Vidur’s Telly Tales – 5

I wrote my 4th and last ” Telly Tales “ on January 29, 2010. As May ended, I suddenly realized that there are 12 serials in Hindi and 1 in Marathi, which are currently on air and they have my students playing main protagonists in them. When I wrote 4th part of  my ” Telly Tales “ , I thought that for a very long period, I wont be writing the 5th part. But my thinking was wrong. I am forced to write this 5th part just after 4 months. I can’t ignore 13 serials, which are ruling the airwaves currently. Let us take stock of my 14 students, who are working in these 13 serial.

RANJEET JOG in ” OLAKH “ : This Marathi serial is currently on air on STAR PRAVAH. Ranjeet Jog is a very old student of mine and he recently informed me about this serial.His father played the role of Bharat in the mega serial ” RAMAYAN ” , directed by late and legendary Ramanand Sagar. Ranjeet, apart from this serial, is working in many Marathi films also. An extremely talented and well-behaved boy from Nagpur , he is slowly and steadily making his place in the Marathi film industry. I am happy for him. He has everything going for him; personality, talent and good behaviour.

ROHIT KHURANA in ” UTTARAN “ : This highly popular Hindi serial is currently on air on COLORS. I used to watch this serial quite often, but I was unable to recognize Rohit, who is playing Vansh in ” UTTARAN “ . The day, when ZOOM was airing my interview on Katrina Kaif in their programme ” Planet Bollywood ” , I got a call and an unknown number flashed on the screen of my mobile. The caller introduced himself as Rohit Khurana and said, ” sir, I am an old student of yours ” . A floodgate of memories got opened and I was completely submerged in the sepia toned , obfuscated past remembrances. of this particular student of mine. Years ago, I met him in Food Inn, a famous food joint in Lokhandwala. He was new and had no work. He told me very respectfully that he wants to be trained by me only and would like to start his journey in this tinsel town as a student of mine. I was touched by his sincerity and started training him. After completing the training , he started his struggle. Gradually , he started getting works but I lost touch. That day while watching my interview on ZOOM, he called me and said that like Katrina Kaif, one day he would also make me proud. I was so touched by his feelings. Years had gone but his love and respect for me was not diminished at all. In this materialistic world, who cares for a poor and ordinary acting/diction trainer? But here was a boy, who is now famous, who is now popular and still he felt the need to call me and congratulate me on my achievements and promised me that one day he would also make me proud. I then watched ” UTTARAN “ and was happy to see him enacting his role so well. Rohit has grown as an actor and now he is well entrenched in TV industry.

SARWAR AHUJA in ” KESHAV PANDIT “ :  He participated in ZEE CINESTAR KI KHOJ ( Season 1 ) and won the coveted title. I used to go to train him for the show. After winning the title, as per the contract, he signed Mr. Subhash Ghai’s film ” KHANNA AND AIYAR ” and worked in that film with another co-winner Aditi Sharma. The film got released and bombed miserably. Later on he signed another film ” HUM PHIRR MILENGE ” with Ms. Tabassum’s grand-daughter Kkhushi. This film also tanked and thus seemingly it looked like the end of a bright journey. But you can’t put down a real talent. Sarwar fought valiantly and slowly people took notice. Now he is working in ” KESHAV PANDIT  “ being aired on ZEE TV. He is very grounded and in spite of the initial failures, never felt defeated. He has good sense of humour, which never deserted him even in his rainy days.

MISHAL RAHEJA in ” LAAGI TUJHSE LAGAN “ : I used to go to his South Mumbai flat to train this immensely talented boy. He lives in his opulent apartment near Breach Candy. His place is far away from my working place but as is my habit, I was moved by his behaviour and deep sense of respect for me. He completed his training and started working in TV serials. Currently he is portraying a negative character in ” LAAGI TUJHSE LAGAN” being aired on COLORS.

SMITA BANSAL in ” BALIKA VADHU “ : Years ago she was a famous artiste in television industry. Eventually , she got married and quit the industry. Few years back, she made comeback and is currently working in ” BALIKA VADHU “ as the mother in law of the female protagonist Anandi.

AKRITI SINGH in ” MRS. & MR. SHARMA ALLAHABADWALE “ :  She was in the 2nd Weekend batch of Kreating Charakters. This extremely talented girl is currently working in ” MRS. & MR. SHARMA ALLAHABADWALE “on SUB TV. I never knew that she has such a fantastic sense of humour.

AMIT BHARGAD in ” TUM DENA SAATH MERA “ : He was in Batch No. 2 of Kreating Charakters. Like Ranjeet Jog he is also from Nagpur. After years of struggle, he got this serial, which is currently being aired on DD 1. Batch No. 2 is very close to my heart. Had this batch not been formed, there would have never been a Kreating Charakters. We, in fact, inherited Batch No. 1, so it was with Batch No. 2, that our journey started. And Amit Bhargad belongs to that batch.

