मूड आणि स्विंग्स!

चिन्मय बोरकर - chinmay.borkar@gmail.com 

स्मिता पाटीलला केवळ ३१ वर्षांंचे आयुष्य लाभले होते; त्यातही अभिनय क्षेत्रातली कारकीर्द जेमतेम ११ वर्षांंची. परंतु त्या काळातही तिने निर्माण केलेले अभिनयविश्व व त्यापलीकडे जाऊन तयार केलेले माणसांचे भावबंध विलक्षण होते. तिच्या भावविश्वात आलेल्या व्यक्तींच्या अंतरंगात तिचे व्यक्तिमत्त्व मिसळून जात असे, त्या व्यक्तीच्याही नकळत. त्याला वयाचे, नावाचे, हुद्दय़ाचे, प्रतिष्ठेचे बंधन नसे. स्मिता पाटीलच्या संपर्कात प्रथम पत्रकार म्हणून आलेली व नंतर जिवलग मैत्रीण झालेली अशीच एक पत्रकार ललिता ताम्हणे.

खरे तर ललिता ताम्हणे स्मिता पाटीलवर आत्मचरित्र लिहिणार होत्या. परंतु स्मिताच्या अकाली मृत्यूमुळे ते काम पुरे होऊ शकले नाही. परंतु स्मितासारख्या जगविख्यात अभिनेत्रीवर लिखित स्वरूपात व तेही मराठीत काही असणे आवश्यक होते. लौकिकार्थाने स्मिता ८० च्या दशकातील अभिनेत्री असली, तरी तिने साकारलेल्या व्यक्तिरेखांचा प्रभाव आजही तरुण अभिनेत्यांवर व अभिनेत्रींवर आहे. त्या व्यक्तिरेखांच्या भावमुद्रांपलीकडचा स्मिता पाटीलचा भावस्पर्शी चेहरा, चित्रपटातल्या प्रत्येक ‘फ्रेम’मधील घटना व्यापून टाकणारं अस्तित्व आणि त्यातून ‘आपलं’ वाटत जाणारं तिचं व्यक्तिमत्त्व याबद्दल अनेकांना कुतूहलमिश्रित गूढ आणि प्रेम वाटत आलेलं आहे. ललिता ताम्हणेने लिहिलेलं आणि प्रसाद महाडकरांच्या ‘जीवनगाणी’ने प्रसिद्ध केलेलं ‘स्मिता, स्मितं आणि मी’ त्या सर्व संवेदनशील मनातल्या विचारांना बऱ्याचशा प्रमाणात वाट मोकळी करून देऊ शकेल.

‘स्मिता, स्मितं आणि मी’ हे ललिता ताम्हणे यांनी स्मिता पाटीलवर लिहिलेल्या लेखांचं आणि मुलाखतींचं संकलन आहे. खुद्द लेखिकेनेच म्हटल्याप्रमाणे सुरुवातीला औपचारिक असलेलं नातं एकेरीवर कधी आलं, ते दोघींनाही समजलं नाही. त्यामुळे भावनिक न होता त्या मैत्रीतून बाहेर पडून व्यक्तीकडे बघत, तिच्या अंतरंगात शिरणे आणि तरीही ते कोरडे न होता, माणूसपणाची संवेदना त्यात कायम ठेवणे ही अत्यंत कठीण कसरत होती. ललिता ताम्हणे त्यात बव्हंशी यशस्वी झालेल्या आहेत. स्मिता पाटीलचे विविध ‘मूड्स’ टिपणारी छायाचित्रे, चित्रपटातील प्रसंगांचे फोटो आणि त्या अनुषंगाने येणारे लेख व मुलाखती आणि स्मिताच्या आयुष्यातल्या घडत गेलेल्या घटना असे पुस्तक उलगडत जाते. प्रसाद महाडकरांनी जराही हातचे न राखता पुस्तकाची उत्तम निर्मिती केलेली आहे. शिवाय पुस्तकाचे संपूर्ण स्वरूप ‘ब्लॅक अण्ड व्हाईट’ असल्याने गतकाळाची व त्यातल्या व्यक्तिमत्त्वांची एक सुप्त जाणीव वाचकाला होत राहते; ‘स्मिता’ नावाच्या सावळ्याशा व्यक्तिमत्त्वालासुद्धा पूरक अशीच!

