that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now.

This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope it’s the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960′s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

(Nawab Pataudi - 5 January 1941, Bhopal – 22 September 2011, New Delhi)

March 16, 1962, will be remembered as a black day in the annals of Indian cricket; though not, I trust because its events precipitated my appointment to that title, which then stood at the summit of my ambitions, captain of India.

I am not normally, I think, a nervous batsman, but will admit to feeling a certain apprehension that day as I crouched in front of the stumps at Bridgetown, Barbados, ready to receive my first delivery from Charlie Griffith.

It was a typically hot afternoon, with some 10,000 shirt-sleeved fans jam-packed into the small, open-roofed Kensington park arena, and many more perched like hobgoblins on the branches of palm trees and other vantage points outside. The hubbub of chatter and laughter I remembered from a previous ‘friendly’ tour seemed now to have given way to a more positive sound. Hot on the scent of victory, the west Indians were screaming for our blood.

I hope my apprehension did not show, I don’t believe in showing emotion in public, like joy, or tears, any sign of fear is best confined to one’s private room. It certainly does not belong on the cricket field. However, as you will see, the circumstances were unusual.

We had reached the second afternoon of India’s match against Barbados, undeniably the strongest team in the world outside a test team and strong enough to defeat most test teams.

In our task of trying to match the colony’s first innings total of 394 we had lost three wickets for 15 runs and , as the young vice captain , I was acutely aware of the need for someone to introduce stability into the batting.

As I watched Griffith walk back to his marker I found it, difficult to erase from my mind all that had gone before.

So far on this tour, the Indian side had failed to live up to a reputation, enhanced be recent victories over the M.C.C. side led by Ted Dexter, yet we were by no means innocents abroad.

For this match our card had been emphatically marked. Cricketers who had visited Barbados recently had warned us to expect trouble from Charlie Griffith, a giant Barbadian fast bowler with a freak bowling action. This apparently, enabled him to make a ball rise off the pitch at an unexpected angle and at alarming pace.

Right from the start of play every Indian eye had been glued in Griffith. We had a good view of his action from the pavilion balcony, which is situated behind the bowler’s arm, and it did not take us long to decide that those warnings did not exaggerate the danger to s batsman of Griffith’s deliveries, some of which looked distinctly odd.

Early on our captain, Nari Contractor , received a ball from Griffith  which was short of a length, and it rose very abruptly. Nari had no time to play any sort of shot, but at the last moment hunched his shoulders. Even from the distance of the dressing-room we could hear the sickening thud as the ball struck his head.

It was a delivery which has since been the subject of much discussion. One suggestion is that the ball did not, in fact, rise above stump height. As an eye witness from reasonably close range I can dismiss this as completely inaccurate.

Contractor is about five feet nine in height, and when hit was clearly standing upright without having attempted any stroke. In fact, he did not move a muscle until the very last second when he appeared to pick up the ball for the first time, then he hunched his head into his right shoulder in a protective gesture. Had he not done this ball would have struck him in the neck instead of on the head.

It should also be remembered that contractor was already an extremely competent and experienced Test batsman, not easily deceived and still less likely to be scared, by the very best fast bowling.

I can remember turning to my friend Jaisimha, and there was shock in my voice as I exclaimed: ‘My god, Jai, that was a really bad blow.’

We watched our captain sink to the ground. The Barbadian players rushed to help, and a few of them escorted him towards the dressing-room. Halfway there, several of our own players had arrived on the field to give their support.

At first no one realized just how badly Nari had been hurt. Later, as he sat in a corner of the dressing-room, someone saw bleeding start from his ears and nose. At once manager Ghulam Ahmed telephoned the hospital. ‘Send an ambulance!’ we heard him demand.

Play continued. A little later Manjrekar who, technically, I have always considered the best Indian batsman of my time, and who was certainly our best hooker, received a delivery from Griffith almost identical to the one with which Contractor was felled.

By moving his head at the last moment, Manjrekar took the impact of the ball on the bridge of his nose. It was at once obvious that he, like Nari, must retire. Slowly he made his way back to the dressing-room, and on entering announced quite calmly: ‘I’ve been blinded, I cannot see a thing. The atmosphere was so tense; waiting to bat was almost like waiting for the executioner’s axe.

However, twenty minutes later to everyone’s relief, Manjrekar found he could see again. He wished me luck as I went over the top or rather out of the pavilion to join Jaisimha in the middle.

Less than twelve months earlier I had been involved in a car accident which cost me of this sight in my right eye, but my good one provided a vivid picture of Charlie Griffith charging towards me as if meaning business.

I saw him land at the crease at a wide angle, his chest square and left foot splayed outwards. Down came his arm – them nothing. I completely failed to pick up the ball at any point in its flight, though I could sense that this time it wasn’t a bumper. Fortunately, the delivery was off target.

I also failed to pick up Griffith’s next two deliveries, but caught just a glimpse of his fourth. It seemed to come towards me from mid off, and I could do nothing in time to prevent the ball from shattering my stumps.

At close of play the scoreboard showed we had scored 80 for six. But for a brave stand by Jaisimha and (Farookh) Engineer  we would have been in even worse trouble.

We returned to our hotel to await news of the captain. Since none came, the whole team decide to visit the hospital. You cannot see him now, he is in the operating theatre and under anaesthetic, we were told. We were allowed to wait in a room immediately below the operating theatre. Soon sitting there quietly, we could hear Nari’s voice quite clearly. He was cursing fluently in Gujerati, a language which, fortunately perhaps, few West Indians can understand.

Then everything went quiet again. Through the silence Chandra Borde heard an owl hooting outside. In our country the presence of an owl is regarded with grave concern because it is said to be a harbinger of ill fortune. Most of us feared the worst when a doctor entered the waiting-room to announce: ‘I’m afraid I have bad news for you….

But after a pause, the doctor continued: we want you to give your blood for the captain-it will help him through this grave operation.

Borde, Umrigar and Nadkarni, senior players who were of the appropriate blood group duly volunteered to give blood, together with Sir Frank Worrell, the West Indian Captain, who had made a special journey to be present Another visitor, Charlie Griffith, was obviously very concerned.

Contractor had sustained a fractured skull. The first treatment he received was an emergency brain operation, and this undoubtedly saved his life. Another critical operation that followed, this time performed be a specialist flown in from Trinidad, was to relieve a blood clot which had formed from the fracture, and which was pressing on Nari’s brain.

Happily Nari contractor survived and is still around to tell the whole tale, if he wishes. But he has a plate in his head as a remember of that near-fatal accident, and needless to say he has not been able to play test cricket again.

Manjrekar, however, recovered to such a remark able extent that in the second innings of the match he completed a magnificent century, as a fighting gesture, this must rate as one of the greatest I have ever been privileged to witness on the cricket field.

