Page 44 - Seniorstoday July-2023 Issue
P. 44
Film
Scandals
Down
The
Ages
Nanda Singh picks out some scandals from Bollywood’s past, just a
tip of the iceberg peeking out of a swamp of love, lust, deception and
opportunism
In this let-it-all-out on social media era, The biggest shocker at a time when
there is no such thing as a secret. Celebrities the Hindi film industry was not called
seem to carry out their affairs quite openly, Bollywood, was when Devika Rani, the
posting holiday photos with heart emojis. boss lady of Bombay Talkies, ran off with
People, or rather consumers of gossip and an actor called Najmul Hasan. Her husband
celeb shenanigans, are seldom shocked. and studio partner, Himansu Rai was
Private videos are routinely leaked, and understandably incensed. (The recent web
nobody pays much attention, but there series Jubilee fictionalised this chapter
was a time when affairs were considered in movie history). Eventually, she was
scandalous and read about avidly in fan talked into returning, but Hasan’s career
magazines. was buried. He migrated to Pakistan after
A random pick of a dozen scandals from Partition, did some forgettable films there,
the past, just a tip of the iceberg peeking ending his life in obscurity.The marriage
out of a swamp of love, lust, deception and of the power couple never really recovered.
opportunism: The one who inadvertently benefited from
the episode, was a lab assistant, Kumud
Ganguly, better known as Ashok Kumar,
who replaced Najmul Hasan in the film,
Jeevan Naiya, and stepped on to the fast
track to stardom.
Baburao Patel was the owner editor of
Film India, and back then, there weren’t
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