अभिनेत्री म्हणून स्मिता पाटीलने अल्पकाळात मिळवलेले यश अलौकिक होते. कॉस्टा गॅव्हरासारख्या आंतरराष्ट्रीय ख्यातीच्या दिग्दर्शकाने स्मिताच्या चित्रपटांचे महोत्सव, मॉन्ट्रीयल येथील आंतरराष्ट्रीय चित्रपट महोत्सवात परीक्षक म्हणून काम करण्याचा बहुमान, भारत सरकारने दिलेली ‘पद्मश्री’ ही फक्त त्याची झलक. शिवाय हिंदीत मंथन, भूमिका, शक्ती आणि मराठीत ‘जैत रे जैत’ आणि ‘उंबरठा’मधील ‘सुलभा महाजन’ या भूमिका अजरामर झालेल्या आहेत. या सर्वांबद्दल, तिच्या आयुष्याकडे व चित्रपटांकडे बघण्याच्या दृष्टिकोनाबद्दल, व्यक्तिगत नातेसंबंधाबद्दल व होणाऱ्या मानसिक कोंडीबद्दल, एकटेपणाबद्दल स्मिता पाटील ललिता ताम्हणे यांच्याकडे मनमोकळेपणाने व काहीशा तत्त्वचिंतनाच्या अंगानेसुद्धा बोलली आहे. त्यामुळे कधी अभिनेत्री म्हणन, तर कधी व्यक्ती म्हणून ताम्हणेंना स्मिता कशी दिसत गेली, भासत गेली असे मनोगतरूपी चिंतनाकडे झुकणारे, तर कधी पत्रकार म्हणून तटस्थपणे बघणारे लेखनाचे स्वरूप आहे. त्यात भावनिकता आहेच, परंतु व्यक्ती म्हणून वेगाने बदलत जाणाऱ्या व स्मिताला दु:खात टाकणाऱ्या तिच्या आयुष्यक्रमात झालेला बदल स्वीकारतानाची मैत्रीण म्हणून वेदनामय असहायता सुद्ध आहे. अर्थातच त्या ‘असहायतेचं’ जगासमोर आलेलं ‘वास्तव’ वादग्रस्त हे होतं; विशेषत: शबाना आझमी या तिच्या समकालीन अभिनेत्रीबरोबरचे तिचे (बिघडलेले) संबंध आणि राज बब्बरशी लग्न करण्याचा तिने घेतलेला निर्णय; परंतु हे संवेदनशील विषय ताम्हणेंनी चांगले हाताळळे आहेत, त्यातील स्मिता पाटील या माणसाचा मान ठेवून व ‘नैतिकतेचे’ प्रस्थापित आणि चाकोरीबद्ध निकष न लावता! शबाना आझमींची या पुस्तकाच्या निमित्ताने त्यांनी मुलाखतसुद्धा घेतलेली आहे. परंतु पुस्तकातला वैशिष्टय़पूर्ण भाग मात्र स्मिता पाटीलची ‘रेखा’शी न झालेली मैत्री हा आहे. खुद्द स्मिता पाटीलला रेखाशी ‘मैत्री’ करण्याची तीव्र इच्छा होती, परंतु रेखाने स्मिताला आयुष्यभर ठराविक मर्यादेपलीकडे मैत्री करू दिली नाही. स्मिताच्या मृत्यूनंतर मात्र याच रेखाला दु:खावेग अनावर झाला होता. आपल्या संबंधाबद्दल रेखा म्हणते, ‘की मी हिला जास्त जवळ येऊ दिलं, तर मी नकळत हिच्यात इनव्हॉल्व्ह होईन. हिच्यात दुसऱ्याला खेचून घेण्याची शक्ती आहे.’ विशेषत: सध्याच्या ‘पेज थ्री’च्या जमान्यात नायक-नायिकांना मादाम तुसाचे मेणाचे पुतळे बनवून त्यांच्या तथाकथित व्यक्तिगत आयुष्याचा बाजार मांडणाऱ्या पत्रकारितेत, रुपेरी पडद्यामागच्या ‘माणसांना’ वाचकांसमोर उभं करण्याचं काम हे पुस्तक करतं आणि आताच्या काळासाठी ते अत्यंत महत्त्वाचं आहे.

