He Never Deviated in Writing
Palash Biswas
(Contact: Palash Biswas, c/o Mrs Arati roy, gosto kanan, sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-33-25659551)
Kamaleshwar was a celebrete in media. He was associated with Indian Television since its beginning and no body remembered his contribution to Indian Television.The 20th century writer, who won the Sahitya Akademi award in 2003 for his book Kitney Pakistani, had penned 30 books and several short-story collections.The writer-par-excellence had penned 10 TV serials like Darpan, Ek Kahani, Chandrakanta and Yug, apart from producing and directing various TV programmes and documentaries.Kamleshwar, who also wrote film scripts, had popular films such as Sara Aakash, Aandhi, Mausam, Rajnigandha, Choti Si Baat and Mr Natwarlal to his credit.Kamleshwar's Kitne Pakistan enjoys cult status as a novel that dared to ask crucial questions about the making and writing of history.
Noted Hindi writer, veteran journalist and Bollywood script writer 'Padmabhushan' Kamaleshwar who passed away in New Delhi on 27th January , Saturday night, was consigned to the flames next day in the presence of hundreds of his followers, fans, colleagues and peers.His grandson Anant lit the pyre at about 1500 hrs. The 'pen man' of eminence, whose 'Aandhi' stirred much controversy in the 70s leading to its ban, was cremated at the Lodhi Road crematorium here.
The veteran Hindi writer died of cardiac arrest last night at the age of 74. He is survived by his wife and a daughter.
Born in Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh, in 1932, he did Masters in Hindi from Allahabad University in 1954.
IMPORTANT WORKS:
Has authored ten novels, ten collections of short stories and many other books on different subjects. Some of his famous works are 'Kaali Aandhi', 'Laute Hue Musafir', 'Teesra Aadmi', 'Raja Nirbansiya', 'Bayan', 'Maans Ka Dariya', 'Kohra', 'Kitne Pakistan'
Has edited 'Shikhar Katha Kosh', an anthology of short stories of Indian languages in 12 volumes; and memoirs: 'Jo Maine Jiya', 'Yaadon ke Chiragh', and 'Jalti Hui Nadi'
The noted writer, who started his career as a scriptwriter for Doordarshan, had a meteoric rise that saw him become its additional director general.
The Padma Bhushan in 2005 for Hindi literature was his cronwing glory.
Despite a galaxy of well known writers, artists and journalists marking their presence to pay the 'working genius' their last respects, starkingly conspicuous was the absence of any known face from Bollywood -- the industry for which Kamaleshwar wrote scripts for about 100-odd films.
Known for his 'parallel agitation' of 1970s which affected writings in several Indian languages, Kamaleshwar, whose recent hard-hitting novel 'Kitne Pakistan' attracted a wide range of critical appreciation from all corners, also carved a niche for himself on the small screen with big time hits like 'Yug' and 'Chandrakanta'.
I am sorry that I could not comply with his request to write down my experience in journalism and literature as am not in a position to reveal everything as long as i am in the profession. he was very annoyed. he sent feelers to talk to him. I did not. He sent Pushpraj, a Patna based journalist. But I could not cooperate.
Well we talked on Kitne Pakistan and he was as energetic as any new writer would have been.
In 1989, I was in dainik Jagaran Meerut while Kamaleshwar became the editor of the Newspaper. He wanted me in New delhi and told me to get a permission fro Dhirendra Mohan, the Resident editor to shift myself in New Delhi edition. He did not permit. It was very disappointing for me to miss the opportunity to work with the man whom i wanted so much.
During last election of Sahitya academy he was supporting Gopinath narang along with Gulzar. We were campaigning for mahashweta di. many of us who praised kamaleshwar, were with mahashweta di. Mahashweta di wa sdefeated with the betrayal of Sunil Gango and company in the Eatern part of the country. Later our friend Arun Prakash was made the editor of samakaleen sahitya. We did not like all these deviations from Kamaleshwar. But Kamaleshwar had been very obstinate with his stance whatsoever. I remember, sometimes he tried to launch misinformation campaign favouring the government in centre in his DD progrramme Parikram. But we forgot all these deviation.
