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Archives for August 2022

When SRK did a Panchayat 33 years ago

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Shah Rukh Khan is not only one of the biggest stars in India but also world over. But the actor has had to work his way up through hard-work from scratch. After doing theatre in Delhi, he migrated to Mumbai to continue the profession.

During his initial days, he was seen in quite a few Doordarshan shows like Dil Dariya (1988), Fauji (1988), Intezaar (1989), Adhuri Zindagi (1989), etc.

One notable work Shah Rukh Khan did during those days for the same channel was in the show Ummeed in 1989. The serial featured different stories that used to run for two episodes. In one such segment, Khan featured in the role of a young bank employee.

A noble soul with the channel name of ‘Super Tuber’ uploaded the two episodes of the show on YouTube three years ago.

As soon as I started watching the first episode, I was instantly reminded of TVF’s Amazon Prime Video show Panchayat. The web-series saw Jitendra Kumar play Abhishek Tripathi, an engineering graduate forced to take up the position of a secretary at the panchayat office in the small village Phulera, Uttar Pradesh.

Shah Rukh Khan in Ummeed
Shah Rukh Khan in Ummeed and Jitendra Kumar in Panchayat

The city-bred Abhishek gets a culture shock by the life in the village. But there were ruder surprises in store for him when he takes a look at the panchayat office. It turns out to be a basic office which, must to his dismay, also doubled up as his residence. Abhishek also finds it difficult to adjust to the workings of the village due to the politics and age-old attitudes.

Coming back to Ummeed, Shah Rukh Khan plays the character of Anand Gupta who is ‘promoted’ as the branch manager to the bank’s newly-opened branch at Bhingri. In reality, Anand’s superior was under tremendous pressure from his senior to send someone at the said branch since nobody was willing to relocate to the place.

Anand’s happiness turns sour as soon as he lands at the bank’s branch in Bhingri. The place is located in a no-man’s land and is completely empty; no staff and just one helper. In fact, the helper and Anand are the only members of the staff.

This is similar to Abhishek’s situation in Panchayat. And just like that web-series, Anand’s personal room is also inside the office, just a few steps away, and this one too has a set-up for making tea near the window.

That’s not all though. Just like in Panchayat, Shah Rukh Khan’s character in Ummeed too forms a bond with the people of the village after, initially, going through a nightmare.

This is in no way stating that Panchayat was lifted from Ummeed. A city-based officer facing challenges after being transferred to a rural area is a common theme around the world.

Ummeed featured a very innocent and raw version of Shah Rukh Khan. He perfectly fitted the role of a common man from a middle-class family required to work hard to rise in his career. In other words, he made a clear announcement of his acting talent very early in his career; something we got to know in the following years.

Also read: Exploring Gehraiyaan’s selfish character in James Hadley Chase manner

Ummeed was written by Mukesh Sharma. I couldn’t find any other work by him after doing a Google search. Vikas Desai, as per IMDB.com, before directing this show, had acted in quite a few parallel films like Arvind Desai Ki Ajeeb Dastaan (1978), Giddh: The Vulture (1984), Andhi Gali (1984) and Anantyatra (1985). There is no record of what he did after that, except that he acted in Ketan Mehta’s Aar Ya Paar (1997).

Rajat Kapoor is named as one of the assistant directors on the show. It is not known whether he is the same one of Bheja Fry (2007) fame.

Ummeed was produced by Joint Publicity Committee, Public Sector Banks. It is interesting to see a show produced by the banking sector showing the sorry state of banks in rural areas.

Watch both the episodes of Ummeed below:

Why actual ‘anti-national’ statements never face BOYCOTT?

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India is all set to celebrate 75 years of its freedom from the British, which they got in 1947. However, it is ironical that just when the country is reaching the important milestone related to its freedom, a section of the population is busy promoting curtailment of the same.

The whole #BoycottLaalSinghChaddha ‘movement’ is not just unfair but plainly silly. One of the main reasons why the film is being boycotted is the supposed ‘anti-India’ statements made by the film’s lead actor and producer Aamir Khan way back in 2015.

Messages are being circulated claiming that the star said that he wants to leave India as he is feeling unsafe. This is nothing but a fabricated version of what Khan actually said.

As you can hear from the above video, Khan said that his then wife Kiran Rao asked if they should move out of India. Firstly, it wasn’t suggested by Khan. Secondly, the very next thing the actor said was, “Now that’s a disastrous and a very big statement for Kiran to make to me.” Khan himself said on record that what she said was “disastrous” but not many of us paid heed to that, either knowingly or unknowingly.

Funnily enough, the statement came out in 2015. Following this, Khan released three of his films in the following years, Dangal (2016), Secret Superstar (2017) and Thugs Of Hindostan (2018). Except Dangal to some extent, no other film faced boycott. But today, seven years after that statement, there is a massive campaign against the actor for his film Laal Singh Chaddha.

Source: YouTube screenshot from Koffee With Karan promo

This isn’t the only reason why the film is boycotted. Somehow few months before the release of the film, fake messages and memes are being circulated claiming that Aamir said in his show Satyamev Jayate that we shouldn’t pour milk on the Shivling and should instead use that money to help the needy. Some messages are also claiming that he said the same thing in his earlier film PK (2014).

As it is proved in one of my previous articles, Aamir has never made any such statement on the Shivling, either in his show or in the movie. Instead, it was Akshay Kumar and Paresh Rawal who have made exactly the same statements (read the article and see the videos HERE). The former made it in the movie OMG Oh My God (2012) and the latter while promoting the same film. In fact, Akshay also went onto criticize the practice of pouring oil on Hanuman’s deity on Saturdays.

Hear both of them out in the videos above. Did anyone of you ever come across any boycott calls for Akshay or Rawal?

Even if the boycotters argue that out of these, the statement made by Aamir in 2015 about Rao asking if they should leave India are problematic, it is still hypocritical. This is because they are completely ignoring Kangana Ranaut comment made last year, which is many times more controversial and offensive than what Khan said.

Speaking at a summit organized by a news channel, she described India’s independence from the British in 1947 saying, “Woh azadi nahin thi, woh bheek thi. Aur jo azadi mili hai woh 2014 mein mili hai.” Watch the video of the same below.

Now, I don’t need to spell out how problematic this statement is. In a single sentence, the actress has questioned the sacrifices of all those freedom fighters who fought for India’s freedom. It is also clear that the comments made by Aamir are nowhere near to what she said. Plus, she has had a history of making comments of this nature. Comparing Mumbai with PoK is just one other example.  

So, if you are deeply offended and incensed by Aamir’s comments but have no problems with what Ranaut’s said, you know what that makes you. More so if you are celebrating India’s 75years of freedom without having issues when someone said that that wasn’t actual freedom.