Phablet Craze
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SUNDAY, MAY 04, 2014 (PAGE-4) BOLLYWOOD BUZZ PERSONALITY "Villains have more longevity than heroes" Razdan's odyssey with Sacred Geometry With his trademark lascivious sneer and menacing voice, Prem Lalit Gupta Chopra established himself as the stylish villain of the '60s and Appearing in Jammu after a long hiatus, Subhash Razdan '70s. The veteran actor is now out with his biography Prem naam has certainly sprung a sur- prise with his works that hai mera… Prem Chopra penned by his daughter Rakita Nanda recently were on show at Rinchin bZangpo Art where he chronicles his journey of 50 years in Bollywood. Gallery, University of Jammu. Unlike contem- Sreya Basu in conversation with the 'bad guy' in Mumbai porary artists in the The itch in me never went away. When I decided country in perpetual to try my luck in Bombay for a second time, I told struggle with and against myself that I have to get a job there first so that even the norms of a hegemon- if nothing happens at least I will have some money in ic Western pattern of hand. We were a large family of five brothers and modernity, Subhash Raz- one sister, so I could not possibly be a burden on my dan, moved by internal inspi- parents. rations, has quietly taken the When you played the baddie, there was a tinge meditative route that locates his contemporary art practice in the local (Kashmiri) as well as of humour to your 'evil' side. Was that your idea or pan-Indian imagery of Tantrik Art. the filmmaker's? Razdan's latest Tantric-inspired black and white drawings In our times, our characters were not scripted in iso- are abstract visual approximations of philosophical princi- lation like today's time. The directors, writers and ples ingrained in the ritual practice of everyday life of Kash- actors - all used to sit down together, take each oth- mir Pandit families. With the result in his works the ancient er's suggestion and work on the character. So the char- and the modern have come together in a fluid mix where an acterization used to be a mutually created product. almost condition of classical music informs the sacred geo- You are considered as one of the best-looking metric visual rendering of the abstract principles. villains in the history of Bollywood. How would you For Razdan this artistic journey on the path already trans- react to that? versed by stalwarts modern artists since 1960s like Gulam ties for him in visualizing myriad shades and hues of Naad I love it when people give me such compliments. Rasool Santosh, P T Reddy, who saw in Tantra the possibili- Brahman. Praises always encourage an actor to do better. ty of another Beginning, has been a sheer act of destiny. As To understand philosophical basis of Subhash Razdan's Is it true that you became a villain by chance few years back, he had never ever imagined that a divine inter- imagery, it is important that the 'Sahirdya'- the initiated spec- while trying to fit in a hero's shoe? vention would bring him back from the world of commercial tator, to have some understanding of the Naad at different Everybody, who comes to this industry with starry world of advertisement visualization and designing to have a Levels of Consciousness, as espoused in ancient scriptures. dreams in his eyes, wants to be a hero. There is no brush with mystical continuum as envisaged in tantric philos- The various stages of the manifestation or the develop- denying the fact about it. And I was no different. But ophy and its cognate in terms of sacred geometry. ment of sound, right from the navel onwards, are known in now when I look back, I find it is better to be a charac- Looking at the unique turn of events which lead to the Sanskrit as Para, Pashyanti, Madhyama and Vaikhari. Para ter actor like a villain than a hero. artistic churning of Subhash Razdan, one cannot but take is a soundless seed, as it were, the very possibility of the Why? resort to commonplace fact ingrained in everyday Hindu production of sound. Pashyanti is a little more pronounced. You see, filmmaking is a commercial business. And world view that 'sanskaras', to greater or lesser degree do And the more intensified form is Madhyama; and the audi- if the film works, the hero feels like the king. But if the get transmitted from one generations to another. ble manifestation of it is Vaikhari. Often, these stages are film fails, it is the hero who is affected the most. But Linking his foray in world of images that seek to give 'rupa' identified, in the cosmic