A Chance Meeting With Vijay Arora
Afzal A. Khan
{ Reference : Earlier thread about his passing away. }
This was nearly two decades back. The daughter of a friend of
mine was getting married and I had been invited. Vijay Arora
was also a guest. The host introduced us and we sat in a quiet
corner and talked for a while. Just a couple of days earlier,
the TV "Chitrahaar" programme had shown a duet filmed on VA and
Asha Parekh. I mentioned it to him. He was quiet for a few
seconds. And then he told me in measured tones : "Dekhiye na
Khan Saheb, mujhe apne career men kis kis ke saath kaam karna
paRa hai". His disdain (bordering on contempt) for Asha Parekh
was plain to see. Now I am no admirer of AP; I particularly
disliked her voice and dialogue delivery. (Just my opinion,
no flames please.) But the fact remains that Asha Parekh was
much more successful, commercially speaking. Most of her films
were hits. {I believe she won a Filmfare Award as the leading
lady and perhaps another in a supporting role.} VA's bitterness,
at his relative failure, was very obvious.
Vijay Arora had won the Acting Gold Medal at the Film Institute
around 1971 and he always seemed conscious of it. In this cruel
industry, nothing succeeds like success and the reverse is also
very true. He just didn't click with the audiences, despite his
acting talent.
Someone mentioned the film "Zaroorat". It had Reena Roy in the
lead. There was an infamous striptease scene in the movie, with
comedian Asit Sen drooling -- it was quite nauseating. A typical
B. R. Ishara movie; bold, brash but without finesse. (Again my
opinion.) VA did well in the movie, in the role of a taxi driver,
I think. But I recall being greatly impressed with Danny Denzongpa.
His Urdu diction was nearly impeccable. And he has always put over
excellent performances.
Vijay Arora had married a Parsi girl named Dilbar. And both were
constantly subjected to malicious jokes in gossip magazines that
were published around the time, like "Stardust".
Afzal
Poma
"Afzal A. Khan" <me_a...@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:eq26p8$4s7$1...@registered.motzarella.org...
>
>
> { Reference : Earlier thread about his passing away. }
>
>
> This was nearly two decades back. The daughter of a friend of
> mine was getting married and I had been invited. Vijay Arora
> was also a guest. The host introduced us and we sat in a quiet
> corner and talked for a while. Just a couple of days earlier,
> the TV "Chitrahaar" programme had shown a duet filmed on VA and
> Asha Parekh. I mentioned it to him. He was quiet for a few
> seconds. And then he told me in measured tones : "Dekhiye na
> Khan Saheb, mujhe apne career men kis kis ke saath kaam karna
> paRa hai". His disdain (bordering on contempt) for Asha Parekh
> was plain to see.
Any reason as to why VA felt disdain for AP? Surely Asha was a performer,
mostly with Nasir Husain's films.
Now I am no admirer of AP; I particularly
> disliked her voice and dialogue delivery. (Just my opinion,
> no flames please.) But the fact remains that Asha Parekh was
> much more successful, commercially speaking. Most of her films
> were hits. {I believe she won a Filmfare Award as the leading
> lady and perhaps another in a supporting role.} VA's bitterness,
> at his relative failure, was very obvious.
>
AFAIK, Asha Parekh's *only* Filmfare award was for Kati Patang.
Rgds Poms
Asif
That's interesting read. But I am shocked by VA's disdain for Asha
Parekh. She has been one of my favorite actresses for all the right
reasons - charming, great dancer, fine actress if not great, hit
films, and, above all, all those hit solos (far more than compared to
all others) filmed on her. Come on Afzal Sahab, she was not that bad.
I wish you asked Vijay about his casting opposite Asha in this film.
He did not have to do the film and he could have refused the offer,
but he still did it, so why regret it years later. But the
interesting story of this pairing is: Nasir Hussain had not considered
Asha for the role of Zeenat in Yaadon Ki Baraat even though Asha
claims she declined the offer because she was busy in those days in
her dance performances. The grapevine is that she was hurt by Nasir's
decision and managed to get Vijay Arora signed up opposite her in
Raakhi Aur Hathkadi just to prove Nasir wrong. She even wore a skirt
in the film apparently because Zeenat wore such dresses while shooting
for Yaadon Ki Baraat. Such interesting and funny things were part of
the filmmaking those days.