He was a very honest writer and never deviated in his writings.
I knew Kamaleshwar as a school children as one among the trio of Hindi Nai Kahani with Rajendra Yadav and Mohan Rakesh. Then he was the editor of Sarika, a times of india literary monthly first published from New delhi and then shifted to Mumbai. He led the Samayntar Kahanee andolan and scores of short story writers emerged from every corner of Hindi speaking rural India. for instance , a single town in Bihar Arraha produced writers like Madhukar Singh, Suresh Kantak, Mithileshwar and many of them. In evry city and town , Hindi writers began to write about common man in his own language in first person version.
New hindi short story which began with the basic concept of western Existentialism, transformed into a tool to express the life struggle of indian masses for the first time. When I began to write in hindi and took up the genre in 1973, Janwadi movement in Hindi started at once. On the one hand samayntar kahani andolan led by Kamaleshwar and on the other hand Janwadi kahani led by Swam Prakash and Vijay Kant , this was the scenerio in our college days. We were very much impressed by Gyan ranjan and all the Janwadi writers. at the same time, we appreciated the Samayantar lekhan.
Ideologically I was with the Janwadi group and never sent any short story to Sarika, Dharmayug or Saptahik Hindustan and the commercial mags. We were committed to the little mags only. But some friends like Dhirendra asthana and Balram were in both the camp. As nowadays sanjeev happens to be in every camp.
I could notb think about deviation. so i lost the opportunity to mix up with the great writer in my earlier days as a writer.
tarachandra tripathi finalised a booklist for me and Mohan Kapilesh Bhoj. We had to read tara shankar, Manik, shankar, gyan ranjan, Mohan Rakesh, Agyeya, Yashpal, Nagar, Jainendra, Rahee Masoom raza, manto, Premchand, Mukti bodh, Rjendra Yadav, ramesh baxi, rajkamal chowdhari and Kamaleshwar altogether.
We notice the continuous change in Kamaleshwar`s writing while we just began with Raja Nirbansia, the Impotent King, Neelee Jheel and Mans Ka Daria.
Withe declaration of emergency and press censorship we were up against Mrs Indira gandhi and we had the encounter with Censored sarika issue, almost all pages were black which symboled well all those black days.
Kamaleshwar become our hero.
With the ban on film Aandhi he became a literray Icon. TOI transferred kamaleshwar and sarika to Mumbai to cut the individual and the institution to size. but the result was quite contrary. Kamaleshwar became involved with cinema.
I remember while Dalit concept was missing in hindi circle and it was considered a taboo among the Marxist as we did not take account of Manusmriti and ambedkar, it was Kamaleshwar only who edited a special dalit issue of Sarika.
Several writers and critics like Ashok Vajpayee, Mahesh 'Darpan', Mahip Singh, Pradeep Pant, Rajendra Yadav, Madhukar Gangadhar, Asgar Bajahat, Padma Sachdev, his 'colleagues' from Doordarshan and All India Radio and from the media fraternity like Alok Mehta and Prabhash Joshi offered floral tributes to him just before the last rites were performed.Among those present from the political sphere were Sitaram Yechury, Suresh Pachauri and Janardhan Dwivedi besides social activist Swami Agnivesh.
Author of several books and born on January 6, 1932 in Uttar Pradesh, Kamaleshwar worked with Doordarshan as an Additional Director-General besides having served as the Editor of Hindi daily 'Rashtriya Sahara' and 'Sarika' magazine.Kamaleshwar’s repertoire includes more than a hundred feature film scripts and Hindi television serials.
Kitne Pakistan, Partitions
Kamleshwar’s Kitne Pakistan enjoys cult status as a novel that dared to ask crucial questions about the making and writing of history. While its main reference point is the turmoil of India’s partition in 1947,
The man who captured the psychic agony of Partition more completely than any other writer is claimed by both India and Pakistan, fittingly. Today, his story 'Toba Tek Singh' is an iconic classic; to Manto, it was natural to set the drama of Partition in a lunatic asylum, and have its main protagonist inhabiting the no-man's-land of insanity rather than make an impossible choice between the two countries he could claim. There are other stories, stories only Manto could tell, like the chilling 'Thanda Gosht' (Cold Meat), where a man stabbed for his suspected infidelity by his lover confesses that he has indeed been unfaithful—in the heat of the riots, with a corpse.
