Salman, Filmfare and I

The reason Salman Khan’s name preceded Filmfare is because I don’t know when I became his fan but I exactly remember the time I first saw/read a Filmfare. It was the February edition of 1994. During that time I had just started with my abc of English as my preliminary education has been in Assamese. I guess I could just read the names of actors and films and could see the photographs. The cover had Karisma and Govinda. Back then Govinda was a big star and they were doing some hit films which are now considered cheap. It had carried interview of Aamir Khan, soon after the birth of his son Junaid (excerpt of which I have published earlier). After seeing a photograph of Shahrukh Khan I wondered is this guy also an actor. One thing was sure I had fallen in love with this magazine right then.

By the time I became aware of the world around me, the country was gripped with Salman hysteria as his film Maine Pyaar Kiya was a monstrous hit. Watching new films in those days was tough though. There was cinema hall in the town which was around 13 km away but that was the privilege of the grownups. My village had no electricity. There was TV in my house which was run on batteries. But it couldn’t take the load of VCRs. Then Doordarshan showed films of Rajesh Khanna or Rishi Kapoor which at that point I disliked so much. So no new films for me! By ’93 I was allowed to go to the bazaar which was 2/3 kilometers away and watch films on Video Parlours. The reigning superstars there were the action trio – Sunil Shetty, Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgan. These guys were a rage. Frankly at that point I found love stories a bit silly and loved these films. Most people who watched films in those Parlours aspired to become like Ajay Devgan who never goes after girl but the girl follows him. Later, after an untoward incident for which I was least responsible, I was barred from going to bazaar to watch films.

But I knew that Salman and Aamir were bigger stars. A poster from the film Andaaz Apna Apna where both were sitting on stairs wearing red jackets hung on my wall. I just didn’t get opportunities to watch their films. Then I went to my school where the opportunity to watch new films was open again. By then piracy had come into the Video Cassettes sector. The pathetic prints were really pathetic to see but then that was the only way to watch new films. Cinema Halls were soon to be shut as few years later VCDs made its way in. Though nowadays whenever I see a bad print in YouTube, it takes me to those days.

In June ’98 I had bought a Filmfare during my vacation as it had Salman Khan on cover post the success of Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya. I took it along to my school a month later. One day a teacher found out that I had ‘Filmfare’ with me. It was confiscated from me. If I read Filmfare at that age (I was 13 then), what I would do later. That was the reaction of my teacher. My house master was a cool person. He kept it with him and promised to give me when I go home next time. May be my teacher would be surprised to know that I ‘still’ read Filmfare only and ‘did nothing else’.

After coming to Delhi, everything changed. Here I watched films in the best cinema halls in the country and regularly read Filmfare (which I still continue). After few months, it became like an addiction. Whenever a new edition came out, I would finish reading it in one sitting and then wait for one month for next issue to come out. The love for the magazine was not just because of my love for films. The interviews are very well written and intelligent. Nowadays, I'm sure it influences my writing heavily.

Just before my admission for undergraduate course in Literature in English in college I appeared for interview in a South Campus college. I had forgotten about the interview. So I was sitting in front of the penal for my first ever interview wearing a T shirt bought from SN Market which had one of those cheesy one liners.

Interviewer1: Do you read?

Me: Yes.

Interviewer2: What have you read recently?

Me: Biography of Shahrukh Khan.

Interviewer2: Do you think censorship should be allowed into a piece of art?

Me: Yes.

Interviewer2: Why?

Me: Because there is lot of vulgarity in films.

Interviewer2: How do you define vulgarity? Can you name one actor who indulges in it?

Me: Yes. Meghna Naidu in Hawas (Lust).

Interviewer1: In literature, one has to read really fast. How is your reading speed?

Me: Pretty good. I can finish Filmfare which is of 142 pages in 4 hours.

I was selected.