Urban legends from India – Na le ba

 What will be your reaction when someone calls from behind in dark of night?

 Will you keep moving or turn back to see? Especially if it is Amavasya or Friday 13^th, no one will dare look behind. Supposedly, if one turned back to see, he is doomed to die. Sounds absurd? Isn’t it!! In fact, such instances have happened in Karnataka, India. Long back in 90’s, a witch haunted the streets of rural side of Bangalore. She mostly targeted men. Any man, if mistakably roaming the streets of night was sure to die if he sighted her. Such was her terror that people used to write ‘Na le ba’ (Come tomorrow in Kannada language) on walls to drive her away. After reading this sign on walls, the witch used to go away and return back to haunt the streets. This cycle continued for several days.  This ghostly terror was short lived. Afterwards, such ghostly instances stopped happening in Bangalore. No one knows how much truth was in this supernatural phenomenon.

The 2018 Bollywood horror-comedy movie – Stree was based on urban legend of ‘Na le ba’. Only the location of the ghost story was shifted to Chanderi, a small town based in Northern India. The witch haunting the streets in movie had her back story. She was a prostitute who longed for true love. When she had found her true love, the prostitute and her lover were killed by the villagers.  To avenge her death, she stalks the streets of Chanderi village, targeting men. There was no backstory of witch stalking the streets of Bangalore. No know could trace the origin of her existence and the purpose behind targeting men.

 There are many urban legends and haunted places in India which have their own back story. Author Rudyard Kipling had once written about an urban legend of Shimla in his short story ‘The Phantom Rickshaw’ which revolves around a ghostly figure of a woman who is seen haunting the streets of Shimla, searching for her love. 

To know more about Na le ba, do watch the 2018 movie – Stree and for further reference, do read the 2019 ghost story collection - India’s most haunted: Tales of Terrifying places written by K. Hari Kumar. I am keen to pen down more stories on haunted places of India in my upcoming stories.

The tragic life of Hollywood diva Natalie Wood

 Natalie Wood is an unheard name to Indian movie audience. She was a Hollywood legend who rose to success by working as a child star to her ascent as a highly in demand star of 1950’s. Today Bollywood’s young actresses throw so many tantrums after one hit movie. They presume themselves to be Goddess of cinema. On contrary, Hollywood artists are humble, hard-working and dedicated and Natalie Wood belonged to that league. 

I stumbled upon Natalie Wood’s life, career and her untimely death while researching on an article related to Marilyn Monroe, the timeless diva of Hollywood. After publishing my story on Monroe, I learnt a lot about Natalie Wood’s difficult childhood, her heartbreaking relationship, her disturbed marital life and the stardom that tormented her. A gypsy woman had once predicted that Natalie would be successful movie star, but may lose her life due to drowning.

After learning about the prediction, Natalie’s mother became too much over-protective and controlled her life. It is been said it was her mother who pushed little Natalie into movie business. She was never allowed to play with other kids like a normal child. Since Natalie’s father made a meager earning, little Natalie was the bread earner of the family. Natalie Wood was not her actual name. Her actual name was Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko. Fondly called as Natasha, Natalia went on to become a child star in classics like ‘Miracle on 34^th Street’, ‘Tomorrow is forever’ and several other movies.   

Natalie’s mother was so obsessed with movie career of her daughter that she never allowed her daughter to mingle with male friends. According to sources, Natalie was forced to have a break up with a boy named Jimmy with whom she vowed to marry during her teen days. Her first crush, the boy Jimmy committed suicide by shooting herself. Jimmy’s death shook Natalie to such an extent that she shut herself in her room for a week. In later days, Natalie focused on her movie career to work as a full-fledged actress. Her breakthrough role earned her both fame and recognition in movie – Rebel Without a cause opposite the 50’s heartthrob James Dean. She became a close friend of James Dean during the filming of movie. Sadly, James Dean didn’t live to see the movie. His untimely death in car crash was a big blow to Hollywood. Natalie not only lost a great co-star, but also a great friend and confidante in James Dean.

Natalie’s name was linked to many Hollywood biggies including Elvis Priesley. Her personal life was equally stormy as her screen life. During her struggling days in Hollywood, Natalie is been said to be raped by a big Hollywood actor in a hotel. That incident was one of the tragic episodes in life of Natalie. She never revealed the name of the molester in public as she was too feared to mess with a Hollywood top notch actor. In Feb 2020, it was been disclosed that it was actor Kirk Douglas (father of actor Michael Douglas) who had molested Natalie. On death of Kirk Douglas in Feb 2020, it was been trending on a social networking site that it was Kirk who was the molester.

