I was at Yokos in Malad in the middle of a delicious cheese roll when my Bollywood bride girlfriend suddenly spotted a yesteryear gem… none other than HARISH!! Immediately, I forgot my date and S.P. Balasubramanium’s voice started ringing in my head- I live for Yeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwww, I die for Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwww, I live for yewewwwwwwww I die fohor yeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww… I wasn’t so happy since the time I spotted Avinash Wadhwan at the music launch of Souten- the other woman.
I have seen some of Harish’s best movies- Army (alongside the likes of Ronit Roy, Sudesh Berry and Ravi Kissen), a soul-touching cameo in Hero No. 1, Aunty No. 1, Coolie No. 1 (All with Govinda), Aadmi and Shapath (alongside Mithunda yaaaayyyyy) and probably the best Aashiq Mastane (alongside Rock On director Abhishek Kapoor).
When I told my brother about it, he said Prem Qaidi was a drag movie coz Harish looked like the heroine and Karishma the leading man. “Hum Hain Prem Qaidi, Hum Hain Prem Qaidi” Pardon my excitement folks.
And Tapan Mehhta was in splits on the mere mention of his name. He told me that Harish played the role of young Rajnikanth (Haha) in Andha Kanoon (Hehe) who sees his sister getting raped and father murdered (Hoho). Incidentally, he was Rajnikanth’s son (I think) in Bulandi (which was also directed by the same director).
I so wanted to get a pic with him but since Yokos was full, he didn’t get a place to sit and left. Sniff sniff… I tried to salvage that moment and get it etched in my memory forever.
1 comment:
First things first... at the very start of his post Praveen makes a semi-subtle effort to show-off that he has a girlfriend. Not all are as lucky to be open like Moses and Diti. And in that desperation Praveen perhaps wants people to take notice that his relationship status is not Single anymore, meaning he is no more a stag. The whole point is that someone might question him about the girl and he could make all the more effort to hide her identity.
In movie terminology, this could be explained as an item-number in a movie. It has nothing important to do with the film other than gaining attraction. The producer (Praveen in this case) likes to believe that the audience loves item numbers. But on the contrary it only distracts the viewer.
Nevertheless, since Praveen and I share the same love (I mean movies not girlfriend), I would like to believe that Praveen actually wanted to speak about Harish over anything else.
The post on Harish undoubtedly was interesting, esp. for someone like me, Praveen and Tapan all of whom know the best of the junior artists and worst of character actors. Harish was comparatively a big name at one point of time. And only people like we 3 (and of course Praveen's Bollywood bride girlfriend) would notice a person like Harish and over than get excited on seeing him.
Well, I had spotted Harish a few days before Praveen, after the screening of Jag Mundhra's Shoot on Sight. I have no idea what was he doing there and how would Jag Mundhra help him? Possibly casting him as an oppressed gay in his next soft-porn! Harish was looking super-fair, super-thin and much different from his Prem Qaidi avatar. Anyone other that me would have perhaps not identified him. I shared my historic discovery with my colleague Pankaj, who is learning his way to join the Bollywood fanatic gang of Tapan, Praveen and me.
Apart from playing Junior Rajnikanth, another of his noteworthy appearances is as a child actor in a film called Sansar. Harish played younger brother of Raj Babbar and brother-in-law of Rekha. Anupam Kher played his father and this film is amongst one of his (Anupam Kher's) finest performances. Sansar was a very well-made family drama and much more credible and relatable than Barjatya home videos.
That reminds me... I keep stumbling upon Mr Sudesh Berry (Mathuradas of Border and the scene-stealer in Kaafila) on Tuesdays at Siddhivinayak temple. And Moses came across India's first rapper Bali Brahmabhatt in a local train...
hey all you cinematic gems... there are some people who still recognize and remember you... Keep the faith!
By now I notice a point that I am the first person ever who has replied to Praveen's blog, ever since he started. Notwithstanding one comment which was more of a personal remark and not much of a reply to his blog. Perhaps your blogs have more meaning now ;)
May the trend continue...
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