It's about "KITNE PAKISTAN" by noted hindi legend, Kamleshwar. Kitne pakistan was 1st published in year 2000 and the copy which I got to read is 8th edition of this book. 8 editions in 4 years at a time when people are complaining for readers in Hindi, you may think about the popularity of this book. As the name shows, this novel deals with the problem of dividing people on the basis of religion etc. This novel is about humanity. Someone told it the 1st international novel of hindi literature.
The novel starts with the news about Kargil war and then an ADEEB (writer) starts a court where he is listening problems of dead people. To find the solutions he gets it necessary to cross time lines and starts to call people from history to keep their stands on problem. Starting from Babar he calls everyone who is concerned with any problem raised by dead people.
The novel also goes to several civilizations of human history and looks about human achievements (in his words some are love, friendship, labour etc.).
As kamleswar himself said that he was not able to get hero or villain for this novel so he presented Time in both roles.
Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan : Published nine years after Partition, Train to Pakistan introduced a young, sensitive writer called Khushwant Singh. Singh set his story in the small Punjab village of Mano Majra, where the rhythms of daily life are set by the trains that rattle by at regular hours.
Then one day, a ghost train arrives at the village station. No one gets off; the villagers can make nothing of the train until they are asked to collect wood and kerosene, for no apparent reason.
"A soft breeze began to blow towards the village. It brought the smell of burning kerosene, then of wood. And then—a faint acrid smell of searing flesh.'
'The village was stilled in a deathly silence. No one asked anyone else what the odour was. They all knew. They had known it all the time. The answer was implicit in the fact that the train had come from Pakistan.' Khushwant Singh has since become the Grand Old Man of Indian letters, and is famous for his bestsellers; but he never wrote anything to equal that early novel. This year, Roli Books released a new edition of Train to Pakistan with Margaret Bourke-White's unrelenting, agonizing photographs of the year of Partition
Rahi Masoom Reza, A Village Divided : In 1966, Rahi Masoom Reza published Adha Gaon, perhaps the novel that was closest to his heart. The novel is divided into ten chapters, mirroring the ten days of Moharram, and set in a lightly fictionalized version of the village of Gangauli, where Reza grew up.
Reza offers an insight into the world of a largely Shia Muslim village in India, which survives World War Two, is heavily scarred by Partition, but limps into Independence with the rest of India. The life of the village and the relationships between the various characters are disrupted by Partition in the same way that Reza interrupts the flow of the story to insert an 'Introduction' on page 272. "I, Saiyid Masson Reza Abidi… am deeply worried. I am constantly asking myself where I belong—Azamgarh or Ghazipur?" says the narrator. He knows only Gangauli, in Ghazipur; he will not let anyone have the right to tell him to leave for elsewhere, and because he must lay claim to a concept called 'home', he interrupts the story, with an Introduction.
Kamleshwar, Partitions : In May 1990, Kamleshwar began work on Kitne Pakistan , an ambitious attempt to understand Partition through allegory and realism. Hope, tragedy and suffering have equal roles in the India of 1947, as Buta Singh and Zainab find and lose each other, separated by refugee camps, religion, national policies and ultimately, death. But Partition is only another defendant in a long-running trial, where an anonymous adeeb, a man of literature, presides over the testimony from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Nazi Germany, East Timor, the Aztec civilization and mythological Greece. From Toba Tek Singh to Babur, Ignatius Loyola to the Ganga (present as a witness), Qurrutulain Hyder to Mountbatten and Ravana, a cast of thousands wades through blood towards a tenuous peace in this extraordinary novel
FICTION
In a new light
A.J. THOMAS
"I would not be surprised if this novel turns out to be his magnum opus eventually."
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Partitions, Kamleshwar, translated by Ameena Kazi Ansari, Penguin India, 2006, p.369+xi, Rs.350.