Though Hollywood gave her fame, success, money, it couldn’t give back her childhood innocence. Natalie won Oscar nomination thrice for her notable performances.

Mysterious death on November 29, 1981: Her fear for water remained a phobia and a nightmare throughout her life. The prophecy came true when Natalie drowned during a boat trip on a personal yacht. How did she drown? Did anyone pushed her in water? Why did Natalie get into water? Was Natalie murdered? Prior to drowning, Natalie had a big quarrel with her husband Robert Wagner. How could Natalie die when there were so many people on boat? Didn’t anyone hear her scream? Her body was discovered one day later. There are many speculations that it was her husband Robert who had drowned Natalie. The case of Natalie’s death was reopened in 2012, but nothing concrete conclusion came out of it. Like Marilyn Monroe’s mysterious death due to sleeping pills, Natalie too died a mysterious death due to drowning. Natalie’s life would have been a happy one had she not been a star. As predicted, she made a big fortune as actor, but lost the best years of childhood.

The inspiration to write this biography blog post came to me while I was penning a memoir on the Hollywood actor James Dean. This memoir on Natalie Wood is a sequel or follow-up story connected to 50’s Hollywood legends like Marilyn Monroe and James Dean.

To know more about Natalie Wood, I would highly recommend watching the biopic: The mystery of Natalie Wood and the documentary – What remains behind.

James Dean (2001) – Biopic of the Hollywood’s rebel

 When it comes to making biopics, no one makes it better than Hollywood. Indian film makers make biopics only to en-cash their pockets. There is neither any heart nor soul in Bollywood biopics. While researching info on a celebrity, I stumbled upon the biography of James Dean, the 50’s heartthrob and an Academy award nominee who created a benchmark in acting with movies like Rebel without a cause, Giant and East of Eden. He starred in only 3 movies. His stardom was tragically cut short by his untimely death due to car accident on September 30^th 1955. Had he survived the car crash, he would have set new milestones. 

Dean is only the star who is idolized, worshipped and looked upon as inspiration even several years after his death. The 2001 biographical TV movie captures the intimate moments happened in life of the rebellious actor James Byron Dean. His troubled childhood, his tensed relationship with his father, his affairs, struggles, stardom and his untimely death are vastly researched and presented in the biopic.  James Franco who portrays Dean on the screen not only physically resembles the character, but also lives the role through his powerful performance. The movie begins with narration of James Dean where he recounts his early childhood and his efforts to win the heart of his father who neglects him. After his mother’s death, James is sent to live with his uncle and aunt in Fairmount.

 As James grows up, he aspires to become an actor. His realistic performance helps him bag a role in Broadway and Television movie. Happy with his progress in acting career, he longs to meet his estranged father, but only to discover a cold approach. It is irony that James’ father Winton never encouraged his son in any stage of life. James Dean kept his personal troubles ahead to focus on his movie career that catapulted him to stardom. His passion for cars and bikes was infectious. He had numerous affairs which include a failed relationship with actress Pier Angeli. Pier Angeli’s mother never approved the relationship of James with her daughter.  It was been said that James Dean was bi-sexual. The 2001 biopic doesn’t shed any light on this dark side of Dean. The biopic does highlight his relationship with Christine White, a struggling actress who supported Dean during his struggling days. Despite the box-office success, prestigious contracts with studios and a lavish lifestyle, Dean is unhappy that he can’t win the heart of his father. It is later revealed that James was not the biological son of Wanton, but a child born from the affair of his mother with other man. The biopic ends on a tragic note when James Dean dies in car crash. Dean’s untimely death shocks the whole Hollywood, creating an emptiness which cannot be filled by any artist. 

I was blown away by this heart-touching biopic on the Hollywood’s biggest star whose rebelliousness won him many accolades and praises. To prepare for the role of James Dean, actor James Franco started smoking cigarettes and brought the mannerisms of the late actor in this biopic. What brought me to tears was the scene where James Dean literally cries to win the heart of his father. Sadly, James’ father realized his son’s love only after his death. 

Only few actors could capture the rebellious nature of James Dean and later actor Heath Ledger was one of them. In a short span, Heath had made Hollywood take up notice of his works with movies like Monster’s ball, Brokeback Mountain, The Patriot and his academy award winning role as the Joker in the Nolan’s movie – The Dark Knight.  Unfortunately, Ledger passed away in 2008 due to overdose of drugs.

