PUPIL
’Upar Wala Jab Bhi Deta Hai, Chapar Phaad Ke Deta Hai'
Whenever the guy upstairs gives your roof will collapse - meaning when the almighty wishes to express his benevolence to you and shower you with his givings your roof will not be able to sustain it and it will be overwhelming to you.
Duggu,the pupil, instead of taking it in a positive way, always felt the opposite applied to his life.
God, his teacher, had overburdened him and drowned him with all the troubles of the world.
WHERE ARE YOU GOD ???
Today aged around 21 standing on the seashore, as it rained cats and dogs, drenched in his hoodie, he reflected back on his life.
He was born with Polydactyl.
As he grew and started schooling he realised he also had a stammer.
This put him in a back foot as early as his nursery and Kindergarten years.
He was made fun of.
As he stuttered and spoke it affected his personal development and he started shying away from conversations.
Slowly he became afraid of interacting with people in school and in general.
On the days he had oral exams he even tried to make excuses and acted as if he was ill.
On the plus side he was blessed with legendary grand fathers.
His maternal grand father was a successful film maker - producing and directing films loved by the masses.
His paternal grandfather was a legendary music director whose compositions were popular and admired by people across the country.
His Uncle who continued in the music profession,in the footsteps of their legendary father, was getting some good work in films.
His father however was a struggling actor who never made it big as an actor though he got leading hero roles during his acting days.
He later moved away from acting onto producing and directing movies.
During the days Duggu struggled with his stammer he loved travelling with his ‘Nanaji’ during their outdoor shoots as he would be away from class mates who teased him.
Even at that age he loved swaying and moving his body to music and though he was shy jumped involuntary to create his own dance moves which gave him some inner satisfaction.
There was an incident on one of these outdoor shoots when a song was being picturized on the Jumping Jack hero, lip syncing to the leading lady.
His maternal grandfather who was in the directors seat noticed his six year old grandson enjoy the interlude music and dance to the tune in the backdrop.
This happened at all the reshoots during that song picturization.
He gestured to the camera man and whispered in his ear to secretly shoot this young boys moves during the interludes as he was very impressed and had decided to use this boys act in the actual song shot.
At the next opportunity as ‘action’ was roared and the interlude played this young boy danced, tranced in his own little world unaware of his environment.
The cameraman got this dance in his frame.
As his grandfather had decided, it was used in the films song and when the movie released people loved the lads moves for that song.
He was rewarded Rs 100 by his grandfather for this.
(Duggu kept this Rs 100 with him as a remembrance and in later years it stayed with him folded and tucked in an amulet he wore around his neck at all times)
Stammering or stuttering is a curable condition and as noticed in royalty (King George VI) or famous singer (Elvis Presley) can be overcome with professional help.
Over the years Duggu was given speech therapy which slowly helped him overcome his speech problem.
He was being drawn into the silver screen and was given very small uncredited dance snippets/roles to enact in a couple of movies which were family projects.
This included an appearance in a home production as his father had slowly adventured into producing films.
The line was however drawn and though his heart and mind was that he wanted to be an actor, he was firmly told by his father that he needed to concentrate on his studies and complete his education.
That was a point of contention at home as his father stuck to his guns and insisted that Duggu focus on his studies and not join the film industry.
Life sucked and to top it all as he reached 20 years of age his doctors diagnosed him with scoliosis.
This condition prevented him from doing stunts or do what he truly loved - DANCE
He could not do extreme movements and was restricted from using the gym or even jogging.
The whole year had passed as the fear of scoliosis hung over him as the sword of Damocles
He had withdrawn in a shell and he was finding it difficult to face life due to the negativity.
Today after almost a year he had decided that he had to take an extreme step.
Rushing out of the house with a hoodie he ran towards the beach.
A light drizzle had started and as he ran it continued raining.
He pulled the hood over his head and started jogging.
As he reached the beach the rain had become a heavy downpour.
Frustrated but determined that he would face and defeat scoliosis.
He decided that he would work to become a super star.
He had made up his mind to challenge his inner self and the physical condition.
He resumed jogging.
His mind diverted to the good parts of his life and his attention was taken away from what he was doing or the physical strain he was going through.
He continued his jogging non stop for hours on the beach, increasing his speed and as he progressed, realisation came that he did not feel pain.
Pain was a symptom for scoliosis.
This filled him with triumph.
Rain gods continued lashing him but he was in euphoria as he triumphed.
He now knew that he could defeat scoliosis.
He was unaware of how far he had run nor which part of the beach he had reached.
He had never seen this area before.
Needing to quench his thirst he looked around this foreign terrine and noticed a shack.
As he was thirsty, though it looked shady, with his hood on and his hands tucked into his pocket he went in.