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KAMLESHWAR has a special place in the history of Hindi fiction. Ever since reading his Aandhi in Malayalam translation three decades ago, I have always remained on the lookout for his next contribution. I would not be surprised if his Sahitya Akademi Award-winning novel, Kitne Pakistan, during the writing of which about a decade ago he "constantly felt as if this was my maiden literary venture", and was "all the while beset by an unvoiced restlessness and a perception of inadequacy", turns out to be his magnum opus, eventually. We have it now in English translation — Partitions.
Kamleshwar, who lived through the trauma of Partition, states that, "This novel was born out of a constant ferment within my mind". It is not all about the Partition of India. It is about all kinds of violent epochs that thwarted the aspirations of the common people, as found in the vast expanse of recorded history. The main protagonist of the novel is Time, as the author felt that "in my mind there was no hero or villain".
The novel traces the various incidents in which a land and its people were partitioned on the basis of religious beliefs, giving centrality to the Partition of India, during which the decision-makers who were the representatives of the people, permitted the heart of the country to be sundered, causing the bloodshed of civilians on an unprecedented scale. A society in which ordinary Hindus and Muslims lived in perfect harmony and good-neighbourliness was smashed up following the political formula evolved by the departing colonisers and the colluding power-mongers at home. The novel takes the form of a long-drawn courtroom hearing, with the narrator, a nameless writer, the adeeb — in sensitivity and in being a witness to the times, he could be the author's alter ego — playing the roles of the chief prosecutor, judge and witness all rolled into one. Father Time, the main protagonist, is summoned by the adeeb to assist him in formulating his judgment. Each historical moment that is called into question is looked into in detail to arrive at the alternate views other than the official one — to establish the point that the hero of conventional history was wrong.
Against prejudice
Beginning with Gilgamesh, the narration proliferates, spanning several centuries of known history with Time and Space as the main characters: Other characters turn out to be rivers and dates like 1947, sharing space along with real and imaginary historic characters. Open the book at random and you are sure to find one shocking revelation or the other, tearing the mask off established history, or bringing to spotlight what has been dimmed or blurred through usage or prejudice. For instance, every Muslim-baiter in this country would harp on the theme of Muslim marauders like Chengiz Khan, Timur and Babur laying waste our motherland. But Chengiz Khan was not even a Muslim. He was a Mongol idol worshipper! Though this is known to historians, the layman has to be sensitised to this fact.
Another incident involves Aurangazeb's sacking of Kashi Vishwanath Temple. Kamleshwar borrows the authority of Pattabhi Sitaramaiah, President of Indian National Congress (1938) to assert that Aurangazeb did what he did to retrieve the wife of one of the Hindu Rajahs in his entourage who had visited the temple and whom some of the priests there had abducted and raped! Scores of such instances crop up in the book.
The brahminical partitioning of the body and soul based on the caste system, in which genuine religion and spirituality are subjugated to cast-iron structures, the Upanishads ending up as apologies for the upper castes — all these come under the scanner in the court of human consciousness.
The common reader will be thrilled to see Mountbatten being badgered into admitting his nefarious role in the Partition, by the court peon Mahmood. Mountbatten is tongue-tied when asked to explain why Lord Ismay, "who had worked closely with Churchill during the War" came along with the Viceroy as his assistant to preside upon the Partition of the land.
Unique feat
Arun Prakash, noted Hindi fiction writer, critic and editor, Samakaleen Bharatiya Sahitya, Sahitya Akademi's Hindi bimonthly journal, who was with Kamleshwar throughout the period of the writing of the novel, feels that he has pushed back the boundaries of the Hindi novel through this work. "For the evolution of any genre, flexibility of structure is essential, and this work proves precisely that. Adopting the very Indian, time-tested narrative techniques like the ones used in the Kathasaritsagara, and improving upon them, Kamleshwar has accomplished a unique feat," he says.
The translator, Ameena Kazi Ansari, has achieved the almost-impossible: getting the flow of the narrative in perfect stream in spite of the prevalence of the general ambience of Hindi rhetoric, which can degenerate into verbosity in English, in the hands of a lesser artist. The English text is very much hers. I have no hesitation in asserting that the book deserves unabashed praise.
