Remembering My Father in Law

He was an Iyer who ran away..from Chennai, and joined the Navy, and then the Merchant Navy. He spoke impeccable (British) English, with only a hint of where he was originally from. He married a Maharashtrian doc, and settled down in Pune.

He was supportive of everything that we (my wife and I) tried, including some of our moves across Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad and Harihar. He was a loving grandpa to our kids, and spoilt them when he could (not that we didn't).

He also dealt with loneliness bravely, when his wife passed away early, and lived happily for many years after. He had a Man Friday to help him with errands, and cooking. He played Golf till he hurt his shoulder, and my Golf kit is mostly his original that he gifted me, and I still use it.

He would always invite us over when we were in Pune, and liked to have a drink with me, sometimes with my wife joining in (he raised his kids well, I must say). He got along with all our friends too.

I owe him a lot- my companion of 30 years, for one. Cheers to an officer and a gentleman, on his birth anniversary, October 1st.

 He is next to his daughter around my engagement, and below, at Harihar with my good friend Vijayakumar.

Pran- A Tribute to the Gentleman Villain

There are villains and there are villains. The stylised K.N. Singh, Jeevan with the hain hain hain dialogue-utterance, the leching Manmohan, the gun-toting MacMohan aka Sambha, the leering Prem Chopra, the rapist Ranjit, and the one with lots of Mona-Sona one-liners yaane ke Ajit, but there was a guy who was a class apart-Pran. These are my memories of him, in tribute. He passed away last night.

I think I clearly remember him from a few films, in which he was really bad. Brahmachari starring Shammi Kapoor and Rajshri was one of them. There were a lot of other films from that era. He was, I remember, always well-dressed, and might give a complex to some of the tapori heroes of today.

The next I remember of him was the role he played with such elan in Zanjeer. He was ther perfect foil for the angry young man of Amitabh, and I doubt if the film would have worked without him. His song was also a rage in a movie that had no good song situations. Yaari hai imaan mera is well-recognised even today-one of Manna Dey's best. He had also turned a leaf from his villainy by now.

Don was another classic pot-boiler brought alive by a good script (rare in India) and brilliant acting by Pran and Amitabh. His dialogue delivery was at times better than Amitabh's in the movie, and that's saying a lot. His song in another Amitabh film, Majboor 'Phir na kehna Michael daru peeke danga karta hai' also was a rage, and I still remember it.

One more fun film of his was Victoria no.203, where he and Ashok Kumar brought the house down with their antics, and the song 'Do Bechare bina sahare dekho pooch pooch kar haare'.

Johny Mera Naam where he played Dev Anand's brother, and Des Pardes where he reprised that relationship, this time with an NRI angle to it (he migrates to England, starts a pub and goes missing) were two other memorable roles. He also had a good one in Amar Akbar Anthony, and sang a song "Hum bolega to bologe ke bolta hai' in Kasauti.