Random Ramoji Studio Shots

 Some more shots from the Ramoji Studio tour

Also Rans

 Not exactly that, but those who were not acknowledged as THE star, or God, or whatever the no. 1 is called by masses. For example, the Big B was widely acknowledged as no. 1. What about many other actors? Here are a few that deserve accolades too-

A for Asrani

D for Dharmendra

H for Hrithik Roshan, 

N for Naseeruddin Shah

P for Parveen Babi

R for Raj Kapoor

S for Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil, Sharmila Tagore, Sanjeev Kumar

V for Vidya Balan, Vinod Khanan

Z for Zeenat Aman

and in cricket, Madan Lal, Roger Binny, Abid Ali, Kirmani, Rahul Dravid, Laxman, Prasanna, Vishwanath, Ajit Wadekar, Saurav Ganguly, 

Starry Names

When we named our daughter no. 2 Pooja, there were two actresses around by that name- Bedi and Bhatt were their surnames. I am trying to recall students or colleagues who had starry names -

Jitendra (Sharma) was a colleague at IMT.

Anushka was a student. So were three Aishwaryas- Omprakash, Iyer and Saraswat, more recently.

Sreedevi was a colleague at Bangalore.

There have been a couple of Rajesh-s though not with a Khanna surname. Amitabh is a colleague right here.

Supriya, Shruti (Suman, Shah, Sharma) and Smita are also names of stars- the stars were Pathak, Haasan and Patil, a favourite actress.

Divya (Singh/Sisodiya) reminds me of Divya Bharti, the late actress.

Oormila (spelt differently) and Urmila Matondkar, the star.

Mohnish (Waikar) and Behl, the actor.

Shreyas is an actor's name too- Talpade.

Manisha (Rawat) and Janwadkar are reminders of the Koirala.

Sanjana Rao is a reminder of Sanjana Kapoor.

Pankaj reminds me of Pankaj Kapur, a brilliant actor.

Sanjeev Prashar ( a Prof.) and Undri, a student, remind me of Sanjeev Kumar, a favourite actor.

Vidya (TC) was a student, and Balan is the favourite heroine.

Shilpa (Arora) were names of more than one students, and Shetty is the star equivalent.

Madhuri Helchel, a former colleague and also a niece (Pai)- Madhuri Dixit is the star equivalent.

Controversies Through the Ages

I have been witness to a lot of controversies, and the current lot seem pale in comparison to the great ones before them. Sample these, usually reported in nationally relevant mags like Star and Style, Cine Blitz or similar mags before TV came in (Shobhaa De was a columnist in one of these)-

Whether Amitabh and Rekha had an affair

Whether Dharmendra had married Hema Malini

Whether Dharmendra had beaten up a journo

Whether Rakesh Roshan was always bald

Whether Rajesh Khanna and Tina used the same toothbrush when they were allegedly together

Should there be kissing in films? A firm no was the answer for some decades, in case you are curious. Just think-Emraan Hashmi would have been unemployed!

Every year, there would be a list of Income Tax owed by celebs, mainly film stars, and where they found unaccounted cash in raids- mattresses, bathrooms were standard hiding places. Kishore Kumar even inserted the line 'peechhe pad gaya income taxum' in a song of his - Jay Govindam Jai Gopalam was the song.

Stars of the Academic Firmament

I am trying here to classify certain (stereo or mono) types of faculty. Any resemblance to people living or non-living is entirely due to your over-active imagination.

1. Halley's Comet. Visible, but rarely.

2. North Star. Rock solid, and will take the same position regardless of any change in the environment/curriculum/student group/peer group. Hasn't heard of  the maxim- Change is the only constant.

3. Great Bear. This guy/gal is equivalent to a constellation of stars, single-handed. Tough to handle. You've got to grin and BEAR them.

4. I, Me, Myself. This one is easy to recognise, because the three words mentioned here are used frequently. Empathy is absent from their vocabulary. Monologous, if that's a word.

5. Rock stars. They are worshipped for their craft, and they know it. Strut around in suitable postures/outfits/hairstyles.

6. The Also-rans. They are like the minions who do the grunt work, with or without-mostly without- getting the credit.

7. The I-told-you-sos. They never have any contribution or idea upfront, but always claim they-told-you-so after the fact.

Nicknames

Nicknames are something we are usually ashamed of. They are given to us by parents or friends, who find the original names inconvenient, even if they gave them- parents, I mean.

Stars also have nicknames, and prefixes or suffixes. Sample these-

Garam Dharam.
Kaka- Rajesh Khanna
Bebo- Kareena
Piggy Chops- Priyanka
Bips- Ms. Basu
Jubilee Kumar- Rajendra Kumar

Some have a positioning statement, like

Dream Girl- Hema Malini
Poor man's Amitabh- Mithun Chakraborty
Angry young man- Amitabh himself
Tragedy King- Dilip Kumar
Tragedy Queen- Meena Kumari-
Mr. Perfection- Aamir Khan

Of Slaps and Other Forms of Expression

Picasso painted. Wordworth put a string of words together for better or 'verse', Leonardo sculpted, Basu Chatterjee made films, and Kishore Kumar sang. All were trying to express themselves. But these forms of self-expression are old hat, and will not do for the in-your-face generation- X, Y or Z!

Therefore, new forms of self-expression are IN. Smileys that appear from some deft clicks, P's, D's and other mysterious letters which mean something (apparently), and the like. Yes, the 'likes' too! These are what could be termed as 'low-impact' forms of expressing oneself.

The ones which make a greater impact, and might even make a person go red in the face, are slapping, or throwing your shoes, or chappals at the person instead of trying to converse with him. Earlier practised in bar-room brawls under extreme inebriation, these forms of expression have gone mainstream, so the aam aadmi can practice these at any forum, not limited to the venues mentioned earlier and used historically.

The stars are also human, and therefore likely to have their feet firmly on the ground, while using the same forms of self-expression. If only you could slap your way into a bigger box office return,...