Unnoticed names in Bollywood - 2

Continuing the saga of  unnoticed names in Bollywood.  All of these guys are perhaps a little more known than those in part-1. Several of their roles are immortal in our mind yet I feel they've never got any acclaim for their iconic roles.

Harish Patel (career span 1983 - )


I always thought he's a well known face in Hindi Cinema. I remember him in Andaz Apna Apna, the epic Kanti Shah classic Gunda and even in Mira Nair's Kamasutra! He's played a happy go lucky character in most of his movies. Like the unique baddie Gulshan Grover, he's always had a patent catch phrase in all of his movies.
The "Mera naam hai ibu hatela" in Gunda, exaggerated "Haiiiiiiiiii" in Mohra or the assistant in Pulic Public.

For me, his Sevaram in Andaz Apna Apna stands out!

Razak Khan (career span 1989 - )

For an entire Indian generation, this man   represented the antithesis of a typical Bollywood villain or Bhai. He'd often appear as a local ruffian with little or no evidence to support that claim. The unique combination his lean built and mean attitude created an amazing onscreen character. Best of him can be seen in the hilarious Ninja Chacha or Takkar pehelwan.

Mushtaq khan (Career span 1980 - )
"Hum idiot ho sakta hoon, bewakoof ho sakta hoon, gadha bhi ho sakta hoon- lekin hum zoota nahin hoon!". This Japan returned employee in Hum hai raahi pyar ke is one of my most beloved characters! Mushtaq khan has played several roles like this, prominently appearing in most of 90's movies with his enthusiasm and slightly idiosyncratic behavior. He's been a regular in Bhatt camp movies. I always felt he's much more to offer than the typical comic character he's often been cast into.



Chandrashekher (Career span 1951- 2001?)
It's astonishing how soon we forget a commonly appearing face on the silver screen. Chandrashekhar has been around for over 60 years now, he appeared in a lead role way back in 50's, tried his luck in directing movies, appeared in a hell lot of films in 80's and 90's as police commissioner or an honest leader, and now he's almost forgotten. A strange appearance on IMDB shows his name credited as "Airlines Ground staff 2" in 3 Idiots. I tried looking for him but couldn't see him on airport. I sincerely hope he's doing well financially since he's almost into 90s now!

Mahavir Shah (Career span 1977 - )

I somehow felt that if you take out his grey eyes, this man would certainly seem a benevolent creature. His eyes play the menacing Machiavellian role that he's perfected by now. In almost all of his movies he's been the shrewd yet malevolent accountant, a lawyer, a businessmen with unethical habits - in short the smart villain sidekick.

Mahavir Shah, I hate you! Perhaps that's the compliment he deserves.But I'd love to see him play a good humble human just once.

Veerendra Saxena (Career span 1975 - )
I love this guy. Unfortunately his appearance limits the roles he gets, but he always does justice. He's been around since 80s, but off late he's really getting the roles which brings out the best in him. I vividly remember the havaldar in Stoneman Murders, the frustrated gangster with tooth-ache in Ek chalis ki last local, the less than vigilant inspector in A wednesday, Babaji in Sankat City and many more. He can be used like a potent weapon in the new wave Hindi Cinema, I hope he gets more meaty roles.

Upasana Singh (Career span 1980 - )
Although her wiki page tells me that she's been a known face in Punjabi and Gujrati movies, I don't think many people know her in Hindi cinema by her name. She's truly a remarkable person in Industry- a female character actor who doesn't stereotype herself to one role. Wow! Does Bollywood really understand what that means? Kudos to Upasana Singh! We've been mystified by her ever enigmatic chants of abba-dabba-jabba in Judai,  she entertained the terrorists in Sarfarosh, her antiques kept the movie alive in Hungama and Hulchul. Keep up the good work Ma'am!

Rajesh Vivek (Career Span  1985 - )

Once a patent Tantrik and bandit of Hindi Cinema, Rajesh Vivek turned into a mini celebrity post Lagaan and Swades. His Jogi Thakur in Joshilaay was a truly epic villain which perhaps was underrated as the film bombed. His appearance in the 90s was limited. Ashutosh Gowarikar resurrected him with Guran and Nivaran Singhji. Not a good actor perhaps, but he can play a lovable rascal like a few others can!

This bring me to the end of part 2.
But there's more! In part-3 we'll take a look at unnoticed names + mostly unnoticed faces in Bollywood. The people in part 3 are like shape shifters and white noise- you didn't notice them when they were present; but your eyes would notice the void when they're gone.

Surrender at Lunch

How wrong can your lunch choice be? As I learned today, It can be pretty messy.
I ended up in a soup today because I didn't get my lunch choice right.

Eat it!

