Meeting the renowned Indian film scriptwriter, not to mention eloquent speaker, Mahesh Bhatt during the Karafilm Festival, one learns of his taste in movies, music and books. Bhatt claims his all-time favourite Indian movie is Ganga Jumna’ because of : “Dilip Kumar’s unbeatable performance, which captures the spirit of rural life in South Asia and the dilemma that an individual goes through when choosing between walking on the right side of the law or breaking it to get even with their oppressors. I found that an exceptional story of a family unit and felt it tackles the value system with which our ancestors built this part of the world.”
Another of Bhatt’s favourites is a film that has been revived recently — Mughal-e-Azam — and he claims the coloured version with its digital sound system is “exceptional”. Says he: “It brings back the glory of those times and talks of the composite culture on which India was built — a blend of Mughal and Hindu norms. The film has exceptional music by Naushad and great narrative and drama. Mughal-e-Azam also boasts an icon of South Asia, popular in Pakistan too — Dilip Kumar — and has mesmerizing performance by Madhubala. They don’t make movies like that any more.”
Bhatt is just as fond of watching English movies and his favourite is David Lean’s classic Dr Zhivago. Says he: “With the drama of the Russian Revolution presenting a backdrop to the intimate relationship of man, woman and the other woman, it is one of the most brilliant films I’ve seen that refuses to fade with the passage of time.” Ikiru, the psychological-cum-medical drama directed by Akira Kurosawa way back in 1952 is also one of Bhatt’s favourites. Claims Bhatt: “The Japanese film with English subtitles is about man coming to terms with the inevitable — death — and leaving something of significance for the world before he dies.”
Exposed to all kinds of music, Bhatt claims he is inclined towards music that has “good content of writing and melody, such as the old scores of India sung by Rafi sahib and the dizzying songs of Pakistanis greats such as Mehdi sahib, Ghulam Ali sahib, Begum Akhter and the unmatchable Noor Jehan. Songs sung by these stalwarts resonate in one’s heart. Good writing and haunting melody rendered with heartbreaking sincerity by such great singers is what my favourite music is all about.”
Surprisingly, Lata Mangeshker does not feature among the names Bhatt rattles off of his favourite singers. Says he: “Lata was okay to a point for me but she did not transcend her sixteen year old virginal quality, which is perhaps the reason why I did not mention her. Both Noor Jehan and Begum Akhter had that mature quality and after a point you look for that in songs. I also enjoy listening to Abida Parveen, and have heard her live, not just at the opening of the Karafilm Festival this year, but also earlier. She is a South Asian treasure.
“Among the male singers I think Jagjeet has a superb voice, but in the world of ghazals, Mehdi Hassan sahib is undoubtedly my favourite. Nusrat Fateh Ali sahib was yet another Asian treasure that you’ll have been lucky to have had.” As for western music, Bhatt claims that he was a great Beatles fan in his school days, but he is now into instrumental music and enjoys it a lot.
Bhatt is an avid reader as well and his reading is quite varied. However, he claims he doesn’t like to read fiction and elaborates: “My appetite for fiction was satiated by movies, so I never really relished it. I am more into books on current affairs; biographies and autobiographies; and books on psychology and marketing, so it’s difficult for me to pick just one favourite book.” From all the autobiographies he has read, Bhatt ranks The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell covering the years 1872 to 1914 highly inspiring and says: “He left a strong impact on my mind.” The book has particularly interesting chapters on Cambridge and ‘Principia Mathematica’. Another hot favourite writer with Bhatt is one of modern India’s greatest poets and Nobel laureate for literature (1913) Rabindranath Tagore.
Bhatt also claims to be fond of books written on entertainers such as Charlie Chaplin and claims to enjoy French writers as well. He raves about the writings of Allama Iqbal and says about the writings of this great philosopher-poet: “The passion in Allama Iqbal’s work set me ablaze when I discovered it.”
Meeting the renowned Indian film scriptwriter, not to mention eloquent speaker, Mahesh Bhatt during the Karafilm Festival, one learns of his taste in movies, music and books. Bhatt claims his all-time favourite Indian movie is Ganga Jumna’ because of : “Dilip Kumar’s unbeatable performance, which captures the spirit of rural life in South Asia and the dilemma that an individual goes through when choosing between walking on the right side of the law or breaking it to get even with their oppressors. I found that an exceptional story of a family unit and felt it tackles the value system with which our ancestors built this part of the world.”
