Funny Names , Himalywala
Kammu
are common among Parsis but what is this Himalywala ?
Another funny name among old actors Nayampalli .
Looking for such funny names . Pl. help .
k
Jay
Do not mock ...do not mock at their names.
Thats my advice to you. If you do not know...better ask, but do not
mock, pls.
Nayampalli was a veteran actor right from the talkie era and was
residing at Khar (W) where I was schooling thence. His only daughter,
Laxmi by name was my classmate...always used to sit beside me in Std V
at B.P.M. High School.
Himalaywala , I guess was a character artiste of the 40s decade and if
not mistaken, had married popular playback singer/actress; Amirbai
Karnataki
23/2
Chetan Vinchhi
Didn't get the funny angle here.
> Looking for such funny names . Pl. help .
Not sure about actors, but there are a lot of, um, unexpected walas,
e.g. Screwala, Icewala (and also Barafwala), Presswala, Sodawala,
Sodawaterwala (Mistry refers to a Sodabottleopenerwala, but that could
be fictitious), Bootwala, and so on. Place name walas are quite
common, e.g. Surat, Navsari, Baroda, Mumbai (and also Bombay), Thana,
Jamnagar, Valsad.
C
naniwadekar
Names like Miththoo Miyan (a Wadia regular in 1930s) and Bajar-battu
(a Prabhat regular in the same decade) were expressly chosen as
nicknames for their novelty value, so there is no point in adding them
to the list of Himalaya-wallah and Nayampalli. But one of the
strangest (not funny) nicknames is Asha Posle, chosen by the Lahore
based actor-singer Riffat Aisha around 1947 while THE Asha was still
Asha Mangeshkar. She married Ganpatrao Bhosle in 1947 but the name
'Asha Bhosle' became known to wider public only from 1949 onwards.
There is nothing unusual about the choice of 'Asha' but is the choice
'Posle' rooted in something Punjabi? The name has a Marathi ring to
it, but I have not heard about anybody who has that name.
There used to be a custom of purposely giving a child a bad name 'to
keep Fate's gaze away' from the child by virtue of its name's bad-ness
if a few of the child's elder siblings had died while young. Infant
mortality rate was high up to 1910 or 1920. Marathi names Dhondo or
Dhondu, Bhikoo, Dagadu are examples of the custom. I knew a person
from Varanasi named Maarachhu-raam, a play on Parashuram. Marchuram's
parents had lost a few children before he was born. How many examples
of such names can be found among the film fraternity?
- dn
naniwadekar
>
> Himalaywala , I guess was a character artiste of the 40s decade and if
> not mistaken, had married popular playback singer/actress; Amirbai
> Karnataki
>
That's correct. He was an abusive husband and there was no hhh in that
marriage. I think the marriage didn't last, and IIRC (but not sure)
Amirbai wasn't married to him when she died around 1964. It was at
Himalayawala's bungalow that the fateful meeting between Gohar
Karnataki (Amirbai's sister) and Narayanrao Bal Gandharva took place,
around 1937.
Chetan: 'Nayampalli' has a funny sound, particularly for North
Indians. Well, a school-mate used to find 'Badri' funny. Most of us
did not agree with him, but the way he pronounced it he did manage to
mock the name and make it sound funny. And a postman in US got so sick
of delivering letters to Somasundarams and Hariharasubramanians and
bcspsjhhhtms and Purandaraviththalams (each name longer than even
Naniwadekar) in a complex filled with Indians that he used to joke
that the complex had been taken over by crazy aliens.
- dn
Sukesh
Contractor, Engineer, Doctor, Merchant, Lawyer, Master, etc. are some common among Parsis and some other communities too. Some unusual surnames - Cabinetmaker and Shipchandler
Another fictitious surname, invented by Behram Contractor aka Busybee, a distinguish journalist (The Times of India/The Evening News of India and The Afternoon Despatch & Courier). For Bombayites, his rib tickling daily column - Round And About - used to be a treat starting from late 60s until his death in 2001.
WaySidePetrolStationWala
Regards
Sukesh
Vijay
Went to see 'saat Khuun maaf' yesterday (only lasted one Khuun before
walking out, but that's another story) and towards the beginning of
the credits (at the start of the movie) I saw the name: 'Screwwaala',
that made me chuckle:-) (Must be a businessman who made his money
selling nuts:-) and bolts).
Vijay
Kammu
Merchant is a Parsee surname but cricketer Vijay
Merchant was not a Parsi .
Regards ,
k
hildebrand
> keep Fate's gaze away' from the child by virtue of its name's bad-ness
> if a few of the child's elder siblings had died while young. Infant
> mortality rate was high up to 1910 or 1920. Marathi names Dhondo or
> Dhondu, Bhikoo, Dagadu are examples of the custom. I knew a person
> from Varanasi named Maarachhu-raam, a play on Parashuram. Marchuram's
> parents had lost a few children before he was born. How many examples
> of such names can be found among the film fraternity?
>
Kuppuswamy in Tamil Nadu.
Sukesh
Regards
Sukesh
Afzal A. Khan
> It was at
> Himalayawala's bungalow that the fateful meeting between Gohar
> Karnataki (Amirbai's sister) and Narayanrao Bal Gandharva took place,
> around 1937.
