I had read a book named ‘Ganagot’
which were biographies of people who PL met in real life. Being an ardent fan of PL, I had this idea to pen
down some characters in real life like PL. Hope I create that generic feel out
of personal experiences as in the original book.
SabaneKaka
Every night after 9 PM few music
channels on TV and few FM channels play old songs. Whenever I hear the eternal songs from films
like Anaadi, Madhumati, Chori Chori, my
mind rides upon a time machine to reach a house very close to the foothill of
Parvati (Those outside Pune will not know that there is a small hill which is
used for exercise purposes for ages named Parvati. There are few good
temples and views on the top of the whole city.) Those were the early 80s. DD was
just gaining popularity. Households were buying black and white TVs from
companies like EC, Dyanora, Crown. Every
Saturday they used to play a Marathi movie and on Sunday a Hindi movie. Those
Marathi movies were either old mythological movies or musical dramas which we
used to hate then, or biographies of the saints of Maharashtra, family drama, movies
based on local dance called tamasha, few great comedies. We also had few great
programs like Gajra: a collection of good literary pieces. But the star of the
show was a Sunday movie invariably an old one. As a child, I loved contemporary Amitabh or Mithun movies with customary
fight sequences. Never then I realized that it's impossible for a single man
(that too having lean physic of Amitabh) to defeat 20 odd villains in a fight
to win over a lady. Maybe that's why we really believed that to win a lady you
need to hit 20 people at a time when you grow up. Old movies were boring and
that too if you were asked to walk say about 4 km from Sadashiv Peth to
Parvati, it was a tough ask. But then
it was an incentive to visit Sabnekaka’s home as we had a separate room there
where we could watch Parvati, while
elders saw the movie in the hall. But then you got to get interested in movie plots
if you had to see them. I remember being perplexed by Vyjayantimala's double role in
Madhumati while I enjoyed songs. I found Raj Kapoor funny. I was impressed by Devanand in Guide and Jewel
Theif (never believed Ashok Kumar to be a villain at any point till it was exposed in the plot) But the darling was Kishore Kumar with comical presence and
voice. The road from Sadashiv Peth to Parvati had another incentive of the detour to Saras Baug to play and eat bhel. We were promised a return journey by auto
which depending on movie length was fulfilled when it was really late (late
meant 9 30 then). But then we used to enjoy the whole Sunday movie experience
thanks to the warm hospitality of sabne kaka and kaku with great food and comments.
Sabne kaka is a gentleman personified. He is a professor in Maths and statistics.
He had written many books. Very soft spoken quite contrary to the image of maths as
a subject and that too as a teacher. I really wish I attended his class at
Garware college where he used to teach. Later when I grew up, I came to know
the trustee role he played in helping us grow in modernized housing. I don’t
want to elaborate but that itself was rare those days. As we got our own TV,
these sessions ended. In fact, since the mid-80s to early 90s DD viewing was another experience as
we all know. Sunday movies were shifted to Saturdays. Then in the 90s private
channels and satellites entered our living rooms. Rest as they say is history with the explosion of
entertainment and media. But still, whenever I hear a song from Madhu Mati or Chalti
ka Naam, I still remember those Sunday evenings. The other day, I had a chance to meet Kaka. Kaku is no more. Sabne kaka is
still the same as in those memories. Look forward to his blessings as
always...