To add a bit of a background, Our local cafe has closed for renovation and we rely on Food trucks for our sustenance. Almost always the trucks are good- Indian, Mexican, Thai, Burgers etc. Those who prefer more traditional way, they have setup a tent which serves chef made menu. The tent also has the proverbial salad bar. This is usually the last resort for me.

Today I scanned  through the available options but nothing seemed to call me. With a heavy heart I entered the tent. I made a note to set my food expectation levels to a minimal bar. But what they served me next, wasn't even on my expectation horizon.The chef must have made this item in some trance like state.
They served me with a strange combination - Stuffed Chicken breast, brown Rice and cucumbers.
I waited patiently for another item to arrive. "Enjoy your meal Sir", came the reply from the counter.
I looked at the items carefully. I tried a little game of permutation and combinations, but nothing seemed to fit.
Cucumbers with rice - nope. Chicken with brown rice - I gave this a try, but after a few jabs, I left the chicken in piece. Chicken with Cucumbers - I closed the lid. In my entire life, I haven't had to face this kind of embarrassment.  I just couldn't eat the damn thing :(

After spending 1/2 hour contemplating to be or not to be hungry, I decided enough is enough. I went to the food trucks - again, and picked up the 1st food truck. They gave me noodles. mmmmm, it looked good and so was the aroma coming from the mini-kitchen. Without spending much time, I opened the metal wrap.
Behold! As soon as the 1st spoonful went into my mouth, I realised that I'd made a grave mistake - 2nd time in a day! I could've rather eaten rubber tube with a gusto, but these "noodles"! Noodles were they not. I made 3 brave attempts of swallowing those engulfed little wicked things, but my brain knocked off after the third attempt.

2/2 : I mean, what is the probability of getting inedible food 2 times in a row? may be it's not as low as I assumed.
After wasting my precious dollars on human served food, I turned towards the ultimate choice of a hungry individual - the Vending machine.

Sachin Mania

We, Indians have a great fetish - of going over the top. We've done it on numerous occasions and we continue to do it. And sometimes the effects are of staggering proportions. Latest victim of this syndrome is -
Sachin Tendulkar

He's one of the finest players to have played the game. Sachin has been on Indian cricket turf for more than 20 years now. He entered as a wonder-boy, steered our Cricket team's ship as the ever bankable batsman and evolved into a mature batsman.
But off late, he's been given an entirely new status - The so called "GOD" of cricket. It's an interesting phenomenon, the root of which is based on absolutely little truth. I have nothing against Sachin, I love to see him bat. But this "God" phenomenon has alienated me -and other cricket lovers from the batsman we love to watch.
Sachin is no more a batsman. He's been turned into a messiah. He is the God of cricket. He's the best of the best of the best. Indian cricket is incomplete without him. He deserves Bharat Ratn. Everywhere in media, you see unanimous statements glorifying Sachin. It's almost a competition out there- who can glorify Sachin more.
Lets get some facts straight -

1. Sachin Tendulkar is a batsman who plays a game called cricket.
2. He is ranked amongst the best batsmen of all times.

If we analyze him thru the cricketing perspective, that's awesome. Let's talk about why is that so. I'm all ears for this sort of conversation and coverage. But we've reached to the other end already. We've declared him to be the pinnacle of sportsmen in India, and anything spoken about him other than praise is considered blasphemy. Why has this happened?

The reasons can vary, but some of the main reasons for this outrageous bombardment of Sachin mania could be

• Bite Hungry Media - Sachin is an everlasting golden egg for Media. They can never ever run out of Sachin news. Whether he's on the field of off the field. They'll always make money by using him.
• Corporate houses - Associating yourself with India's leading cricket player has its perks. But associating yourself with Nation's most beloved personality who happens to be the God of cricket has immense profits. Sachin is a gold mine  for advertising.
• Gaining Popularity- Mention his name in your book, review, interview - and you're ensured of instant publicity. This can be tied to point1- media picks up anything and everything that is Sachinified.

As a result, the cricket fans & more importantly Sachin fans and fanatics have been thriving on this media mantra of Godhood. They have been fed a falsified statement from all sorts of media outlets - TV, newspapers, magazines. It has built this tremendous larger than life image of Sachin, which is hard to deny. It's almost as if people eager to embrace this glorified image rather than the actual man himself.
Hence we no more talk about how beautifully he played, how his straight drives were thrilling and how the leg glance was mesmerizing. We constantly chirp about his 100th 100, how he's become leading run scorer, how is it impossible for anyone to break his records and so on. The man whom we all love, is now slowly vanishing and a bloated media created image is taking its place.

I'm fed up with this Johnson & Johnson Sachin. I want my Sachin back.