James Dean (2001) biopic premiered on TNT channel in August 2001, earning praises for Franco’s portrayal. If you are a fan of James Dean, I highly recommend watching this emotional biopic on the Hollywood’s most loved actor.

Tanhaji: The unsung warrior

‘The fort is captured, but the lion is dead’ 

This is what Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj uttered when he got the news of conquest of Kondana fort. Unfortunately the success of Kondana’s capture came at a very high price. Chattrapati Shivaji had lost his childhood friend and his most trusted military general – Tanaji Malusare. Tanaji attained martyrdom while undertaking the most daring mission of capturing fort Kondana which was strategically essential to strengthen the dream of Swarajya and overthrow the Mughals. Memorials are built in honor of brave warriors like Tanaji but are they really honored? A soldier or a warrior doesn’t die by the wounds of sword or a bullet from a gun; he really dies when we forget him. The dry chapters from history textbook didn’t justify his dare devilry act. Students mugged the chapters only to score marks. I got familiar with Tanaji’s story through Amar Chitra Katha book which told about his courage and sacrifice in detail.

 Tanaji’s courageous feats may have been faded from the memories of younger generation, but his legendary tale is coming in a new form through an upcoming biopic – Tanhaji: The unsung warrior starring the versatile star Ajay Devgan as the brave Maratha warrior ‘Tanaji Malusare’. I was happy that at least a biopic on Tanaji is been made when I saw the trailer but was equally sad to discover that it took so many years to make a movie on the great Maratha warrior. Capturing Kondana fort was not an easy task. With just a handful of 300 soldiers under his command, Tanaji scaled high peak mountain to free Kondana fort from the grip of Mughals. Legends say that not a single warrior had that guts to reach Kondana fort and resist the force led by the corrupt, greedy and evil general Udaybhan. Only Tanaji had the leadership, courage and will power to undertake such dare devilry mission. He not only took the enemy by surprise, but also killed many enemy soldiers of cruel Udaybhan. Tanaji was pitted against a mighty enemy like Udaybhan. Despite all the odds, Tanaji fatally wounded Udaybhan even when his hand was cut off due the fierce sword fight. Though Tanaji breathed his last in line of action due to severe wounds, he had fulfilled the promise by capturing Kondana for Shivaji Raje and Jijamata (Mother of Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj)

Tanaji’s handful of soldiers had to face a mighty elephant named ‘Chandravelly’ which was a biggest challenge during their mission. The Maratha soldiers led by Tanaji not only killed the might elephant, but also slayed several Mughal soldiers. Capture of Kondana fort was the first surgical strike made by the armed forces of Shivaji Maharaj during dark night. The courageous feats of Tanaji will be relived in movie – Tanhaji: The unsung warrior. Before the Kondana capture plan was about to be executed, Tanaji was making preparations for his son’s marriage. He cared more for his nation than his personal priorities. He immediately met Shivaji Raje and chalked out the plan to capture Kondana fort with his team of 300 brave soldiers. Rest was history. Ironically Tanaji couldn’t survive to see his son getting married. 

Very less is written about Udaybhan the antagonist who crossed sword with Tanaji. The role of Udaybhan will be played by actor Saif Ali Khan who will be displaying his grey shades as corrupt Mughal official. Actor Sharad Kelkar will be portraying the role of Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The movie boasts of a good star cast which includes Kajol, Ajinkya Deo, and Neha Sharma. Tanhaji: The Unsung warrior is been directed by Om Raut who gave us a powerful biopic - Lokmanya – Ek Yugpurush. The visuals in the movie trailer are high octane. The action sequences have the feel of a Hollywood action movie like ‘300’.  Power-packed with inspiring dialogues and mind blowing performances, Tanhaji – The Unsung warrior promises to be one of the awaited movies of 2020. If you want to get a glimpse on Tanaji’s life, I highly recommend readers to read Amar Chitra Katha book on Tanaji or watch ‘Farzand’ and ‘Fatehshikast’ which are connected to Tanaji Malusare’s life.

Tanhaji – The Unsung warrior is scheduled to release on 10^th January 2020.