 (These are the excerpts of Nawab Pataudi’s autobiography ‘Tiger’s Tale’ published by Hind Pocket Books, New Delhi being reproduced here as a mark of  respect to the departed legendry player of the cricket who led the Indian team from a casual play team to a professional one.)

Bhopal, Aug 19. Posted at 08.26 AM  IST :  The inquiry commission set up by the Madhya Pradesh government to investigate the causes and consequences of the Bhopal Gas disaster of 1984, has invited information from the people. The commission has been set up in the wake of the court verdict in the issue last year in June.

The CJM court had convicted the then Union Carbide india Ltd. (UCIL) chairman Keshub Mahindra and six others for causing death by negligence. Each one was awarded a sentence of two years imprisonment. The verdict had come twenty-six years after the world’s worst industrial disaster that killed an estimated 25,000 people in Bhopal.

The unhappy and agitated people over the ‘unjust’ verdict in the case created a worldwide agitation forcing the state and the union government to reconsider its insensitive attitude and do something to save the situation. Hence, the union government of India decided to a) offer a little more compensation to the victims and b) apply before the Supreme Court for the reopening of the case against the killer Union Carbide company. However, the half-hearted attempt of the government of India fell flat in the apex court, which preferred the case to be heard in the Bhopal district court once again.

The state government, on its part, did constitute an inquiry commission to investigate a fresh the entire issue of the disaster. The commission headed by Justice S.L. Kochar  is expected to probe the causes of the tragedy and the role of the then state government and other people vis-a-vis the accused.

The commission would also investigate whether the Carbide plant was issued license as per the rules and whether it had adequate safety arrangements in place to avoid any possible accidents.

The issue of the safe disposal of the chemical waste from the plant was taken care off or not, too is covered under its ambit.

It also is suppose to probe the controversial release of Union Carbide Corporation Chairman Warren Anderson’s arrest and mysterious release within hours in Bhopal on December 7, 1984.

It may be recalled that the first commission constituted to investigate the similar issue, Justice N.K.Singh Commission, was abandoned halfway in 1985. No justified reason was offered by the state government at that time.

The music of the flute will never die

- Raajkumar Keswani

‘The music of my flute will not die…’ said the 20th century great rebel poet of Bengal, Kazi Nazrul Islam, in his famous ‘Rajbandir Jabanbandi’ speech which he delivered in the British Court of Chief Presidency Magistrate Swinho on January 16, 1923. He was facing the sedition charges and was sentenced to one year of rigorous imprisonment.

I hear the flute again. This time it’s Anna Hazare, who is playing the anti-corruption tune. People are dancing and the corrupt are shivering. In between the two, stand the protectors – King’s Police on one side and the Truth on the other. History suggests – no police bullets have ever been able to kill the Truth. And the truth- that it’s the time of national awakening against the corrupt system has been revealed aloud by the sounds of fury on the every street of the country.

Anna Hazare and thousands of others have been arrested for speaking the Truth. It’s time to revoke the spirits of our freedom movement and recall a few orations of the era to light up the path for the journey of the brave soldiers of ‘Second Freedom Struggle’ going on in the country – we call Bharat, The Republic Of India.

I reproduce here a few selected excerpts of the ever inspiring speech of Kazi Nazrul Islam ‘Rajbandir Jabanbandi.’

“One is a king with a scepter in his hand; the other is the truth, with the scepter of justice. On the side of the king are state – paid government employees. On my side is the King of all kings, the judge of all judges, the eternal Truth – the awakened God.

…What is behind the King is insignificant; behind me is Shiva. The goal of the side of the king is selfish, monetary reward; the goal on my side is the Truth, the reward of bliss.

… The message of the king is like bubbles; mine – the boundless ocean. I am a poet, sent by God to speak the unspoken Truth, to give form to the formless creation. God speaks through the voice of the poet. The message is the revelation of the truth, the message of God.

… Truth reveals itself. No angry look or royal punishment can suppress it. I’m the lyre of that timeless self-revelation - the lyre in which the message of eternal Truth has been resounded. I’m the lyre in the hands of God. A lyre may break, but who can break God?

… The music of my flute will not die simply because my flute has been confiscated- I can play the music through another flute I can get or create. The music is not in my flute- it’s in my heart; and the flute in my creative skill of constructing it. Therefore, neither the flute nor the music is to be blamed.

… Am I a rebel because I voiced the distressed cry of the Truth stricken by this unjust rule? Is it only my own crying? Or, is it the united, loud voice of the entire oppressed in Heaven and Earth?

…I know the cataclysmic roar of my voice is not mine alone- it’s the cry of the suffering of the entire world. This cry cannot be silenced simply by intimidating me, even killing me. Suddenly, in someone else’s voice, this lost message will be heard thunderously!”

My Unforgettable Moments : Shammi Kapoor

 
YOU promised not to tell……

        “But… they are unforgettable….”

        “True, but how could you even dream of telling….”

This is how the argument went on within me before I began to write about my unforgettable moments.

The first experience alone is unforgettable. Repeated again and again, it freezes into habit. The unforgettable moments and those that are forgotten, the intense and the trivial, make up the chapters of human life.

They are few, the experiences. I will never forget the first time I became aware of him, because in that instant I knew life would never be the same again. He made it fiery, turbulent –going somewhere, faster, and faster, always going endlessly, never reaching.

He drove me mercilessly, making me live as though each day were my last. He made me go in search of everything in life until a voice whispered within me, “you must find yourself first to find everything” that was when I decided to get rid of him.

His name is Shammi Kapoor. He used to be a handsome young man with a thin moustache and a devastating look which unnerved the brave and attracted the fair. He nearly led me astray when I realized that I must take another path.

I was about fourteen at the time, studying at the Don Bosco School. I had been chosen for the football team to play against another school. I was very proud of this. The match was to be held at the Matunga Gymkhana Grounds.

A few minutes before the match we trooped to the ground in our uniforms. I was the goal-keeper. The game commenced – and with it my downfall.

Among the crowd near the goal I was (supposed to be) defending, I noticed two girls in pigtails, grazing adoringly at me! This spent my spirits soaring, and I began to show off. Our opponents scored goal after goal through my distracted defence, and we lost the match by the ignominious score of seven-love.

When the match was over and the crowd dispersed, the irate members of my team fell on me with fury and gave me a sound thrashing, swearing never to allow me near the football ground again. But was I worried? No, I had been admired by two lovely girls.

The first time I took a girl to the pictures was when I was not fifteen yet. We were looking forward to it. I had booked two seats in the Rs 1-5 class. Before we caught the train at Matunga, where we lived, I bought two first-class tickets.

