Pran , Movie Halls ,Dehradun -A Slice From The Past-Part 1

Whenever a great actor passes away ,I remember Dehradun .Funny?And what is the link ?!!

I was not born in Dehradun ,but I grew up in it .And my father chose to settle down in the city after giving it a long thought .Like all refugees ,he and his brothers had moved out of Punjab after the Partition .My Chacha,and my Taujis had settled in that haven for refugees –Delhi .But my father being empowered with a medical degree from the King Edwards Medical College ,Lahore  ,went to Burma (modern day Myanmar)and became a successful doctor –specalizing in surgery .It was in Burma that all of us were born while  he moved from one district to another .I have very strong visuals of his last posting at Myingyan ,which was (and I am sure still is) a part  of the Mandalay Division .Incidentally ,from my mothers side ,her father and his brothers (also from Punjab before partition),had migrated to Burma and settled down in Mandalay .There my Nanaji and his brother ran a very successful sweet shop .It was this connection of my Dad going to Burma as a doctor and my mother being there already in Mandalay ,that probably settled the marriage issue .They were married in India in the district of Hoshairpur (Hajipur ,Talwara),from where my mothers family hailed .

A part of Guro Bhavan where i grew up .It faces the main road .

I have some memories of our stay and  my father in Burma –he seemed to be all the time in the hospital .And when he was at home ,he would always encourage us to travel with him in our Landrover to various districts .He has a penchant for wearing hats(not caps )  and smoking cigars .A desi “angrez” if ever there was one .!!My brother and two elder sisters went to the Mount Hermon School in Darjeeling (a residential school ),,and that left me and my other two sisters  with Mom and Dad .We had lots of cats and dogs and dad liked going to the golf course and enjoying his drink –whiskey at night and when he played on a Sunday afternoon –beer .He oozed charm and mixed freely with everyone –especially women .My mother developed hypertension and was soon confined to the bed most of the time .Those days ,hypertension was considered a killer disease because the medicines available now were absent then .She survived on “Serpasil” and “Adelphane”,which were considered life savers .I remember her popping “Equanil” every night to facilitate her sleep .I can imagine now what all she must have gone through in her fight against the disease .But we had ample amount of servants and she ran the house by giving verbal instructions .She was very pretty and had a robust commonsense .

The beautiful trees which dot the boundary wall .

Entertainment those days was limited .There was no television to start with .We depended largely on radios which were huge in size .The bigger the radio –the more affluent you were supposed to be !!We had a big Murphy and Phillips radio .We also had a huge Grundig Tape Player which worked when we put huge circular tapes on it !!The transistor made its appearance somewhere down the line .On Wednesday we would all crowd around the Radio and hear the racy and melodious voice of Ameen Sayani  entertain us and welcome us by saying "Bhaiyon aur Bhenoh,Ameen Sayani aapka phir se Binaca Geet Mala me swagat karta hai " .It was aired on “Radio Ceylon”!!Later on when the TV  made its appearance ,we would all crowd around it to hear the naughty looking Tabbassum entertain us with “Chitrahaar”.We would all make sure that our food was over and done with before 8 pm .And sometimes when there would be a electricity failure ,we would moan and curse the department .

The other form of entertainment were the weekly movies which we went for .And that is the reason that I remember Dehradun whenever a actor of that era passes  away .Movies were not made the way they are these days –by dozens and hundreds .And one did not see movies like you kids see it these days –partly eating food ,partly smsing ,partly talking ,partly talking over cell phone while watching it .In the sixties and seventies movies were not available on videos or computers or even cell phones .There was only one place where we could see the movie –in the movie hall .I now appreciate  the difference between theatre and movies in the modern age .There is only one place you can watch the theatre –its in the theatre !!You cant watch it on a video .Last year when I was in London ,we watched a musical in a theatre .It was cramped ,it was crowded and it reminded me of the movie halls of Dehradun .And thank God ,the Brits have a love for tradition .Though the physical size of the population has grown ,the distance between the rows in the theatre  is still the same .It doent matter if you have longer legs –they wont revamp the 150 year old  theatre near Oxford Street !!Sadly ,many movie halls have dissappered in Dehradun –Laxmi,Digvijay ,Capri ,Odeon ,Victory Cinema (in my beloved Clement Town).They have been replaced by the Malls. But in them we saw ,and fell in love or hated the great stars of our times .In them I saw Pran ,in movies like Gumnaam(Gumnaam hai koyi ,badnaam hai koyi!) Jab Jab Phool Khiley(ek thaa gul aur ek thee bulbul-oh la la!),Upkar (what a amazing song –“Kasme wade pyar wafa sab  ,batein hai batoh ka kya, Koyi kisi ka nahi ye jhoothhe, Naate hain naato ka kya),Johnny Mera Naam,(pal bhar ke liyeh koi mujse pyaar kar le -jhootah hi sahi- dear dear me so desperate !),Love In Tokyo (Sayonara ,Sayonara,kal phir miloongee Sayonara)  ,etc .I still remember every scene ,and not because I have a good memory .I remember the stars and the movies because going to a movie was as big a occasion as going to attend a relatives wedding !!One cant forget occasions like those .And you cant forget the place where such events took place .And  you cant forget the hero and heroine of the wedding –the bride and the bridegroom .For us the movie halls were like  the venue of the weddings, where the bride and the bridegroom were the Saira Banus , the Nandas,the Vijayantimalas ,the Sadhanas ,the Asha Parekhs ,the Mumtazs .And the bridegrooms were Rajesh Khanna ,Dev Anand ,Shammi Kapoor,Raj Kumar or Pran,Raj Kapoor ,Dilip Kumar  .They were a part of our living –and living with joy .It was a occasion that was not meant to be taken casually .Infact before the movie programme was made ,a lot of anticipation and preparation went into it .Thats why each movie left behind it not only memories of the story and the plot –but also very strong allied memories .Pran was not just a actor .He was a part of our essential being .Thats why when he (or for that matter some other actor passes away ),they  take  away with them  a bit of our childhood .

More about that connect in my next blog .