Shyamchi aai (Shyam's mother) - Memories of Sane Guruji's mother

I have just finished reading the book Shyamchi aai written by Sane guruji and I cannot stop the tears flowing from my eyes which I experienced after every chapter of the book which reflected a mother’s unconditional affection for her son. Deeply emotional, equally entertaining, Shyamchi aai is autobiography of Sane guruji’s childhood and reminiscence of his late mother yashoda who imbibed truth, compassion, kindness and values in his mind with her teachings. The opening of the book begins with Sane guruji narrating his mother’s memories to children of ashram which takes them down the memory lane at Palgad, a small village based in Konkan.  Every chapter that I read I have experienced that these stories are a reflection of every child and his love towards his mother. But unfortunately nowadays the younger masses are so immensely influenced by westernized culture that they ignore their parents and give more preference to mean friends. This book is a eye opener for every son or daughter who neglect their parents . One of the episode of this book is very close to my heart where shyam hides in his house to avoid swimming in water as he fears water and is teased by his friends. How can  a mother tolerate the world taunting her son as coward? shyam is bitterly thrashed down by his mother and dragged to the well where he finally learns swimming. In this chapter, it shows that if mother can shower her love to her child, she can also thrash her child if he is mistaken or showing any ignorance towards his duties. After reading this chapter, I came to a conclusion that mother’s love is not blind, it actually leads us to right path.This episode of sane guruji’s life was included in the SSC marathi literature and I still cherish the memory of mugging down the grammar, answers just to score marks.

         

This story isn’t just about a mother and a son, it also conveys about a father’s love, respect towards Indian culture and elders. The book sadly ends with untimely death of sane guruj’s mother and unfortunately shyam is not with her at the last moment of her life as he is pursuing education in a far off village. This moment is very heart rendering and I was deeply touched about this mother who longed for happiness and success of her children. This book was adapted and made into motion picture in marathi language titled same as the book. Even the movie was equally entertaining and is still remembered today for sincere performances.

The scenic description about Palgad village is mentioned very beautifully in the book and there are many other memorable characters in this book like purshottam( shyam’s brother), durvanchi aaji( grandmother), dada( shyam’s father), venutai. This book gives insight on the culture of our Hindu tradition like taking meal in patravali,cooking tasty dishes like shrikand vada and cultural events like Savitri Vrat, Somvati Avas. When I finished completing this book, I discovered a new perception of life, a divine satisfaction, peace which a bhakt (devotee) receives after praying to God.

This book will stay in my heart forever, trust me this book is a life changing experience.

Lanka’s princess – A vengeful vamp or a misunderstood princess

‘The fault lies not in our stars, but in ours’ – Shakespeare

On international woman’s day, we accolade, salute and admire the feminine spirit of woman race. For a girl, various mythological figures like Sita, Durga, Urmila, Sati, Anusuya and Savitri are role models. Would a girl consider Surphanka as her role model? No, never. She is the lesser known and most hated character from Ramayana. She was Ravana’s sister, the dreaded demon king of Lanka. For those who feel that Surphanka was really a hateful character should read the novel – Lanka’s princess to know the tragic story of Surphanka who was once known as Meenakshi, the dusky princess of Lanka. Born with long sharp nails, she was partly demon, party human. Her mother, Kaikesi was a demon while her father Vishrava was a rishi (sage).

 Right from her birth, Meenakshi was always unwanted for her parents because her mother showered affections towards Ravan and Kumbhakaran while her father was more caring towards Vibhishan.  Deprived of parental love, she found the affection in her grandmother Taaraka. Through this novel, author Kavita Kane has highlighted the mediocre mindset of parents to yearn for a male child. Even today, a girl child is considered inferior in rural areas and is sometimes often left abandoned or killed. Surphanka too goes through this same plight. She is considered evil, timid and ferocious by her mother. Meenakshi and Ravana can’t see eye to eye. It is Ravana who kills an innocent pet of Meenakshi. Meenakshi’s hatred for Ravana grows up with time and flares up when Ravana kills Meenakshi’s husband. Even Meenakshi’s son gets killed mysteriously. And thus begins the transformation of Meenakshi into villainous Surphanka. She turns into a ferocious vamp to see Ravana destroyed. She masterminds conspiracies to trigger a war between Ram and Ravana. But in the vengeful vendetta, she realizes that she hasn’t gain anything in this senseless bloodshed.

 In Ramayana, there is very less mention about Surphanka. We only know that Surphanka made lecherous advances towards lord Ram and Lakshman. It was Lakshman who humiliated her by disfiguring her face. What happened before Ravan abducted Sita and what happened later after the death of Ravana is mentioned well to detail in Kavita Kane’s book – Lanka’s princess.