We saw the picture-till the interval. The crowd got up and went into the foyer and we too went. At the door, the usher looked at us.

“Just a minute,” he whispered, drawing me aside.

“I don’t think you know, but your father is upstairs in the Rs. 2-2 class, and your grandfather is in the Rs. 2-10 class!”

I got the shock of my life.

“Come,” I told my fair companion taking her elbow and hurrying, “we’ll see the second half some other time!”

We hastened to the station, nervously looking behind us to see if my father or grandfather was following us.

In spite of having us first-class tickets, we entered a crowded third-class compartment and travelled standing. I was taking no chances.

(This is an excerpt from an article by Shammi Kapoor, published in “Filmfare’ May, 1958. It gives a deep insight into the character of the man – fun loving and deeply honest. We reproduce the piece here as a tribute to the Prince Charming of the Bollywood. Editor)

*****

Shammi Kapoor : The actor, who brought sunshine to dark reel

By Raajkumar Keswani

The most happy face of Indian screen, Shammi Kapoor, is gone. He breathed his last in Mumbai on Sunday 5.15 AM, bringing to an end the era of sparkling energy in Bollywood.

Shammi Kapoor, only one in his own class and style, was admitted to Breach Candy hospital last Sunday and had to be put on a ventilator after his condition deteriorated. His low blood pressure compounded by an infection has been bothering the team of doctors attending on him in the ICU. He has also been suffering from chronic renal failure for past several years and had to undergo dialysis thrice every week.

With all these physical problems, Shammi kapoor’s undying ‘Yahoo’ spirit never did desert him till his last breath. I am not aware of his exactly last moments, but he was very much interacting with his family till I checked on Friday evening.

My generation of 50s and 60’s has grown on Shammi Kapoor movies. His acting was a rare combination of Sunrise energy and unbounded spirit of youth. His physical movements were a language in itself , which every young man of that age wanted to speak.

To say, he was inimitable, is oft repeated sentence for Shammiji. But that did not deter the likes of Joy Mukherji,Biswajeet and many more and even flourish on that. No matter, how poor they looked in their attempts.

On one occasion, in an interview, inresponse to a question on what he would like to be if was born again, he said  -  ‘Shammi Kapoor, who is a better actor. Who is more disciplined and who makes lesser mistakes in life.’

Amen.

Birthday Special

Today is the 82^nd birthday of legendry singer, actor, writer, director, lyricist, composer Kishore Kumar. Born on August 4,1929 as Abhas Kumar Ganguly in Khandwa city of Madhya Pradesh attained unparallel heights in the Indian film industry as a great entertainer of all times.

Here we present a birthday forecast made by a famous palmist and astrologer Pandit Kashi Prasad Sirouthia on the basis of his palm reading. Filmfare procured a clean print of Kishore’s palm for the purpose and published that in its August 19,1955 issue.

You can go through the forecast and compare that with Kishore Da’s real life, which is generally known to the people. 

Kishore Kumar  : A 1955 birthday  forecast

By Pandit Kashi Prasad Sirouthia

(Renowned Palmist and Astrologer)

THE nature of Kishore Kumar’s palm, thumb and fingers reveals in him an Ambitious spirit which knows no bounds. The circles on three finger-tips and on the thumb, the division of the index (first) finger into five parts, instead of the usual three and a number of  little thin lines running down the other fingers are some notables features, revealing that the star is constantly engaged in big venture and aims for big roles which will make him outstanding in his field of activity.

The well-balanced mounts on his palm indicate an interest in art and a love of beauty.        The first finger is divided into five parts, the middle one into four. There are thin lines running down the third phalange of the middle finger. All this signifies that the high ambitions he entertains will meet with success.

This however, will not be attained easily, because the two parallel lines across the mount of Jupiter indicate obstacles. But this is a passing phase. It would bring additional worries but do him no great harm in the long run, because the influence of these lines is marked to remain only up to the twenty-ninth year of his life.

The third, or sun finger, extends to a point a little above the middle of the first phalange of the second finger, indicating that sometimes Kishore becomes oblivious to risk. Small thin lines running down this finger supplement similar lines found on the middle finger, indicating ultimate success.

Thin, small lines running down the finger of mercury, studied with the incomplete long “fish” formation on the mount of Venus, indicate Kishore’s talent for music, singing and dramatics. This “fish” has contributed to his possession of histrionic abilities.

The thumb has the unusual feature of being divided into four parts, the second phalange being divided into three portions. In addition, the presence of a square and a triangle here point to the fact that Kishore is slow in arriving at decisions. He is unmoved by impulse, is very cautious and calculating.

This trait, which is also borne out by the heat line, counters the speculative and risk-taking tendency which the sun finger indicates. Even if Kishore goes to the races, he will not play for a heavy stake. When, after much deliberation he arrives at a decision, he sticks to it and it is noteworthy that this does not result in harm to him.

Kishore will discuss problems with his associates, strike a bargain, but perhaps delay in committing himself. But once an agreement is arrived at, he will honour it. His nature enables him to take advantage of the opportunities which come his way and would help in his advancement.

The main lines are clear and well-defined. The lines of head, Heart and life start from the same point, signifying the possession of an unusual degree of intelligence, determination and power of concentration. To some extent this makes him obstinate, but one sees from the mixed nature of the indications in his palm that he can cloak this obstinacy in an agreeable manner, so that others do not feel it. At times Kishore may even accept the other man’s viewpoint, but this will not be until he is convinced of it.

With all the advantage of his mental faculties, Kishore, however, is scarcely able to gain substantially from them. In the everyday affairs of life he encounters failure often and frequently discovers that he made the mistake of confiding in the wrong person. This is particularly so in his personal dealings, more so with members of the opposite sex.

A peculiarity of Kishore’s hand are the number of contradictory indications given by the three Headlines, pointing on the one side to the possession of unusual mental powers, his imaginative tendencies and his firm decisions, and on the other to a vacillating nature and changing ideas.

The first Head line, which joins the line of Heart and may in fact, be called even an extension of the latter, confers on him a capacity to think calmly over anything which might influence his career up to the age of twenty-nine.

The second Head line, running steeply down the palm from the line of life and terminating on the line of fate, indicates his imaginative tendencies. However, this aspect of his personality has not been able to manifest itself fully.

The third Head line, which starts from the mount of lower mars with a formation resembling a snake’s mouth, runs upward towards the mount of Saturn and then, taking a turn below the line of Heart, moves down the mount of upper mars.

This unusual example of a double Head line is , I believe, a good sign. It indicates that its owner sticks to his opinions tenaciously and is argumentative in nature. It also indicates success in his ventures and promises him the winning of public applause.