Kamleshwar, eminent writer, journalist and winner of the prestigious Sahitya Academy Award for his book 'Aur Kitne Pakistan' last year said he has always been against the BJP.
"I have been writing in my columns against the National Democratic Alliance, and particularly the BJP, for last three years. The people who do not accept the Constitution of India, the people who do not recognise Mahatma Gandhi as
the father of the nation and believe in what his [the Mahatama's] assassin, Nathuram Godse, stood for, they start a rath yatra from Porbandar, the hometown of Bapu, and sing his praises to get votes. By all means I approve of all the advertisements that have been released so far," Kamleshwar told rediff.com.
Kamleshwar brings out the truth of life
by Harihar Swarup
SOMEONE has called noted Hindi writer Kamleshwar “Chotte kaad ka admi” and “Kale raang ka lekhak”. True, his diminutive figure and dark complexion do not impress a first-time caller but his size enlarges as he talks and big, brooding eyes sparkle, as if, he has so much to tell to his readers. His dwarfish figure, hopping from one place to other, became immensely popular on the TV chat show “Parikrama” watched by millions of viewers in early eighties. He had forayed into just coming up TV world having been fed up with his avocation as film writer. Obviously, a creative genius like Kamleshwar could no longer work like a “munshi” who was dictated sometimes by one and many times by a number of bosses. The key to the success of “Parikrama” was attributed to raising controversial subjects and bringing into open the stark truth of life.
Writing for films — screen plays and even dialogues — was an experiment, an aberration in Kamleshwar’s four-decade-long career as literati. “When he writes, as he wants to write”, his genius proliferates as manifested in his 12 novels and 17 collection of short stories. Doubtless, he has established himself as one of the pioneers of “new story revolution” in Hindi. Some critics put him in the category of one of the founding fathers of modern Hindi literature.
The Sahitya Akademi has, therefore, aptly chosen Kamleshwar for its prestigious award and his novel “Kitne Pakistan” was taken as a criterion for the honour. Perhaps, coincidentally, “Kitne Pakistan” was adjudged among his best writings when people of both India and Pakistan, suffering for years the agony of Partition, have been yearning for peace. Kamleshwar says: “The response of “Kitne Pakistan”
confirms the view that if you raise contemporary questions, people identify with it because their minds are buzzing with similar questions”. The novel has been translated into Marathi and French.
Kamleshwar does not like awards and in the past refused many but he is elated at the recognition of his creativity by the Sahitya Akademi. A family friend of this columnist for long years, he was in a hurry to catch a flight to Mumbai when I called him on his mobile phone, congratulated him and requested him for a brief meeting. He could not spare time but kind enough to send material about himself, promised to call back from Mumbai and, like last year, join me in ringing out the old year and ringing in 2004.
Born in a middle class family in Mainpuri district of Uttar Pradesh, Kamleshwar's full name is Kamleshwar Prasad Saxena. He did his graduation and obtained Master's degree in Hindi literature from Allahabad University. His first novel “Badnam Gaali” (Cursed lane) was published when he was a student. Writing was not enough to enable him eke out a living after completion of education and he had to work as a proof reader, carved out designs on cardboard boxes and drew sketches. Unable to make both ends meet, he had to work, at one stage, as night watchman at a tea go-down.
He continued writing in the worst of adversity, facing the rough and tumble of life bravely. His literary genius sparkled with the publication of his first short story “Comrade” in 1948 and the course of life changed. The days of dire poverty were over as he travelled to Bombay and began his career as film writer.
Kamleshwar was, however, a reluctant entrant as script writer but motivated into writing for films by producers like Ramanand Sagar, B.R. Chopra, Saawan Kumar and even a writer like Gulzar. Once he stepped into this field, he came to be known as the most successful and sensitive writers in Hindi film. So much so that he followed his own principles and dictated terms to some of the most successful directors.