आणि तरीही पुस्तक वाचून झाल्यावर काहीसं अपूर्णत्वाचं भान येतं, स्मिता पाटील म्हणजे काय, हा प्रश्न वाचकाला भेडसावत राहतो. दूरदर्शनवर बातम्या सांगणारी वृत्तनिवेदिका ते जगविख्यात अभिनेत्रीचा प्रवास ‘कसा’ घडत गेला असावा, याचं स्मिताच्या व्यक्तिमत्त्वाचं उत्तर वाचकालाच शोधावं लागतं. स्मिताचे वडील राजकारणी होते, आई प्रथम गृहिणी व नंतर नर्स. घरात समाजवादाचा, जेपींचा प्रभाव होता. विचार पुरोगामी होते आणि अर्थातच ‘स्मिता’च्या मनाचा एक कोपरा त्यातून घडत गेला. परिस्थिती व नवऱ्याने केलेल्या अन्यायाविरुद्ध घर सोडून जाणारी ‘उंबरठा’मधील ‘सुलभा महाजन’ त्यातूनच साकार झाली. स्त्री चळवळींशी जोडली गेल्याने, आपल्या आयुष्यातले ‘क्रांती’कारक निर्णय ‘स्वत:च’, काही वेळेस, कुटुंबाशी फारकत घेतल्याने, समांतर चित्रपटांतील भूमिका असल्याने तीच ‘खरी’ स्मिता असावी असा जगाचा समज झाला; परंतु प्रत्यक्षात तिला तसं व्हायला आवडलं असतं. तिला माणसांचा सोस होता आणि माणसांबरोबरच्या नात्यांतून मिळणाऱ्या ‘प्रेमा’च्या ती शोधात असावी! प्रेमातून विरक्ती येते आणि विरक्तीतून अध्यात्म, म्हणूनच कदाचित जीवनातल्या आपल्या सर्वात सुंदर निर्मितीचा, प्रतीकचा जन्म झाल्यानंतर मृत्यूपूर्वी ती सलग १५ दिवस आजारी अवस्थेत व मनाने संपूर्ण खचल्यावरही ‘मोगरा फुलला’ ही ज्ञानेश्वरांची ओवी त्यांच्यासाठी गुणगुणत असे. जीवनाचं अंतिम ध्येयचं साध्य झाल्यासारखं! त्या अर्थाने स्मिताला ‘ध्येय’ नव्हतं. तिला ‘मूड स्विंगस्’ होते आणि त्यातल्या अनिर्णयातून येणारे ‘बोअरडम’. आपलं सर्वस्व दिल्यानंतरही, येणाऱ्या अपूर्णत्वाची जाणीव, हीच आपली ‘उणीव’ असावी, असं बहुधा तिला वाटलं असावं. ते समीकरण कायमचं सोडविण्यासाठी तिने बहुधा ‘राज’शी लग्न केलं-परंतु मुळातच गणित चुकलं होतं!

 Kishori Amonkar, for whom Sur was Soul of Cosmos

Although she belonged to Jaipur Gharana by lineage, she broke away from shackles of Gharanas and brought essence of Indian Music -- the bhava, emotive sentience, forward. To represent raga, was to represent the bhava and assimilate into its expression so that atmosphere is created - not attained, and without the "I".

For her, Each note was a soul. Thou soul, my soul, soul of cosmos. That scintillating spark through each one of us. A sur had material existence, just as it is transcending. They must be honored. She'd walk slowly, gracefully, checking each step towards the podium, she would sit -- deeply disturbed, in perennial anguish. The tabla didn't attune well, so did the voice-over. It echoed. How could Surs live here? And nor would she. It required order, a certain sanity, only she grasped. She lived, and sang in its embrace. 

"This world, effigy of paper..."