These traits enable Kishore to view life in true perspective and wed the artistic to the matter-of-fact. The possession of this faculty allows his mental gifts to develop in various ways so making him versatile.

The line of sun, which again is well marked, reveals the subject’s histrionic talent. Studied along with the line of fate, which rises on the line of  life and runs clearly up the palm, it yields the indication that Kishore will succeed in his efforts. Yet it is evident that he rises only after a struggle.

Much depends on the shape of the subject’s palm, fingers and thumb, as well as the position of the mounts. The mere presence in anyone’s hand of a similar sun line or any other of these indications is no guarantee of success in any artistic pursuit.

Under a different set of circumstances, the same line may point to different other fields of activity. Therefore any construction put on the lines, or signs, without a coordinated study of the whole palm, would be misleading. And one wrong step, taken as a result of such a reading, might be sufficient to mat one’s whole progress in life.

A reversed trident on the sun line under the mount of the same name, with a fork on the top, indicates that in course of time the trident will turn into a “Damru,” or double-trident. If this development takes place, the subject will acquire unprecedented fame and occupy a high position in public life. The presence of a square between the lines of sun, Heart and fate, and the presence of a triangle between the lines of head and life, also tell the same tale.

In the case of Kishore Kumar these markings are a warning to him to take great care in his personal affairs between the ages of twenty-seven and thirty-three and particularly in his thirtieth year. Any faltering during this period would be a serious matter for him.

But, by cautious and judicious exercise of his mental faculties and by keeping himself free from the influence of others, Kishore has prospects, in the very near future, of reaching unprecedented heights in his career. In pecuniary matters, however, he may not be so fortunate.

The elements of weakness in him are counter-balanced by a great power of adaptability which enables him to withstand changing circumstances easily. The ups and downs of life would seem not to perturb him.

With the advantages springing from the artistic traits shown in his hand, Kishore was able to make a start between the ages of nineteen and twenty-one years. He made a mark at twenty-three, in a field different from the one in which he had started. This is the first of several changes he undergoes in his career. A period of steady rise commences in September 1954 and lasts up to the age of thirty-five years.

However, at the age of twenty-nine, another change is in store for him. The new period will be important in his life. His interest in music now revives and also brings him success in this field. He may reach the peak of his career either between the ages of twenty-seven and twenty-nine, or between his thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth years. But since the twenty-ninth year happens to be an important one for Kishore, the prognostications are that his greatest achievements will lie in the former period.

Thus, during the years 1956 and 1957, a period which may extend up to the twenty-ninth year of his life, Kishore will score an outstanding success in a serious role and as a result gain greater fame.

Lines in the process of development indicate a possible diversion into new avenues. At about the age of thirty-five, Kishore’s interest in dramatics may yield to an interest in other fields in the industry.

Coming to the present moment, Kishore will be a much sought after star between the months of august and December this year. The benefits of this to him will be most evident by January 1956. But the period, December- January, may not be considered good for him from the viewpoint of health. He may experience a month’s illness.

Again, the period, January-April 1956, may bring personal cares and worries. Otherwise, the year is one of steady progress and success.

(Originally published in Filmfare, issue dated August 19,1955)

मुग़ल-ए-आज़म – 2

राजकुमार केसवानी

मित्रों, पिछली बार बात ख़त्म करनी थी तो मैने ‘मुग़ल-ए-आज़म’ का प्रीमियर करवा दिया, लेकिन ऐसा थोड़े ही है कि बात पूरी हो गई. अभी तो बहुत बाकी है. तो चलिए, आज बात यह की जाए कि आख़िर इस फिल्म को बनने में इतने सारे बरस क्यों लग गए.

सबसे पहले तो सवाल था पैसे का. पैसे का जुगाड़ जमा तो दूसरा सवाल था ; मरहूम चन्द्रमोहन की जगह अकबर की भूमिका कौन करे. ख़ैर, यह सवाल भी थोड़ी बहुत उलझन के बाद सुलझ गया और पृथ्वीराज कपूर आ गए. 50 के दशक के आते-आते सप्रू का बाज़ार और चेहरे का हुस्न ढलान पर था सो आसिफ को सलीम भी नया चाहिये था. आसिफ को दिलीप कुमार की सूरत में अपना सलीम दिखाई दे गया. हालांकि आसिफ और दिलीप कुमार की बहुत दोस्ती थी लेकिन शुरू में दिलीप कुमार ने इंकार कर दिया. वजह यह कि उन्हें ख़ुद के चेहरे में कहीं भी शहज़ादा सलीम वाली कोई बात नज़र नहीं आ रही थी. तमाम बहस-मुबाहिसे के बाद दोस्ती की जीत हुई और दिलीप साहब ने यह रोल स्वीकार कर लिया.

जहां तक सवाल था जोधा बाई के रोल का तो पहली फिल्म में भी यह रोल दुर्गा खोटे ही कर रही थीं और नई फिल्म में भी उन्हीं को इस रोल के लिए चुना गया. लेकिन दो और खास किरदार थे बहार और दुर्जन सिंह का. तो पहला रोल मिला निगार सुल्ताना को और दूसरा रोल मिला अजीत को.

इसमें एक मज़े की बात है. आसिफ बहुत ही महीन कातने वाले इंसान थे. उन्होने फिल्म हर छोटे से छोटे किरदार का आडीशन ख़ुद किया. दुर्जन सिंह वाले रोल के लिए पहली बार, मतलब अधूरी छूटी फिल्म, के लिए अजीत और अभिनेता सुरेश का टेस्ट लिया गया और दोनो ही रिजेक्ट हो गए. उस समय यह रोल मिला था हिमालयवाला नाम के अभिनेता को जो बंटवारे के बाद पाकिस्तान चले गए. इस बार जब फिल्म शुरू हुई तो अजीत को मौका मिल गया. और अजीत ने क्या ख़ूब मौके का फायदा उठाया.

धीरे-धीरे सारी टीम जुट गई लेकिन नरगिस की जगह अनारकली कौन हो, इस सवाल का जवाब ढूंढते-ढूंढते आसिफ और उनकी टीम को एक ज़माना लग गया. हालांकि आख़िर में जैसा कि हम सब जानते हैं मधुबाला अनारकली बनीं लेकिन उससे पहले बड़ा तमाशा हुआ.

अनार ! तुम कहां हो ?

जब फिल्म बनाने वाला आसिफ जैसा दीवाना हो जो हर काम को परफेक्शन से भी एक कदम आगे की हद तक जाकर करने का आदी हो तो उन कदमों के निशान भी सदियों तक दास्तान बनकर जीते हैं. ऐसी ही एक दास्तान है ‘तलाश-ए-अनारकली’.