Be it Helen of Troy or Draupadi, women were indirectly the reason behind great wars. In Ramayana, it was Surphanka who triggered the war by manipulating events and provoking Ravana to kidnap Sita. The novel – Lanka’s princess is not just about Surphanka, it is also the story of the ambitious Ravana who becomes a pawn in hands of Surphanka. I really accolade author Kavita Kane for giving a voice to the character Surphanka through the book. In the first few pages the reader will feel sympathy for the poor Meenakshi. In the later pages, as Meenakshi’s happy family gets devastated, she takes no time to show her grey, vamp shades. I won’t divulge too much detail about this novel and let the reader discover the true nature of Surphanka.

The USP of this novel is the prologue where Lord Krishna meets an ugly, deformed hunchback woman named Kubja and tells her about previous birth when she was a demon princess and how her villainous deeds brought her destruction. The story moves to flashback and the story of Surphanka begins. According to my views, Surphanka was not a born evil vamp. It was the circumstance that shaped her destiny and transformed her into an ugly vamp. Had Surphanka’s parents brought her with same love and affection as they showered on Ravana, Surpankha wouldn’t have destroyed Ravana.

Since I have enjoyed this read, I am looking forward to read Anand Neelkantan’s book – Asura to know more about Ravana.

I rate Lanka’s princess - 10/10. After reading this novel, readers will definitely change their views about the demon princess Surphanka who was once a dusky, beautiful princess named Meenakshi.  

If God was your friend on Social network

What If God was on FB, Twitter and Instagram? What would you be your reaction when he would have accepted your friend request? Life would have become so easy.

In olden times, sages meditated for thousand years to seek a boon from their god. But now when you have God as your friend on FB, your every prayer would be answered instantly. Every now  and then I see people lining up at temples to offer their prayers to God with a hope to gain some materialistic things in life. The prayers sent from our heart connect with God sooner or later. Since God has so many devotees to bless, our wishes get delayed sometimes. Human being is an impatient creature whose desires are endless. The moment he realizes that his prayers are not answered, he starts blaming luck and God for it. Even I get angry on God sometimes.

Now that God has realized that he must find out some way to make life easy, he would have created a verified account on FB, Twitter and Instagram. Since God is active on FB, the list of his friends would go to zillion. Every now and then, a new devotee would send a friend request to God with a hope to get his prayers answered. His FB messages would be filled with complaints, requests and melodramatic queries (job, marriage, business, a sweet girlfriend or even becoming immortal). The other advantage of God’s online presence would be end of flourishing business of Godmen and astrologers who keep misleading people with their false predictions and advices.  

God would fulfill the wish of every devotee at the click of mouse. The most joyful part of God’s participation in social networking would be receiving weird Candy Crush requests from devotees all over the world. Especially on his birthday, he would be receiving a millions of birthday wishes minus the offerings. The most herculean task for God would be to fulfill a boon in form of a miracle of his countless devotees active on FB, Twitter and Instagram. His updates on miracle would get millions of likes and followers on FB and Twitter. But in this process, God will realize that somewhere he has lost his significance by making himself available on social networks. He will see that people on earth have stopped struggling, lost the value of emotions and become more impatient than earlier. The next day all the devotees will be shocked to discover that God has deactivated all his social network accounts and is no more available online. Now it is time to rebound for human beings.

I had seen the Jim Carrey movie – Bruce Almighty long back and found it interesting if a mortal person would have got the divine powers to be a god and fulfill all the requests. Being a human is easy, but performing role of God is really herculean and out of our capabilities.

God listens to all our prayers calmly and even fulfills it quickly. But we human beings are so impatient in desires that we don’t notice the miracles happening around us – the gush of life giving air, the cool shower of rains and the beating of heart that keeps us going. God doesn’t need a social network to fulfill our prayers.
The whole world is a social network for him and the people in this world his followers. Just remember God from the bottom of your heart and it won’t take a second to witness a miracle in your life.

With God, everything’s possible. Through this article, I wanted to convey a message that no matter how heart breaking struggles may be, our steps to temple always find a way to him. We will lose the significance of struggle if we don’t stand in queue for tireless hours to get his glimpse.

I hope God will read this article once I publish it on my blog. Maybe, he will definitely join us the social networks someday to answer our prayers instantly. After all, it is the Instagram age J