Asif
Asif
> > Vijay Arora had married a Parsi girl named Dilbar. And both were
> > constantly subjected to malicious jokes in gossip magazines that
> > were published around the time, like "Stardust".
>
> to be released, Ramesh Behl was advised by Randhir Kapoor
> to change the name because he felt that many would assume
> VA to be the hero of that movie (VA played the role of Inderjeet
> in TV mega serial Ramayana).
This joke thing is news to me maybe because I had left India by then.
Could you please tell me why he became a source of jokes and what
those jokes were? I am praying they had nothing to do with his acting
or personality, both of which were fine.
Asif
s.bhouman
ought to have reached places. AP was a typical heroine of her days
(60% glamour). But she was more than a doll. She could act tolerably
well in movies like Kati Patang. Khan Saab's reference to VA having
been gold medalist proves again academic achievements do not carry a
person much far in his life. If I remember right, Shotgun Sinha just
scrapped through the course. So did Rajnikant.
Regards
asi...@my-deja.com
> VA possibly had much superior feeling about his calibre and thought he
> ought to have reached places. AP was a typical heroine of her days
> (60% glamour). But she was more than a doll. She could act tolerably
> well in movies like Kati Patang. Khan Saab's reference to VA having
> been gold medalist proves again academic achievements do not carry a
> person much far in his life. If I remember right, Shotgun Sinha just
> scrapped through the course. So did Rajnikant.
> Regards
cc-ing RAMLI.
Or it may be that the FTII coursework is so far removed from the
reality of Indian cinema that it frustrates high academic achievers.
If they train actors on complex acting techniques and show avant garde
works by Altman, Tarkovsky, Kurosawa and Ray, and then dump them onto
the reality that is Hindi cinema, it sure to bring the intellectual
elite of FTII down to earth. Imagine having to deal with a distributor-
turned-filmmaker like Tarachand Barjatya or a over-the-top director
like Manmohan Desai. Don't get me wrong, these folks have their place
in Hindi cinema - it is just that it would be considered beneath the
more cerebral actors who possibly hoped to dwell in the realms of more
complex cinema. Imagine a top-class grad like VA having to deal with a
non-actor like Ms. Parekh (call me Scissorhands)[1]
To give an analogy, it is like taking an IIM grad and making her in
report to the manager in charge of strategy at Ram_Bharose paan masala
phactory (no branches outside Gorakhpur). The latter reuires all the
chutzpah, street-smartness, wheeling-dealing that one can muster. The
former will be lost in it - culturally and creatively. The former is
more suited to making corporate presentations on game-theory to execs
of HLL. :-P
This is what happened to a lot of FTII filmmakers and actors of the
1970s who got disillusioned with both mainstream and parallel cinema.
Read Naseeruddin Shah's interview where he tries to explain it.
http://www.chowk.com/show_article.cgi?aid=00000469&channel=civic%20center
[1] Only partly tongue in cheek.
Cheers
Arun
Pais
>
> - Show quoted text -
So "Raakhi Aur Hathkadi" is the name of the movie!!! Was actually
thinking of posting this qs in RMIM about the song that Mr. Afzal has
mentioned in his post. I suppose we both saw the same episode of
"Chitrahaar" :)
The song was pretty catchy. An Asha - Kishore duet. Something about
the girl playing games with the boy.
But it is the picturisation that I remember - a clearly over-the-hill
AP with a pouty VA singing the song in some garden. AP was wearing a
rather short dress and struggling with it. LOL!!!
Wonder what even made her think that she stood a chance against
scotching-hot babe Zeenat.
Regards
Srinivas
shri37
>
> - Show quoted text -
Vijay Arora, whatever maybe his own estimate, was a B Grade actor( not
anyway better than say Biswajet or sudeshkumar).He got more than his
due.
ltusenet
<snip>
>
> Imagine a top-class grad like VA having to deal with a
> non-actor like Ms. Parekh (call me Scissorhands)[1]
There used to be a joke during college days that she approached Nasir
Hussain saying "main aapke paas badi "aas" leke aayi huu.n?"
>
>
> Cheers
> Arun
Abhay Jain
"Pais" <pai...@msn.com> wrote in message
news:1170661855.8...@v45g2000cwv.googlegroups.com...
>
> So "Raakhi Aur Hathkadi" is the name of the movie!!! Was actually
Was Raakhi Aur Hatkadi based on Gulshan Nanda novel?
AJ
>
>
> Regards
> Srinivas
>
>