आसिफ की तलाश शुरू तो हुई फिल्मी दुनिया से ही लेकिन आगे जाकर यह सारे ज़माने तक फैल गई. न जाने कितनी-कितनी नामचीन हीरोइनो को बुलाया गया और रिजेक्ट किया गया. इस बात को लेकर अप्रेल 1951 की ‘फिल्म इंडिया’ नाम की पत्रिका में पूरे एक पेज की रिपोर्ट छपी हुई है कि किस तरह हीरोइनें आसिफ को हर तरह से रिझाकर, उसकी चिरोरियां करके अनारकली बनने पर उतारू हैं.

आसिफ यूं भले ही बड़े शौक़ीन इंसान थे लेकिन अपने काम में एक रत्ती भर का समझौता नहीं करते थे, फिर चाहे दिलीप कुमार जैसा जिगरी दोस्त ही सामने क्यों न हो. शूटिंग के दौरान जब दिलीप कुमार ने शिकायत की कि पृथ्वीराज के संवाद इतने तगड़े हैं कि उसकी सलीम वाली भूमिका दब रही है. आसिफ का जवाब था – ‘मैं मुग़ल-ए-आज़म बना रहा हूं सईम-ए-आज़म नहीं.’

अब ऐसा इंसान आख़िर किसी हीरोइन के चक्कर में आकर कैसे अपनी फिल्म से समझौता करता सो नहीं किया. जुलाई 1951 में हिन्दुस्तान की हीरोइनों से नाउम्मीद होकर आसिफ ने हालीवुड की उस दौर में बेहद मशहूर हीरोइन रीत्ता हेवर्थ को तार भेजकर अनारकली की भूमिका के लिए निमंत्रण भेजा लेकिन बात नहीं बनी.

आसिफ ने अब हिन्दुस्तान के घरों से अपनी अनारकली की तलाश शुरू की. अखबारों में विज्ञापन देकर नई लड़कियों को किस्मत आज़माने का मौका दिया गया. भोपाल,लखनऊ, दिल्ली और हैदराबाद जैसे शहरों में ख़ूब इंटरव्यू हुए लेकिन आसिफ के ख़्वाबों की अनारकली कहीं नहीं मिली.

मधुबाला को लेकर आसिफ पहले भी सोच चुके थे लेकिन उसके बाप अत्ताउल्ला ख़ान के रवैये की वजह से काफी हिचकिचाहट थी. आख़िर को दिलीप कुमार के दख़ल से बात बन गई. अनारकली को आख़िर उसकी आत्मा मिल गई और आसिफ को उसकी अनारकली.

अब बात आई संगीतकार की. पहले वाली फिल्म में आसिफ ने संगीतकार लिया था अनिल बिस्वास को. इस बार उनने इरादा किया नौशाद को लेने का. नौशाद साहब भी दिलीप कुमार की तरह पहले इंकार करते रहे लेकिन आख़िर को आसिफ की मज़बूत इरादे के आगे हार गए.

नौशाद साहब का फिल्म न करने का कारण यह नहीं था कि उन्हे संगीत कम्पोज़ करने में कोई तक़लीफ होती. उसकी वजह थी ख़ुद के. आसिफ, जिसकी दीवानगी से नौशाद साहब काफी ख़ौफ खाते थे. दीवानगी, जिसे उन्होने आसिफ के बम्बई में शुरूआती दौर में देखा था. मेरे मित्र रफी शब्बीर ने किसी वक़्त मुझे मुग़ल-ए-आज़म को लेकर नौशाद साहब का एक पुराना लेख दिया था. इसमें उन्होने आसिफ को लेकर जिस तरह बयान किया है सोचता हूं उन्हीं की ज़ुबानी आपको सुना दूं.

“ उस ज़माने में ख़ुदादाद सर्कल दादर में चरित्र अभिनेता जीवन और प्रेम अदीब ने पार्टनरशिप में ये होटल खोला था. इसी होटल में रात के वक़्त अक्सर के आसिफ भी बैठते थे. आसिफ साहब अपने मामू नज़ीर साहब के साथ रहते थे और नज़ीर साहब ने आसिफ साहब को दादर में दर्जी की दुकान खुलवाई थी, अक्सर हम साथ बैठते तो के.आसिफ बड़ी-बड़ी बातें करते. कहते क्या फिल्में बन रही हैं, फिल्में मैं बनाऊंगा. हम कहते – ‘यार तुम बेकार की बातें क्यों करते हो, तुम्हारा काम कपड़े सीना है. कपड़े सीते रहो. के. आसिफ जवाब देता- ‘यार मुझे तो मामू ने धंधे में फंसा दिया, वरना मेरी मंज़िल तो फिल्म बनाना है.’

ख़ैर साहब, आख़िर को मामू को भी मजबूरन भांजे को फिल्म लाईन में अपने साथ लाना पड़ा. लेकिन आसिफ की मज़िल मामू के सिनेमा से बहुत आगे थी. सो आख़िर को एक दिन यह भी आया कि आसिफ साहब नौशाद के घर फिल्म मुग़ल-ए-आज़म के संगीत के लिए उनके घर जा पहुचे.

चौधरी ज़िया इमाम की पुस्तक ‘नौशाद- ज़र्रा जो आफताब बना’ में उस मंज़र को इस तरह बयान किया गया है. ‘एक दिन नौशाद साहब अपने घर में एक फिल्म की मौसीकी पर काम कर रहे थे तभी उनसे मिलने के. आसिफ आए और कहने लगे ; ‘मैं एक फिल्म बनाने जा रहा हूं.’ इस पर नौशाद साहब ने पूछा – ‘कौन सी फिल्म बना रहे हो?’ तो उन्होने कहा – ‘मुग़ल-ए-आज़म और इस फिल्म की मौसीकी आप ही को देनी है.’ नौशाद साहब ने कहा – ‘अभी मेरे पास वक़्त नहीं है. मैं बहुत मसरूफ हूं और तबीयत भी ठीक नहीं है. आप किसी और मौसीकार से बात कर लें.’ आसिफ साहब ने यह सुना तो एक लाख रुपए का बंडल उनके हारमोनियम पर रखते हुए बोले – ‘यह एडवांस रख लीजिए, मौसी की तो आप ही को देनी है.’ तो नौशाद साहब ने कहा – ‘क्या आप समझते हैं कि पैसे से हर चीज़ ख़रीदी जा सकती है और आप हर चीज़ ख़रीद लेंगे? अपने पैसे उठाइये मैं फिल्म नहीं करूंगा.’

