There are numerous
tales of struggle in Bollywood, of people who have travelled from far-off
places in search of their place under the arc lights, with a dream to see their
name somewhere on the credit titles of a movie screen. Writers, actors, poets
or musicians – every aspirant plying his art has usually played the waiting
game for the first lucky break, that one chance one gets to prove his mettle in
front of a harsh industry.
Then there are tales of the established stars, those who have proved their talent and made it big in their chosen field. In the newcomers, they recognize their own arduous climb to the top, the day-to-day struggles and battles they were once a part of.
Sahir Ludhianvi was one such poet, who after many years of
facing failures and rejection, had established a name for himself in the Hindi
film industry. He knew just how difficult it was for a new poet to even get a
meeting with an A-grade producer or director, let alone convincing them to
listen to their verse. He understood how the industry worked – nobody wanted to
back a rank newcomer, everyone wanted proven talent on their team and this was
even more so with music directors who all had paired off with their own
favourite songwriters. Breaking into
these established cliques was a Herculean task.
So when a young Javed Akhtar approached him, more for advice and guidance than for any other support, Sahir saw in the young man an embodiment of himself. In his worn out chappals, Sahir saw the many rounds the young Javed must have made of studios or of music directors’ homes. Shaking hands with him, he recognized the roughened texture of the thumb and forefinger that comes from countless hours of battling the blank page. And in his eyes, Sahir saw the same fierce desire to succeed, the same enthusiasm to carve his own niche among the pantheon of Bollywood poets and songwriters.
So he heard Javed Akhtar patiently like a true mentor – reading the verses penned by him, offering his critique wherever required and then discussing with him the form, metre and structure of his poems. It was an invaluable discussion that Javed Akhtar would remember for the rest of his life. After all, when one receives encouraging words from one’s idol, anyone would be entitled to feel he had just leaped over the moon.
Javed Akhtar thanked Sahir Ludhianvi profusely, shaking his hands excitedly like a little child would…and that’s when he felt the rustle of paper between their hands. Realising that Sahir Ludhianvi had placed two hundred rupees in his hand, Javed Akhtar protested vehemently – he had come to him for guidance, not for any monetary support. He tried his best to give the money back to Sahir, but he refused telling the teenager that he knew how hard life for a young poet must be in a city like Bombay. But Javed persisted on returning the money.
Finally Sahir told the young Javed to consider it a loan and to repay it whenever he could, recognising that the fierce, independent spirit of the young Javed was also worth supporting.
For many years after that, this ‘loan’ of two hundred rupees became a running joke between the mentor and his disciple. Sahir Ludhianvi had gone on to become one of the greatest poets the Hindi film industry had ever produced and Javed Akhtar too had found his place in Bollywood as a hotshot scriptwriter, teaming up with Salim Khan to become the highest paid scriptwriters in the industry.
Whenever Sahir met him, Javed would remind him about the two hundred rupees and rib him gently that he was not going to return the money to him. Sahir too, with a twinkle in his eye, would reply that he would ensure that he would take his money back from Javed, one day or the other. Both of them would have a hearty laugh over this, and though the two hundred rupees lost their value due to inflation, this joke between them never lost its currency of good humour.
The years rolled by quickly and eventually, the day came when Sahir Ludhianvi passed away, making the journey to regale the Lord above with his prose and poetry. He had led a lonely life, and now as his body was taken to the cemetery to be interred, Javed Akhtar was among one of the pall bearers.
As the last rites concluded, Javed Akhtar turned away from the grave with the rest of the crowd, when he heard a couple of men call out to him. He went up to them and noted a nervous hesitancy between them to talk about the issue with Javed Akhtar. It turned out that they were the two gravediggers who had just dug the grave for Sahir Ludhianvi. And their payment was pending. Reaching for his wallet, Javed asked them the price of their labour.
“Two hundred rupees,” was their reply. As Javed Akhtar paid the money to the grateful men, his lips curled in a wry smile…his wily mentor had kept his word and recovered his loan after all!
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