And yet it existed. It formed the essence on which the eternal thrived: Emotive Sentience - the bhava is everything. The early morning mist, and the twilight of evening, the scorching afternoon and emptiness of falling night, came with bhav, ragas abstracted; no; they are the bhav. "It is so minute that it that an atom can disturb it. Then there's nothing" .And we are the medium. We are 'no' thing; we are the bhava.  We should try and be the one. That is music.

"Oh, Lord, not anymore, This foreign barrenness..."

She transcended music into emotive sentience; primordial sound becomes one, as she passes away into that singularity :If ever there is one, she was it. There's no solace, no sound, only silence.

Nida Fazli, Poet of Cultural Angst and Universal Love

His words explored themes of inequality, barriers and agonies of nationalist fervour, and idea of universal love in tenderness of ghazal form, and always with undercurrents of eternal love.

Ghalib, Meer, Kabir and Meera echoed in his lines and the social weight of realistic pragmatism or various versions of it, that afflicts the civilizational spirit of universal equality. Therfore, he had almost ideological faith on innocence in the very existence of eventual hope of finding the ultimate dream.
He believed that culture or civilizational spirit( मानवी सभ्यता) was far more important than the religion and should be the bedrock of any nation, he often insisted publicly.
It is this search of love that was his pain, hope and conviction to write, who said that : होश वालों को खबर क्या बेखुदी क्या चीज़ है!

Sridevi, Superstar Who Redefined Contours Of Hindi Cinema

Sridevi, a superstar who redefined contours of new age Hindi Cinema, and whose range of characters represented hues of their age and times, left a unique legacy.

She was born in south, a hindi averse region with its own standards of stardom and glammour cosmos, navigated easily, and  was also sought after widely amongst high profile directors from the Cinema heartland, and who by her choice, wit and talent created a nationwide sensation in a career that spanned nearly forty years.

Her impact was so deep that entire generation of actors, from Madhuri Dixit to Kajol reflected an imprint of hers in their acting.

From Sadma To Mr India and from Himmatwala to Mom, her ability to influence cross generations of audiences, directors and critics kept her position and charisma solidly fixed in a highly competitive and often brutal Bollywood. She is often therefore referred as the only female superstar.

Sridevi had extraordinary  ability to embody the characters she played with more than just the hint of cinematic truthfulness and genuineness such that the line became as much thin as possible, and eventually characters would then get in turn defined by Sridevi, who'd have enlivened them from reel to real.  Often this journey took time, and slowly this would pass on to generations, making her an indisputable star. That was her strength in all her performances : from acting to dancing, with large expressive twinkling eyes carrying those moments in multitude of emotions to audiences so effectively.

And yet, an engima often surrounded her. There was a certain restraint too -- a wall built -- that just stopped short of expressing the real soul inside. That was her personality -- a character embedded in so fiercely maintained privacy about her own self. A performer who just shied away from dethroning the innerself to keep the fortress.

She was a queen who  not only dictated the characters she did, but also what others should perceive of her. In those guarded moments of hiding, perhaps somewhere she also yearned for expression for a true moment and person in life.

Very few moments in cinema came close yet they were not so except for one, fleetingly enough, where she submits herself, in words and gesture, outside and inside, acting, dancing and expressing through eyes: "i wish i could give my life to you, my dreams in your heart, oh my love, i wish i bring entire world to your feet "  freedom , perhaps, that often escaped her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTuDgmN5cWo&list=RD-klQkGJEsIg&index=5

In 1-Above, Burnt was City's Past and Ethos For Social Equity

.Chinmay Borkar

N. M. Joshi Marg, where Kamala Mills is located, is named after famous trade union leader who is considered as a pioneer in social work and especially trade unions which were the hallmarks of the city decades after the independence. On the campus of those narrow lanes, dilapidated chimneys and skeletons of their inner beams, erected are those posh glittering clubs, splashed with wealth, power and sheer opulence. These new symbols of development are built on vestiges of the same mills that once dominated Mumbai's multicultural, multilinguistic and egalitarian ethos. The trade union movement that underpinned those mills were forces of social equity and a deterrence to power structures of the wealthy and the politicians. They formed the middle class and lower middle-class base of the city's accommodating life.