He wanted a bottle of Biseleri water and a glass of ice cubes but due to the weather the place was cramped and buzzing with activity.
He could not get the barman’s or waiters attention.
It was this moment that Manohar Lal Aka Munna slipped in besides him and drew him into conversation.
Munna as he was popularly know was a local con man.
He was a petty thief frequenting the angrezi bars and local daru adda’s.
He made his living cheating unsuspecting people by trapping them in small bets.
He had been booked many times under Section 420 in the Indian Penal Code and was well known in the local police station.
He always got away with a telling off or very short sentences.
Inspector Ketsan Likamb from the local police chowki called him a ‘chindhi chor’
Once trying to pull off a music system car theft by jack opening the door he jammed his small finger between the door.
The mission was was a failure however worse was that negligence to treating this injury lead to amputation and loss of this left hands small finger at the joint.
Over the years using this also as an advantage he used it on ‘’naya bakra’s’’ as another of his con’s.
Inviting them to the ‘finger number’ bet Munna would act drunk and he challenged a total of 20 fingers between them.
His opponents always assuming he was drunk knew that they would win.
They never suspected the lack of his pinkie would make them lose.
Today as he sat in the shack and saw this new boy enter Munna had found his ‘naya bakra’ to try on the ‘finger number’ con.
The young drenched boy who had walked in hooded and with both his hands tucked into his pockets was panting and looked lost.
He knew he could make a fast buck from this unsuspecting kid.
Munna approached Duggu and after having small talk drew him into the bet.
The looser would have to pay for the winners drink plus pay Rs 50 in cash to the winner.
Duggu wanted to go all out but as he had rushed out of the house he only had Rs 35 in change in his pant pocket.
Then he remembered Nanji’s Rs 100 in his amulet and as he was already feeling good he did not mind taking on the bet.
As both their hands were in their pockets Munna proclaimed acting drunkenly to him
‘’I bet you that between the two of us there will not be total 20 digits (fingers) in our Hand’s’’
Other onlookers who knew Munna would win looked shocked as both of them spread out their hands on the bar.
20 digits sat gleaming on the bar top.
Munna’s 9 digits comprising of 7 fingers and 2 thumbs sat besides Duggu’s 11 digits comprising of 8 fingers and 3 thumbs.
There was an extra thumb fused to the thumb on the hooded boy’s right hand.
Astounded Munna ordered and paid for Duggu’s iced mineral water.
He also handed over a crumpled Rs 50 note to him.
Still reeling from the loss Munna saw Duggu drink his water and walk towards the door.
As he looked up Manohar Lal Aka Munna saw Hrithik Roshan Aka Duggu pull down his hood, look up at the heavens and walk out smiling.
Duggu now had the answer to his question - WHERE ARE YOU GOD ???
An old quote had just came wafting back to his memory.
‘’When you are going through difficulties in life and wonder where God is remember that the TEACHER is always quiet while the PUPIL takes a test’’
Hrithik Roshan Aka Duggu who overcame scoliosis went on after a few years to become a sensation with his dancing in his debut super hit movie ‘Kaho Naa.. Pyaar Hai’ in the year 2000.
As a record Hrithik was the the only actor ever to win both the Filmfare Award for Best Debut and the Filmfare Award for Best Actor for the same film.
He has not looked back since then.
This movie coincidentally was written and directed by his father.
Kaho Naa.. Pyaar Hai went on to be inducted into the Guinness World Records (2002) for being a feature film with the most awards won—a total of 92 awards received in numerous ceremonies and categories.
'Upar Wala Jab Bhi Deta Hai, Chapar Phaad Ke Deta Hai'
How True !!!
Polydactyl from Greek polys meaning 'many', and daktylos meaning 'finger'
Scoliosis from Romanised Ancient Greek skoliosis means "a bending".
Hrithik’s maternal grandfather - Producer,Director J Om Prakash
Hrithik’s paternal grandfather - Music director Roshan (Roshanlal Nagrath)
Hrithik’s father - Actor, Producer, Director Rakesh Roshan
Hrithik’s uncle - Music Director Rajesh Roshan
Leading lady - Reena Roy
Jumping Jack - Jitendra
Song - Movie for which he danced and his grandfather gave him Rs 100 - Jaane hum sadak ke — Aasha (1980)
Other movies in uncredited appearances as a child -
Aap ke deewane 1980
Aas paas 1981
Aasra pyar da (Punjabi) 1983
Bhagwan dada 1986
Please note that Hrithik Roshan Aka Duggu’s incident in the shack involving the ‘finger number’ bet encounter with Manohar Lal Aka Munna is just a figment of my imagination.
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