> - dn
Can you provide more details (as to how it was fateful) ?
Also, I think Amirbai died in March 1965 --- not '64.
Afzal
Afzal A. Khan
Hoshang Amroliwala was a Parsi cricketer who used to play
regularly for Bombay.
Also, Vijay M's younger brother Uday Merchant was a
cricketer and played for Bombay till the early fifties.
The family's original name was, of course, Thakersey.
Afzal
vrk
ah oh...you might be referring to ronnie screwvala the owner of
utv...the most famous man with that surname....
but apart from real names (which i would not really like to associate
the word 'funny' with) there were some film names which were purposely
funny baTuknath lallanprashad maalpaani , genDaaswaami, funsuck
waangDoo and dhurandar bhaaTawaDekar being a few which come to
mind..when i saw rang birangi i thought the last one was a made up
name and laughed my heart out...imagine my consternation years later
when i met someone who actually had that name and laughed....thinking
that he was pulling a fast one over me...he was certainly not amused...
Sudhir
store owners, but probably not the manufacturers) adopted the
name of the trade, adding 'Wala' at the end, which everyone
who knows Gujrati or Hindi knows means, someone who is
dealing in that trade (e.g.: subziwala, presswala, thelewala
and so on), which are used in North India, to address the subject
preson or give instructions to hosehold help, as to where to go.
In North, the traders did not adopt the surnames
On the other hand, the parsees adopted these 'wala' type names
with such a jeal, that nothing was left untouched. Few examples
(they are real and not my imagination)
Tyrewala (had very big shop, close to
Minerva Theater
in Bombay)
Bandookwala
SodaWaterBottlewala (probably one of the beauty
cotestants in
recent
past had this family name)
Screwala (the CEO of UTV TV and Film production
company's
first name is: Ronnie)
Ghaslatewala (that is Kerosene in Bombay's slang)
I hope, some day I may find names like:
Papadwala, Acharwala, Murabbewala
Sudhir
The link below has few more 'Walas', the funniest being
SodaWater ...........................................wala
http://www.vinod-menon.com/blog/what-does-the-surname-wala-stand-for-#
Sudhir
Kammu
Can you let us know all the film personalities you have
met , seen them closely .
k
naniwadekar
>
> Can you provide more details (as to how it was fateful) ?
> Also, I think Amirbai died in March 1965 --- not '64.
>
I wasn't sure about Amirbai's year of death, which is why I wrote
'around 1964' instead of 'in 1964'. Perhaps 'approx 1964' or '1964ish'
convey the doubt better than 'around 1964'.
Himalayawala, if I am not mistaken, was a tycoon, not a fringe actor.
The sisters Amirbai and Goharbai were advised to come to Mumbai from
Bijapur area by Nanasaheb Chaphekar, actor-singer on Marathi stage who
often played female roles. Goharbai's daughter was probably born
before her move to Mumbai. Be that as it may, she came to Mumbai
around 1932 and started living with Chafekar. I had run a thread on
Gohar in early 2008. Let me repeat a bit of it here. She was
fanatically and genuinely devoted to Narayanrao Rajhans (Bal
Gandharva). She tried to sing like him, and was considered to be good
at it. But BG disliked her. Through the peak of his fame (1906-1930)
he had spurned the advances of his several female admirers and
remained faithful to his ordinary looking, uneducated wife. Gohar
released a 78-disc, singing some of BG's bhajans, or singing some
bhajans in BG's style. She even persuaded BG's accompanists to record
the songs with her. Narayanrao was not happy about this 78-disc. Then
Gohar tried a new route. BG's mother and wife had been asking him to
cut down on his acting, and especially to stop playing female roles
because BG (born 1887ish) was approaching his 50th birthday and wasn't
suited to female roles any more. Gohar approached the two women and
pleaded that she be given a chance to play female roles and help out
BG. BG finally agreed to meet her, and they had lunch at
Himalayawala's place. IIRC Himalayawala and Amirbai were out of
station when BG had this famous meeting with Gohar at their home. It
is believed that Gohar gave him a 'poisoned' handkerchief to wipe his
face and hands when he washed his hands after meals. Rumours about the
meeting had run amok for several years when BG was the focus of
attention for many of his admirers. Black art or no black art, he
really did come under Gohar's spell and started visiting her more and
more, and then finally left his wife for her. BG's wife died of shock
soon later. Gohar's film assignments dwindled after 1937 since she
became a regular in BG's drama troupe. A taantrik named Fakruddin was
approached to try his witchcraft to bring BG out of Gohar's spell, but
BG's friends could not get near enough to BG to try out the prescribed
method. Gohar was ever vigilant. She was very nice to anybody who
would visit BG but his clan started avoiding him once he started
living with Gohar.
Bal Gandharva spent last 25-30 years of his life with Gohar and her
daughter. Gohar died a few years before him. Her daughter continued to
take care of a very old and infirm BG, until his very long last
illness lasting 6-7 months when only the medical staff could help him.
I think he was more or less unconscious for a period of 6-7 months
before his death in 1967.
The sisters from Karnatak died within a few months/years of each
other, around 1965.
- dn