There was ego clash when film makers started interfering with his writings. He had to compete with writers who did not know the basics of writing yet making money by tailoring their scripts according to the whims and fancies of producers whose sole objective was to cater to public taste. Kamleshwar compromised till he could and many films he wrote for the best of film makers flopped at box office. He could not compromise beyond this point, decided to quit Mumbai and switched over to television, having made the first short TV film on the “Jamuna Bazar”, near river Yamuna in Delhi.
Kamleshwar will go down in history as one of the greatest writers in Hindi literature who was not cut out to write money-spinning film stories. He couldn't force himself to write what his heart refused to cooperate with. He is 71, still active and working on new ventures.
From ‘Kaali Aandhi’ to ‘Kitne Pakistan’, Kamleshwar sticks to culture
Jangveer Singh
Tribune News Service
Patiala, March 3
From “Kaali Aandhi”, on which the film “Aandhi” was based, to his recent publication “Kitne Pakistan”, which asks how many divisions a civilisation can sustain, Kamleshwar has stood fast to his values — writing on issues which concern his culture and deriving strength from it.
Here to participate in a seminar on “The Writings of Yashpal” at Punjabi University, Kamleshwar calls for the need for upholding the democratic values and cultural synthesis of the Indian culture even as he claims the concept of “Hindu rashtravaad” is most responsible for damaging the Indian culture.
“Hindu culture is part of the Bharatiya culture and there is a need to understand this”, says the writer, who has worked as Editor of Dainik Bhaskar and also received the Sahit Akademi Award this year, during an interview to The Tribune. He says an effort was being made presently to institutionalise Hinduism so that “fatwas” could be given in the name of the religion. He said diversity of the religion was being crushed and those fighting against this trend were fighting the second Mahabharata.
Speaking about his novel “Kitne Pakistan”, which has been translated into six Indian languages since it was first released in 2000 and has seen six editions, Kamleshwar said he wanted to give a message of peace and halt the future divisions of civilisations worldwide. I want the message to go to people of both India and Pakistan and told my Pak printer to change the title to “Kitne Hindustan” for the Pak edition as the title is a metaphor for the message to go across.
Kamleshwar said while progressive Hindi writers in the country were writing on the concept of co-existence of civilisation, other praiseworthy trend which had emerged in the field of Hindi writing was the upsurge in Dalit literature as well as women emancipation. He said Dalit literature had contributed to changing traditional asthetics in society. Hindi literature focussing on women as individuals was calling for a complete change on how women were perceived traditionally in society. The writer said women must have the right to decide about their body, motherhood and how they wanted to bring up and sustain their family.
When questioned why Hindi was read less, Kamleshwar said the immediate future of the young in the country had changed. It had become a necessity to learn English because of its emergence as a global language. However, people should realise what they lost in the process. Giving his own example, the writer said he came to know about Prem Chand when he joined a post-graduate course in Hindi. “Before that I had done graduation in science because it was natural for everyone to study towards taking a degree in engineering”. He had also worked as a mechanical apprentice at Jamalpur Railway Institute before his love for Hindi literature made him tread a different path.
Kamleshwar said there was a misunderstanding among people that Hindi language did not contain superior writing. He said publishers were also responsible for propagating this myth by saying it was difficult to sell literature in Hindi. “I ask them why they do not close shop and get into some other business”. He claimed people were reading Hindi literature because it answered their immediate questions.
There is a twist in the tale....
`The film is about the conflict between duty to one's land and commitment to one's beloved....'
After having given the Hindu film industry movies that delve deep into relationships like ``Sajan Bina Suhagan'', ``Sautan'', ``Sautan Ki Beti'', ``Sanam Bewafa'' and ``Khal Nayika'', right up to ``Mother'' released in 1999, Saawan Kumar Tak went into a short hibernation. But he is once again back with another tale of love and relationship.
This time though, Saawan Kumar has a wider canvas to play around with, what with the transcendence of love over national boundaries providing the framework for the new story jointly scripted by himself and Kamleshwar. Titled ``Dil Padosi Ho Gaya'' the film will go on the floor this coming August.
