Sanjeev Kumar by Reeta Ramamurthy Gupta, Uday jariwala
Narrated by Jasleen Bhalla
Audiobook
Non Fiction Biography
Rating- Overall 3/5 and 3/5 for the story and 4/5 for the narration
This book was a guilty pleasure and a break from serious novels which I am presently reading and listening to such as A Pale Blue dot by Carl Sagan and Judges list by John Grisham!
Of course once you start listening to filmy gossip even if it is a gossip you already know, you obviously cannot stop
It is understood that this is a biography not an autobiography so it means that what you listen is not the truth or direct depiction but only a point of view and this is the biggest drawback of any biography! It is simply not from the Horses’ mouth!
This is however a very honest effort by the people involved to bring out the story of one of the best actors ever! The one who could pull of any role with ease and how!
Even now Angoor and Pati Patni gives me a smile after watching umpteen number of times just like how Viday Balan mentions in the epilogue. He is the only one who can play any role! In fact he was the hero to Jaya B in Koshish, Father in Parichay and Father in law in Sholay!
Sanjeev Kumar or Harihar Jethalal Jariwala was a typical Gujarati in his childhood and how he became Sanjeev Kumar is the story.
Starts with a brief introduction of his father and mainly his mother and his big family and how he lost his father in his childhood and the responsibility of managing the whole family was on his shoulders. How he did not complete his school and took up acting instead and how he struggled in plays and small roles for years before he made it big.
Since the story is narrative from the point of view of many dear and near; it loses steam when the people who are narrating the story subconsciously put the central character as themselves and the I in the team comes into play which makes it a little skewed to say the least!
No spoilers since in the beginning itself his death and his mothers death (the two major incidents in his life) have been described rather emotionally and this is was the best part of the narration since this has to be by the third person!
The novel thus explores the relations of his friends and family including his brothers and their wife and their sons and daughters and how they interacted with him. Most of the stories and interaction have a consistent fact that Hari Bhai (as he was known) was a major addict of Smoking and Drinking and a glutton to the core!
It is always said that you must never meet your hero; you must add that you must not know too much about him or her. That would make you realize that he or she is just a mere mortal and the pedestal you have placed them upon may seem shaky as it did to me!
So you have famous personalities such as Shatrughan Sinha, Gulzar, Ranjita, Parikshit Sahni, Tanuja, Sachin, Daughter of Sippy, and many others who state their interaction and relationship with him.
His love and respect for his mother was mentioned by all though it seems odd that he loved and respected her so much but still use to do things which she would have felt bad like eating non veg and drinking and smoking without any control whatsoever! That is of course something personal between a mother and her son and no business of others.
Though some stories of his getting the roles of Nayi din nayi raat and Khilona has been mentioned; it could have been more elaborate since everyone likes Sanjeev Kumar the actor and not Hari Bhai; the man.
The most juicy part of the whole book of course are his affairs including and not restricted to Nutan, Hema and others. This section however reveals so many new things about how he was not a heart broken person and the affairs were not the reason for his attacks! You can listen to the whole book simply for this section! So many misconceptions and rumours will be laid to rest at least for some actresses with whom he had some links. Some though are kept under wraps with only a hint!
The author and narrators though many times are confused; they makes statements of one kind and we are presented with a story which shows something else! On one side it is told that Hari Bhai never cared about any thing and then they tell the story of how he could not tolerate anyone having the same car as he! They would tell how he was a simple man and then they would talk about his rare and costly cigarettes and his different cars! They would talk about how he was simple and uncomplicated in his room and then you would get a story of how he had a cupboard having more than 500 perfumes!
That is the problem with biography; when we ourselves don’t know what we are thinking, how can we try to think what the other person is thinking and that too when one of the authors has not even met the person!
There is also a note by his doctor who tells how modern medicine has progressed which is really sad since it gives a false sense of comfort! As a doctor I can frankly tell that however progressed medicine is; you have to first take care of your body and only then the medications would work! You cannot have a medication which will allow to drink and smoke till you drop and expect no harm would come to you!
Finally it is safe to say that it is a very interesting ride indeed and you would really like it with some breaks! You can accept his smoking like an addict since that is personal, you can also accept his drinking to a point when he is stuporous (he apparently used to become quiet and then Tanuja narrates how he knocked on her door one night in an inebriated state! Confusion thy name is biography!).
We can also accept his fondness of food even if it means he eats like a glutton like there is no tomorrow and expect your body to survive! We can also accept that he had history of heart disease in the family and his time was short so he lived life kingsize!
One thing which no one should accept is his absolute lack of respect to punctuality! In fact there was a story told by Shatrughan Sinha (another in the same category; unpunctual that is!) of how they both would be sitting and smoking in their house with no work to do while the whole team and unit would be waiting for them. He would make the whole set, actresses and many directors wait and would not feel an ounce of remorse as stated by many of them in the book.
You may be the greatest actor in the world but if you do not give respect to the most precious thing in the world that is time then please do not be shocked or have misbelief when time shows you your place.
All the book managed to do was make me more sad and lose respect for the person in this biography; it may not be the one in his autobiography which of course we will not get to compare.
You listen and draw your own conclusion…
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