इस पर आसिफ साहब ने चुटकी बजाते हुए कहा – ‘कैसे नहीं करेंगे. इतने पैसे दूंगा कि आज तक किसी ने नहीं दिए होंगे.’ जब आसिफ साहब का इसरार और पैसे की बात बढ़ गई तो इन्होने (नौशाद ने) गुस्से में आकर नोटों का बंडल फैंक दिया. कमरे में नोट ही नोट बिखर गए. इतने में नौशाद साहब की बेग़म नौकर के साथ छत पर आ गईं. उन्होने नौकर के साथ मिलकर नोट समेटे और पूरा माजरा जाना. आसिफ साहब चुटकी बजाते रहे और मुस्कराते रहे फिर नौशाद साहब ने उनसे कहा – ‘अछा आसिफ साहब आप अपने नोट अपने पास रखिए हम फिल्म साथ करेंगे.’

तो यह थी नौशाद साहब की स्टोरी. इसे वे ख़ुद भी कई बार अपने इंटरव्यूज़ के दौरान भी सुना चुके हैं. बहुत ही दिलचस्प अन्दाज़ में. उनकी किस्सागोई सुनते हुए मुझे अक्सर लगता रहा है कि उन्हें कहानीकार भी होना चाहिये था. ख़ैर.

और…

उस्ताद साअदत हसन मंटो के एक किस्से के साथ आज की बात पूरी. एक बार के.आसिफ मंटॉ को फिल्म की कहानी सुनाने पहुंचे.

‘मैं तुम्हे अपनी कहानी सुनाने आया हू.’ मैने अज़र-राहे मज़ाक़ कहा : ‘तुम्हे मालूम है, मैं फीस लिया करता हूं?’

आसिफ फौरन पलट कर लौट गए. मंटो अफसोस करते रहे कि ख्वामखाह मज़ाक़ कर दिया. थोड़ी देर में एक आदमी ने आकर मंटो को एक लिफाफा दिया जिसमें सौ-सौ के पांच नोट थे. खिड़की से झांका तो नीचे से आसिफ ने आवाज़ दी – ‘फीस हाज़िर है. अब मैं कल आऊंगा.’

अगले दिन  आसिफ आए. कहानी सुनाई. कहानी सुनाकर पूछा – ‘क्या ख़्याल है आपका कहानी के मुत्ताल्लिक?’ मंटो ने कहा ‘बकवास है.’ हैरत से दुबारा पूछा. दुबारा वही जवाब. उसके बाद आसिफ ने उठकर मंटो का हाथ चूमा और कहा ‘ख़ुदा की कसम बिल्कुल बकवास है… मैं तुमसे यही सुनने आया था.’

तो ऐसे थे आसिफ साहब और ऐसे थे उस्ताद. हम लोगों के लिए कितनी इबरत भरी कहानियां छोड़ गए हैं. वाह !

अब इस घड़ी आपको छोड़कर जाने का मन तो बिल्कुल नहीं है लेकिन आने के लिए जाना तो पड़ेगा. सो बस अगली बार फिर मुग़ल-ए-आज़म की आगे की कहानी. और हम और आप और ये आपस की बात.

जय-जय.

(दैनिक भास्कर के रविवारीय रसरंग में 29 अगस्त 2010 को प्रकाशित)

SC reopens Bhopal gas leak case

New Delhi ; August 31,2010

Agencies

Fourteen years after it had diluted charges in the Bhopal gas leak case, the Supreme Court on Tuesday decided to re-examine its own judgement that led to lighter punishment of two years imprisonment for the accused including former Union Carbide India Chairman Keshub Mahindra.

The court sought response from the seven accused on the CBI plea seeking restoration of the stringent charge of culpable homicide, which attracts a maximum punishment of 10 years’ jail term, against them for the world’s worst industrial disaster that left over 15,000 people dead and thousands maimed.

In chamber proceedings, a bench comprising Chief Justice S H Kapadia and Justices Altamas Kabir and R V Raveendran, issued notices on the curative petition filed by CBI seeking recall of the apex court’s 1996 judgement that had diluted the offence.

The curative petition was filed after a nationwide outrage over the trial court judgement in the 26-year-old case following which the Centre appointed a Group of Ministers (GoM) to recommend steps including ways to get the punishment enhanced.

The charge under section 304 part-II was diluted to section 304A by a bench comprising the then Chief Justice A M Ahmadi and Justice S B Majmudar on the plea of the accused in the 1984 gas disaster case.

Today’s decision of the court was communicated to the Attorney General G E Vahanvati and the matter will be heard after the completion of process of service of the notice.

The CBI has sought reconsideration of the September 13, 1996 apex court judgement which had whittled down the charge to ‘causing death due to rash and negligent act’ against Mahindra and six others.

Besides Mahindra, Vijay Gokhale, the then Managing Director of UCIL, Kishore Kamdar, then Vice President, J N Mukund, then Works Manager, S P Choudhary, then Production Manager, K V Shetty, then Plant Superintendent and S I Quereshi, then Production Assistant were convicted and sentenced to two years’ jail term by a trial court in Bhopal on June 7 this year.

The trial court verdict had sparked an outrage with activists and political parties seeking an appeal against it, maintaining the accused had been tried under a less stringent provision of law.

हंटरवाली (1935)

राजकुमार केसवानी

यह एक ऐसी फिल्म की दास्तान है जिसमें एक साथ कई दास्ताने हैं. कुछ उस दौर की दास्तानें, कुछ लोगों की दास्तानें और कुछ अदभुत रिश्तों की दास्तानें. मतलब दास्ताने ही दास्ताने, मिल तो लें !.

तो यह बात है 1935 में रिलीज़ हुई वाडिया मूवीटोन, बाम्बे की स्टण्ट फिल्म ‘हंटरवाली’ की. फिल्म के लेखक-निर्माता जमशेद बोमन वाडिया यानि जे.बी.एच.वाडिया, पटकथा और निदेशक छोटे भाई होमी वाडिया, नायिका आगे चलकर होमी की होने वाली पत्नी नाडिया. और सबसे अदभुत नाम – संगीतकार जयदेव, जो इस फिल्म में संगीतकार नहीं बल्कि अभिनेता के तौर पर, वह भी नाडिया के साईड किक चुन्नू के रूप में, मौजूद हैं.

फिल्म में संगीत मास्टर मोहम्मद का और गीत एक विदेशी, जोसेफ डेविड, के लिखे हुए हैं. फिल्म की बात से पहले ज़रा इन गीतों की बानगी देख लें ताकि आपके दिल में कोई शक़-ओ-शुबहा न रह जाए कि ये जोसेफ डेविड ने कैसे गाने लिखे होंगे. तो पहले गीत का मुखड़ा है – हंटरवाली है भली, दुनिया की सुध लेत है. इसके बाद हैं – क्या नील गगन में समा शरद का छाया/ गुज़री वो बातें और वो फसाना बदल गया/ ज़मीनो-आस्मां की चक्की चल रही है / बदी का दौर गुज़रा, अब वक़्त नेकी का आया है. यह गीत-संगीत उस दौर के लिहाज़ से चल रहे ट्रेंड के मुताबिक ही थे और कोई उल्लेखनीय बात नहीं है. मतलब फिल्म चाहे रोमांटिक हो, धार्मिक या फिर स्टंट, गीत-संगीत का, खासकर गीत का, अन्दाज़ एक सा ही था.

