~ That was in the year 1974. I was in Class VI. My father found out a picture of a young man with long sideburns and a very intense gaze staring out from the pages of one of my school book. He made me not only throw away the picture but also insisted that I tear it into pieces too. I saw the hurt in Ma’s eyes. Ma too did have some liking for that guy I thought, maybe because she shared the ‘same gaon’ connection with him. That his mother was my mother’s history teacher in Jagat Taran High School, Allahabad, we all had heard that innumerable times. But my Baba wouldn’t have listened to any such excuses. Keeping a picture of a film star inside the study books or perhaps anywhere else was a considered by him as a unpardonable crime. I suddenly remembered the incident while coming across a picture of the ever young man on the net. He would be turning 72 in two days, they said. He doesn’t look the same any more, I have not watched any of his films for a long time.But I still remember that particular portrait of him, very vivid. I had cut that out from a Filmfare magazine. I confess that my loyalty as a fan girl had changed but it is also true that I never again thought of keeping any other actor’s picture within the pages of any of my books. All actors are not super stars and no other actor in India could perhaps ever reach that stardom. Amitabh Bachhan is no more my favourite actor. But still he is the Amitabh Bachhan and I realised that there is something in his eyes that still make my heart like 40 year back, flit and flutter. ~
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 08:40:15 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015