``Earlier I had thought of `Aur Kitne Pakistan' as the title, but then I realised it might whip up unnecessary controversies,'' Saawan Kumar says. Incidentally, ``Aur Kitne Pakistan'' is the title of a series that Kamleshwar wrote for a national magazine. ``There will be a seven minute prologue before the film that will explore how this diverse world of complex relationships came from a single bond of love''.
Saawan Kumar, whose last film ``Mother'' did not do well at the box-office despite having Jeetendra and Rekha in the cast, says ``Dil Padosi Ho Gaya'' will have an absolutely new cast. Interestingly, the director has had no reservations working with newcomers right from the days of ``Naunihal'' in which he introduced Sanjeev Kumar. Amitabh Bachchan in the unreleased ``Ghalib'', Neetu Singh in ``Hawas'' and Anil Kapoor in ``Laila'' were also freshers when Saawan Kumar decided to cast them.
``Dil Padosi Ho Gaya'' is a love story that transcends national boundaries though it will be quite unlike ``Gadar'' . ``The story revolves around two central characters -- an army officer and his brother -- and a girl who is from Pakistan. The girl falls in love with the Army officer and is ready to take on everyone who comes in the way,'' says Saawan Kumar, revealing the storyline.
There are five songs in the film and these have already been recorded. One song by Sonu Nigam is very evocative and even the Information and Broadcasting Minister, Ms. Sushma Swaraj, who heard it recently, was touched by the lyrics. ``The song is sung in the background of ununiformed army officers from across the border being buried in our soil at the time of the Kargil war. When I saw this scene on television, I was moved to tears and composed the lyrics there and then,'' the veteran director informs.
In fact, the film is interspersed with songs and dialogues written by Saawan Kumar himself. The seven-minute prelude has the director pouring out his heart. ``Kudrat ne baksha tha humko ek haseen jahan; Tukde tukde kar dala kyun tune insaan/Kahin banaya America aur kahin pe Hindustan; Kahin pe Russia, kahin pe Europe kahin pe Pakistan/Aao milkar banaye aman ka aisa koi makaan, Jisme rahen insaniyat aur rahen insaan''.
However, Saawan Kumar hastens to add that the film will not bring India or Pakistan down. The simple message of the film is that ``love has no boundaries'', says the director, who is planning to release it by the end of next year. ``Many of my earlier films have dealt with love and relationships. But this film is about the conflict between duty to one's land and commitment to one's beloved,'' he says.
Among his future projects is a new venture in English titled ``I Am You''. ``It is a story based on reincarnation,'' Saawan Kumar points out. ``However, I will be taking up this project only after completing Dil Padosi Ho Gaya.''
A Death In Delhi, a Short story By kamaleshwar
A shroud of fog covers everything. It is after nine in the morning, but all of Delhi is entwined in the haze. The streets are damp. The trees are wet. Nothing is clearly visible. The bustle of life makes itself known in sounds, sounds which fill the ears. Sounds are coming from every part of the building. As on other days, Vaswani's servant has lit the stove, and its sizzling can be heard beyond the wall. In the adjoining room, Atul Mavani is polishing his shoes. Upstairs the Sardarji is putting Fixo on his beard. The bulb behind the curtain over his window is gleaming like an immense pearl. All the doors are closed and all the windows are draped, but in every part of the building there is the bustle of life. On the third floor, Vaswani has closed the bathroom door and turned on the faucet.
Buses are rushing through the fog, the whine of their heavy tyres coming nearer and then fading into the distance. The sidewalks are crowded, but each person wrapped in fog looks like a drifting wisp of cotton.
Those wisps of cotton are advancing silently into the sea of haze. The buses are crowded. People are huddled on the cold seats and in their midst are some figures hanging like Jesus from the cross: arms outstretched, without nails in their hands but the icy, shining rods of the bus.
In the distance a funeral procession is coming down the street.
This must be the funeral I just saw mentioned in the newspaper: "The death occurred this evening at Irwin Hospital of Seth Diwanchand, the well known and popular Karol Bagh Business magnate. His body has been taken to his home. Tomorrow morning at nine o' clock the funeral will proceed by way