That changed after trade union strikes in the late 1970s and went into reminisces of times in 1990, after real estate of those thundering mills acquired the status of gold mines in this cramped city. With the insanity of real estate in south 'Bombay' , the mills were replaced by high rise vanity structures, shopping complexes, software and servie industry, media houses, sprawling pubs and the old was systematically dismantled, often citing their inability to adapt to changing times. Overnight the mills caught fire and turned to rubble opening their vast terrain to the debauchery of the class that now demanded the sheer dominance over city's resources. The Congress party, then in power, had changed the development rules -- DC rules -- to suit that smooth transition. All parties, including Shiv Sena and BJP colluded with them. Sharad Pawar was the architect of the “vikas” then.

In September, I attended IBM Developer conference in one of those swanky buildings on the 14th floor. The conveyor belts of yesteryears remained fixed on the ceiling and huge pipes supporting them were now being used for fiber optics cables and air conditioning. They just coalesced the old and new realities into the new transforming world, and yet there was something so unrealistic, unjust and grossly abominable about them.

The two worlds never merged; they were forced to separate, and thousands of lives were cut short in abjectness. Some existed, and many died in anonymity.

Two soaringly disconnected realities existed. The vanquished were easily forgotten.

Just a few miles away in Worli, one of the Mumbai's symbols of the powerful, all of few handful residents lived in such a huge apartment complex called Campa Cola deemed illegal and therefore had to be demolished. The complex lacked several environmental clearances and other formalities.

The Supreme court itself has now given "hope" to those powerful residents that their super expensive, plush interior flats won't be demolished, unlike millions of other slums and structures in Mumbai, for they lack what is required to 'live' in Mumbai.

With extremely unfortunate deaths of 15 young lives in Mumbai, the safety of those mills will now be questioned in the newsrooms and debates of the media. None other than Narendra Modi has tweeted promptly, and so has the President of India. Aditya Thackeray, the new heir of Shiv Sena was a vocal proponent of reviving the nightlife of Mumbai in those very hubs. He is now busy in visiting hospitals and consoling the family members.
One of the many unfortunate women caught up in that horrifying fire with debris falling from above, and people running over said: "Some supernatural power was definitely protecting me".

The pub that caught fire and claimed so many lives is called "1 Above"

Sadhana, Fashion Icon Of Her Times, And Music

Sadhana, whose iconic fashion status, and embodiment in finest music celebrated an era, died recently.

Her much revered styles remain annexed in her name even today, while she was also the face of the most equisite music of her times, establishing her as legend in Hindi film cinema.

To me, the most beautiful heart wrenching song of her career, is parting with the lover, probably for the last time, as the night falls in that agony of separation, yearning for the last moments of deep embrace. The song is so popular that even today generations of singers, lovers and conneseurs hold the composition in the closest corner of their heart, looking for the perfection they ever perhaps want to match. While much of that credit goes to Madan Mohan, and Lata Mangeshkar, Sadhana remains the face of the song, walking graciously, with deeply pained expressive eyes, inviting, holding, lying and filling the silence of intimacy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiaBUkBModM

Vasant Saravate, Cartoonist, Chronicler And lllustrator Of Bourgeoisie Chasm

Vasant Saravate, Cartoonist, Chronicler and llustrator Of Cultural Landscape and who defined an era of humour in struggles, predicament and socio psychological chasms of middle class life dies at 89 in Vile Parle. He was the icon of bygone days of cultural diversities from P L Deshpande, Jayavant Dalvi to Vijay Tendulkar and featured the legendary cover cartoons of Lalit for nearly 50 years.

The humour and contradictions he illustrated had changed significantly, with dawn of the new marathi middle class, whose sensibilities had a tectonic shift in post liberalization era with exponentially rising incomes and newly acquired prosperity. The ironies of his illustrations and cartoons, the wry and sometimes self demeaning humour had replaced the mediocre and insensitively crafted entertainment values in the new media.

He could have laughed at it, perhaps with a cartoon, with him as protagonist, as he said adieu to life, with end of true humour.