Shah Rukh Khan’s Smoking & Sanjay Dutt’s Jail Déjà Vu: Bollywood Flash Back

Bollywood in 2003 (May 25 – 31)

Loving Bhoot! Ram Gopal Varma’s Bhoot opened to extraordinary houses in the major cities of the country on 30th May. The horror film, starring Ajay Devgan and Urmila Matondkar with Nana Patekar and Rekha, shook the daylights out of people, giving them a unique experience of a movie.

No Smoking: The World Health Organisation (WHO) celebrated World No Tobacco Day on 31st May 2003. A special WHO study, in which 440 Indian films were analysed, revealed that cigarette consumption was shown in 72% of the films. The WHO report mentioned that Shah Rukh Khan and Rajnikanth occupied the first and second place respectively among heavy-smoking stars.

Honoured: American director Gus Van Sant’s Elephant, which recreated the infamous shooting incident at Columbine School in the US, was awarded the top prize, the Palme d’Or, as well as the award for the best director at the 56^th Cannes International Film Festival which concluded on 25^th May.

Bollywood in 1998 (May 24 – 30)

Rest In Peace: Music director Laxmikant (of Laxmikant-Pyarelal) breathed his last on 25th May at Nanavati Hospital in Bombay where he was undergoing treatment for cancer of the prostate and kidney failure.

Apologies: Painter and filmmaker M.F. Hussain tendered an apology to the Shiv Sena Chitrapat Shakha which had threatened not to allow his Gaj Gamini to be shot unless he apologised for his painting of Goddess Sita. The painting landed Hussain in a controversy as the Shiv Sena felt, it hurt religious sentiments of the Hindus.

Tax Free: Yash Chopra’s Dil To Pagal Hai, which had won the award for the best popular film of 1997, providing wholesome entertainment, was granted perpetual tax exemption by the Maharashtra government.

Busy: Amitabh Bachchan was superbusy. He was shooting for not one or two but three films – David Dhawan’s Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, Veeru Devgan’s Hindustan Ki Kasam and S. Raamanathan’s Zamanat. Meanwhile, the first copy of another starrer of his, Major Saab, was due to come out.

Cross-Border: Shabana Azmi and Farooque Shaikh’s stage-play, ‘Tumhari Amrita’, was to be performed in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan, but the organisers called it off at the eleventh hour. It was believed that the cancellation was Pakistan’s reaction to the cancellation of Ghulam Ali’s show in Bombay. However, one of the organisers said, the decision to postpone the play was taken after the nuclear tests in India.

Winner: Jagjit Singh’s name was announced by the Madhya Pradesh government for its Lata Mangeshkar award for excellence in music. The award carried a purse of Rs. l lakh and a citation.

Bollywood in 1993 (May 23 – 29)

Preparing for success: Subhash Ghai revealed how nobody in his family or among his friends was happy with the title Khal Nayak when he launched the film. Most of them didn’t even know what the word meant! To all of them, he had said, “We shall meet again a month before the film’s release. At that time, Khal Nayak will be on every child’s lips!” And sure it was!!

Sanjay Dutt’s Déjà vu: Days after the arrest of Sanjay Dutt in the Bombay bomb blasts case, Subhash Ghai revealed that before Dutt flew to Mauritius for the shooting of G.P. Sippy’s Aatish, he had shot for Ghai’s ‘Khal Nayak’ the same night. The last shot of that shooting schedule showed Sanjay Dutt surrendering arms to the police. Ironically, the actor was taken into custody by the police on his return to India from Mauritius, at the airport itself. Although he did not surrender arms, he had to admit to being in possession of an AK-56 rifle. On the same day when he left for Mauritius, after finishing his work for ‘Khal Nayak’, Dutt had also faced the camera for Naya Aarambh, a serial Subhash Ghai made for Doordarshan’s Metro channel. One of the dialogues mouthed by the actor in the serial was: “There’s nothing greater than Mother India. This is what we’ve learnt from our parents.”