यह बात ध्यान रखने योग्य है कि 20वीं शताब्दी के इस दौर में जब ‘हंटरवाली’ के निर्माण की योजना वाडिया बंधु बना रहे थे, उस समय दुनिया भर में दुनिया खुद को नए सिरे से ईजाद करने में लगी हुई थी. देश भर में ब्रिटिश हुकूमत के खिलाफ आज़ादी के आन्दोलन ने ज़ोर पकड़ लिया था. 26 जनवरी 1930 को कांग्रेस ने ‘पूर्ण स्वराज’ सम्बंधी प्रस्ताव पारित कर दिया था. नमक सत्याग्रह और सविनय अवज्ञा आन्दालनों के चलते अंग्रेज़ी सरकार का दमन चक्र तेज़ी सी घूम रहा था. भगत सिंह, राजगुरू और सुखदेव को फांसी हो चुकी थी(23 मार्च 1931). हिन्दुस्तानी अवाम अब खुलकर बर्बर, अत्याचारी हुकूमत से मुक्ति के लिए पूरी तरह उठ खड़ा हुआ था. ठीक इसी दौर में एक ऐसी फिल्म आती है जिसमें एक अत्याचारी वज़ीर के ज़ुल्मो-सितम और उससे निपटने को उठ खड़ी हुई एक औरत की कहानी है. इस कहानी और कहानी को प्राण देने वाली नाडिया के हैरत भरे कारनामों से अवाक लोगों ने जब होश सम्हाला तो हाल में तालियों की गूंज थी और टिकट खिड़की पर खनखनाते सिक्कों की.

फिल्म की कहानी एक ऐसे राजा की है जो अपने ही वज़ीर राणामल (सयानी ‘आतिश’) की कुटिल चालों का शिकार है. राजा कमज़ोर है और वज़ीर उसे एक मोहरे की तरह इस्तेमाल करता है और देश की प्रजा पर अत्याचार करता है. चारों ओर त्राहि-त्राहि मची है मगर कोई ऐसा नहीं है जो इस अन्याय और अत्याचार को चुनौती दे सके.

राजा की एक बेटी है माधुरी (नाडिया). शक्लो-सूरत से एकदम विदेशी बाला – सुनहरे बाल, एकदम खूब गोरा रंग, चेहरे से भारतीय नारी की स्थापित कोमल छवि की बजाय एक दृढ़ प्रतिज्ञता मगर पहनावा भारतीय साड़ी ही है. आदाबो-अन्दाज़ भी भारतीय हैं. यही माधुरी वज़ीर के बड़ते ज़ुल्मो-सितम के विरुद्ध एक दिन उठ खड़ी होती है. उसे इस बात का बखूबी अन्दाज़ है कि सेना सहित हुकूमत की हर चीज़ पर वज़ीर का कब्ज़ा है. वह ताकतवर है. ऐसे में उससे सीधे भिड़ना सम्भव नहीं. सो युक्ति से काम लेना होगा. और युक्ति बनती है – एक औरत दो रूप. पहला रूप है शहज़ादी जिसे दुनिया जानती है और दूसरा रूप है हंटरवाली का, जिसकी असलियत कोई नहीं जानता.

हंटरवाली बहादुर है. हाथ में हंटर है जो ग़रीबो पर अत्याचार करने वालों की खाल खींच लेता है. घोड़े को बिजली सा दौड़ाती है. ‘हे-ए-ए’ करती हुई ऊंची-ऊंची इमारतों पर एक जगह से दूसरी जगह कूद जाती है. सर पर टोपी, पांव में शिकारी जूते, आंखों पर नक़ाब और साड़ी की जगह चुस्त विदेशी निकर और शर्ट.

इस हंटरवाली की खूबी यह है कि जब-जब, जहां-जहां वज़ीर के लोग किसी ग़रीब, किसी मज़लूम पर ज़ुल्म करते हैं, अचानक प्रकट हो जाती है. दस-दस, बीस-बीस हथियारबंद सिपाहियों से अकेले दो-दो हाथ कर लेती है. उन्हें मार भगाती है और बदले में जय-जयकार पाती है.

वज़ीर राणामल हंटरवाली से परेशान है. वह उसे ढूंढकर सख्त सज़ा देना चाहता है मगर वह है कहां ? जैसे अचानक प्रकट होती है वैसे ही अचानक हवा में गुम हो जाती है. किसी को इसका कोई पता-ठिकाना नहीं मालूम.

राजकुमारी माधुरी, जिसके पिता को राणामल ने अगवा करवाया हुआ है, हंटरवाली के बारे में वज़ीर के सामने अनभिज्ञ बनी रहती है. वज़ीर को भी लम्बे समय तक माधुरी पर हंटरवाली होने का सन्देह ही नहीं होता, लेकिन एक दिन हर बात खुलकर सामने आती है. संघर्ष होता है. और जैसा कि फिल्मों में होता है, अछाई की बुराई पर जीत होती है. हंटरवाली की जय होती है और फिल्म ‘द एंड’.

फिल्म के इस ‘द एंड’ के बाद ‘हंटरवाली’ की कहानी खत्म नहीं बल्कि शुरू होती है. इस फिल्म के बाद नाडिया की दर्जनों फिल्में बनीं जिनके नाम ‘जंगल प्रिंसेस’, ‘सर्कस क़्वीन’ और ‘मिस फ्रंटियर मेल’ जैसे थे मगर उसकी पहचान हमेशा सिर्फ ‘हंटरवाली’ की ही रही. नाडिया को आज 75 साल बाद भी उसके असल नाम की बजाय ‘हंटरवाली’ के नाम से ही ज़्यादा याद किया जाता है.

इस नाम का जादू उस दौर में ऐसा चला कि जिन निर्माताओं को नाडिया बतौर हीरोइन न मिल सकी उन्होने ‘हंटरवाली’ के नाम की नकल कर ही काम चलाने की कोशिश की और कुछ लोग इसमें सफल भी हुए. अकेले 1938 में ही इस तरह की ‘चाबुकवाली’ , ‘साईकलवाली’, ‘घूंघटवाली’ नाम से फिल्में बन गईं. नाडिया के साथ भी बाद में ‘बम्बईवाली’ और ‘हंटरवाली की बेटी’ नाम की फिल्में भी बनीं हैं.