VEEBHA ANAND in ” BALIKA VADHU ” : She created history in this serial as Sugana. Whole nation cried with her, when she became the widow. She became an overnight national sensation and was very popular among female audience. She was in the 19th batch of Kreating Charakters and since I have written about her in my earlier Telly Tales, I wont go in details this time. I am only mentioning her because she has recently made re-entry in the serial. In between she did another serial ” STREE ” also. Apart from this serial she is working as a second lead in a Rajshri Production movie called ” ISI LIFE MEIN “. Incidently, she was the batch mate of ” RAB NE BANA DI JODI ” and ” BADMAASH COMPANY “ fame Anushka Sharma. She has great sense of loyalty and respect for her alma mater. She has absolute faith in me as a trainer and she always acknowledges that. I wish her great success and long life. May God bless this noble soul. She is bound to scale dizzy heights of stardom. She has a rare combination of talent and exemplary behaviour, a dwindling commodity these days.

Raunaq Ahuja

RAUNAQ AHUJA in ” DO SAHELIEYAN “ : He was in Batch No. 23 of Kreating Charakters. His other batch-mate was Kush Sinha. Raunaq is extremely talented and is one of the most deserving students of Kreating Charakters. He had slight speech problem, when he joined the batch. But being a hard-working boy he overcame this slight impediment and now he is working in this highly successful serial ” DO SAHELIEYAN ” on ZEE TV. This serial is one of the top ranking serials of ZEE TV. I do remember his initial days in the class. Because of his speech impediment, sometimes he had to face laughter of his class-mates. But he continued his training without being bothered about this and finally he was able to silence his critics and overcame his problem.

VIJAY MISHRA in ” BITTO “ : This Bhojpuri speaking boy was in the Batch No. 28 of Kreating Charakters. He is currently working in a serial called ” BITTO ” on COLORS. This newly started serial is based on the rural background of Uttar Pradesh and depicts feudal and archaic tradition of the rustic hinterlands of Uttar Pradesh. Vijay Mishra belongs to a business family and didn’t know anything about films. Since he hails from Uttar Pradesh, this was another drawback. He overcame everything, surmounted all the odds and slowly started his journey in the tinsel town. Initially he worked in few Bhojpuri serials and then got this break. He has worked in a film also. “332 ANDHERI TO KURLA ” is now complete and is scheduled for July release. Vijay Mishra is playing an important part in this Sangeet Sivan film.

MANIT JOURA in ” 12/24 KAROLE BAGH “ : Manit Joura was in the Batch No,32 of Kreating Charakters. His other batch mate was Narendra Jetley, who is also very busy as an actor and as a model. Manit Joura’s serial was a popular serial of ZEE TV. He is an intense and thinking actor. His popularity was phenomenal , when his part was on air. To shoot this serial, he was in Delhi for months. Now he is back and is currently working in a YASH RAJ FILMS movie with Ranbir Singh and Anushka Sharma. People have this wrong notion that after doing a serial one is barred from films permanently. Manit Joura is proving them wrong. I foresee a bright future for him.

ARCHANA TAIDE in ” MAAN RAHE TERA….. PITAAH “ : She was in the Batch No. 35 of Kreating Charakters. I particularly remember this batch, because this batch had some of the worst students of my career. This batch had politicians, liars but actors. There were only few exceptions and Archana was one of them. She didn’t give in to her politician batch-mates and always gave me due respect. Before joining the batch, she was working as an anchor with E 24 channel. After completing the course she got a serial called ” SWARG” . She was popular in that serial . This new serial of hers started this week with much fanfare on SONY. She is the main female protagonist and I was so proud of her achievement when I saw her photos in every national news papers. This serial is very well mounted and its popularity is growing with each passing day. Her politician batch-mates are still running around and she got this huge break.

SACHIN CHHABRA in ” DO HANSON KA JODA “ : He was in Batch No. 37 of Kreating Charaketrs. He was already a famous model when he joined the batch. His ad films and campaigns were very famous and are still popular. Now he has got this serial of Rajshri Productions named ” DO AHNSON KA JODA “ . This serial is currently on air on NDTV IMAGINE. It has similar story line and characterization of ” RAB NE BANA DI JODI ” . He is playing the über cool Shah Rukh Khan’s character of the movie in this serial. In between he did a film also. Its name was ” RUSLAAN “. Sachin played one of the important roles in the movie which will be remembered as the debut film of Moushumi Chatterji’s daughter Meghaa Chatterji. Though RUSLAAN bombed but Sachin’s forward journey went unhindered. His serial is a popular serial.

SHEEHAN DIXIT in ” KARAM YODDHA “ : He was in the Batch No. 40 of Kreating Charakters. He came for the admission along with his father and grandfather. I was very touched when his aging grandfather told me that I have full faith in you and I know that under your guidance my grandson will be a transformed boy. I could see that the aging gentleman had immense faith in me and in his grandson. I was very happy when Sheehan got this serial ” KARAM YODDHA “ , which is currently on air on DD 1. His grandfather faith in him is intact. Thank God !! Sheehan’s family’s support could be gauged from the fact that his father came to help him for his show-reel. While looking at his photograph,  you can feel the numerous , various dreams of this boy, which are floating in his wide eyes.

It is very heartening that all the 14 students, who  are so successful and, are not from the filmy background. From Batch No. 2 to Batch No. 40 , students from almost every batch are working. Currently Batch No. 44, and Batch No. 45 are under training.We started Batch No. 46 today, i. e. on June 4, 2010. It means students of only Batch No. 41, 42 and 43 are yet to get work. But they completed the training only recently.

As I have mentioned in my website, the voyage has just started, the saga has just begun. Amen !!! Amen !!!

Vidur

http://www.vidur.co.in