इस फिल्म में यूं तो और भी बहुत से कलाकार थे जिनमे बोमन श्राफ, जान कवास, शरीफा और मास्टर मोहम्मद भी थे लेकिन फिल्म पूरी तरह नाडिया के इर्द-गिर्द ही घूमती है. वज़ीर के हाथों सताए गए जसवंत की भूमिका में बोमन श्राफ एक जगह आकर नाडिया के साथ संघर्ष में शामिल हो जाते हैं फिर भी उनकी गिनती बाकी के साथ ही होती है.

आखिर ऐसी क्या बात थी कि वाडिया बंधुओं जैसे चतुर व्यापारियों ने अपने आपको इस क़दर नाडिया पर केन्द्रित कर लिया. इसकी भी एक दिलचस्प कहानी है. नाडिया और वाडिया की कहानी.

7 जनवरी 1908 को आस्ट्रेलिया के शहर पर्थ में जन्मी नाडिया, जिसका असल नाम मेरी ईवांस था, अंग्रेज़ पिता और ग्रीक मां की संतान थी. पिता हर्बर्ट ब्रिटिश सेना में थे. 1912 में उनकी पदस्थापना बम्बई में हो गई. 4 साल की मेरी जब अपने परिवार के साथ यहां आई तो फिर तमाम उम्र को यहीं की होकर रह गए. अलबता वक़्त के साथ एक ज्योतिषी की सलाह से वह मेरी से नाडिया ज़रूर बन गई.

कोई 12-13 बरस की उम्र से बैले डांस सीखने का शौक लगा तो उस दौर की मशहूर मादाम अस्त्रोवा के पास जा पहुंची. उनसे बैले की शिक्षा लेकर देश भर में अलग-अलग समूहों के साथ काम किया और फिर ज़रको सरकस में शामिल हो गई.

इसी जगत में जहां नाडिया अपने करतब दिखाकर वाह-वाही लूट रही थी, वहीं हालीवुड की मार-धाड़ वाली डगलस फैयरबैंक्स की फिल्मों से प्रेरित होकर वाडिया बन्धु फिल्में बना रहे थ. 1934 में योग बना और दोनो साथ-साथ हो गए. बड़े भाई जमशेद के मन नाडिया को लेकर हालीवुड की एक्शन फिल्मों के ‘लेडी वर्शन’ की तमन्ना जाग गई. यह काम इतना आसान न था. नाडिया के पास स्टंट करने का साहस तो भरपूर था मगर बाकी सारी चीज़ें उसके विरुद्ध जाती थीं. एक तो उसका विदेशी रंग-रूप और दूसरे उसकी भाषा.

1935 में ‘हंटरवाली’ से पहले वाडिया ने नाडिया को अपनी दो फिल्मों ‘देश दीपक (1934) और फिर ‘नूर-ए-यमन’ (1934) में छोटी-छोटी भूमिकाए देकर दर्शकों की प्रतिक्रिया देखनी चाही. फिल्म ‘नूर-ए-यमन’ में, जिसमें नाडिया हीरो की दो बहनो में से एक थी, उसे एक संवाद दिया गया – ‘जब दिल न रहा काबू में तो मेरी खता क्या’. शूटिंग के दौरान अनेक कोशिशों के बावजूद उसकी ज़बान से निकलता – ‘जब दिल न रहा काबुल में तो मेरी खता क्या’. अब सवाल यह था कि ऐसी भाषा के साथ काम आगे कैसे बड़े.

देश की जनता ने इस समस्या का समाधान निकालकर वाडिया के सामने पेश कर दिया. दोनो फिल्मों में जब नाडिया के ऐसे दोषपूर्ण उच्चारण, सुनहरे बाल और विदेशी रंग-रूप पर भी तालियां ठोकीं तो वाडिया के लिए भी काम आसान हो गया. बाकी रही बात जोखिम भरे स्टंट करने की तो नाडिया ने सारे स्टंट खुद अंजाम देकर अपने अदम्य साहस का आबूत दे दिया.

इस साहस को इस देश की जनता ने दिल खोलकर सलाम किया. फिल्म तो सुपर हिट हो ही गई लेकिन साथ ही इस फिल्म ने सामाजिक रूप से भी काफी बड़ा असर डाला. यह वो समय था जब औरत को पर्दे की आड़ में छुपाकर रखा जा रहा था. उस समय दस-दस मर्दों पर घूंसे और चाबुक बरसाती और उन पर भारी पड़ती नाडिया. रेलगाड़ी की रफ्तार से तेज़ घोड़ा भगाती नाडिया. यहांवहां छतों पर कूदती-फांदती नाडिया.कसरत करती नाडिया उस दौर में नारी शक्ति की प्रतीक बन गई. उसकी बेखौफ अदाओं से उसका नाम ही पड़ गया – फीयरलेस नाडिया’.

इस दौर में आज़ादी के लिए संघर्षरत महिलाओं को कितना साहस प्रदान किया और कितने अहंकारी पुरुषों की आंखें खुलीं इसका कोई बयान इतिहास में नहीं है लेकिन न जाने क्यों दिल मानता है कि इतिहास की अलिखित सैकड़ों कथाओं में यह एक कथा भी ज़रूर है. आखिर ऐसा कैसे सम्भव है कि जिस समाज में फिल्मों से रहन-सहन, कपड़ा-लता, फैशन-वैशन सब प्रभावित होता हो इस साहसिक सन्देश कोई असर न करे. आखिर नाडिया और नाडिया की तर्ज़ पर बनी उस दौर की फिल्मों की अपार सफलता भी तो यही कहती है.

आखिर में एक बात और. नाडिया के साथ अधिकांश फिल्मों में उसका नायक जान कवास रहा मगर उसका नाम बस नाडिया के साथ ही याद किया जाता है. अकेले जान कवास का नाम महज़ कुछ फिल्मी दीवाने एक टीस के साथ ही लेते हैं.

25 साल बाद ‘हंटरवाली’ के सौ साल पूरे होंगे. तब तक शायद फिल्म की सी.डी.बाकी पुरानी फिल्मों की तरह ही बाज़ार में आ चुकी होगी. उस दिन शायद कोई लिखने वाला यह भी लिखेगा कि – ‘…कमाल है ! कोई सौ साल पहले एक औरत ने ऐसे अदभुत स्टंट कर दिखाए थे जिन्हें आज तक हमारे हीरोज़ दुहरा-दुहरा कर बड़े स्टार और सुपर-स्टार कहलाते हैं जबकि नाडिया की फिल्म को सिर्फ एक स्टंट फिल्म कहा जाता है’.

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