context, with the four metaphysical we character actors are assets of the film. We do our to abstract principles of Naad, Subhash Razdan says that it realities advanced in the Vedanta Philosophy, namely Brah- work instead of worrying about the outcome of the film, was the spiritual countenance and unfailing daily ritual recita- ma, Ishvara, Hiranyagarbha and Virat. yet we are indispensable; the plot can't move forward tion of Brahamrupa Stotra followed by blowing of Shankha Chaman Lal, Ph.D, writing in the Razdan's exhibition cat- without us. Hence, career-wise villains have more by his nonagenarian father Shri Amar Nath Razdan, which alogue, opines that it is Pashyanti form of speech, that the longevity than heroes. triggered a deep seated yet unarticulated stirrings in him. artist, Subash Chandar Razdan visualizes in his works In today's films there are no separate categories But when he got associated with Bharatiya Yoga Sansthan through dots and dashes, circles, triangles, squares on the for heroes and villains. The heroes are very well in New Delhi, to attend Yoga classes and later Pranayama canvas/paper with a tactile quality of the sacred geometri- You are one of the few actors who have a career carrying shades of grey in their films. What do you exercises, the stirring fructified and the unique world of sub- cal figures. Brahmanda-the whole macrocosm of our spanned over 50 years. What can that be attributed think about this changing concept? tle experiences opened before him. Encouraged by guru at thoughts and actions is a projection of these sound vibra- to? Yes, you are right. Today's heroes love doing neg- the Sansthan, who asked him to paint what he saw in his tions, which are Vedic in spirit and Agamic in nature, that It's all about discipline, determination and devotion. ative characters. Leading men like Aamir (Khan), dream-wakeful state of mind, he took the wonderful path of prevail at different frequencies. Para is related to I wanted to be there (in Bollywood) no matter what hap- exploring the subtle realm of 'Naad Brahman', says Razdan. Vaani/speech is verily, the Supreme Speech. This is the pens. I faced pain and hardship. But that could not Salman (Khan) and Shah Rukh (Khan) have all done Born in 1952, Subhash Razdan grew up in Habba Kadal, innermost voice, hence the Bija of the Akshara, which exists deter me. grey roles. In a way it's good. The only difference is, Pushkar, Srinagar his basic education took place in Hindu within all of us. It is the inner vibration, the source of all sound. You came to Mumbai (then Bombay) from Shim- in today's time, there is a reasoning stated behind the Middle School, Zaindar Mohalla, and Hindu High School, For an artist, the physical tongue 'Pashyanti' represents the la, could not make it in Bollywood, went back and hero turning bad. In our times, on reasons were given Sathu Sheetal Nath, Srinagar. He actually grew up as an intellectual consciousness, which is drawn through the brush then again came back. What encouraged you to for our villainous traits. artist at a tender age under the guidance of late Girdhari Lal keep trying? strokes, based on the Madhyama --- the mental conscious- Trans World Features (TWF) in Middle School and High School under late Radha Krishan ness, and Vaikhari is the end result through art works--- the Raina, a graduate of Shri Amar Singh Technical Institute, Sri- physical consciousness of Subhash Chander Razdan. nagar. Razdan also incorporates at times his own writings in SCIENCE & TECHYNOLOGY After schooling he pursued non-medical studies at Amar Kashmiri with drawing/paintings which allow his works to Singh College, Srinagar. In 1972, he joined afternoon class- transform to the level of personalized yantras. Some of the es in Institute of Music & Fine Arts (IMFA), to hone his artis- expressions in original Kashmir and in English transaltion tic skills. Later encouraged by teachers at the Institute, he by the artists are: Akh OMkaar roopas roop aneekh gai, Phablet Craze joined Faculty of Fine Arts, M S University, Vadodara, for roop yi kiyah Bindu-roopa bovtham, osus chath moi kath training in Applied Art and in 1979 completed post-gradua- ba niyandre, gath yi kiyah baavtham....(OM is one, but it Neeraj Dubey ing eyesight. Android 4.0 and subsequent releases were tion in Visualization. got manifested in many forms. What about the Bindu - the suited to large as well as small screen sizes. While many Afterwards serving as Instructor Applied Arts, in IMFA, Jam- eternal dot, which is to be shown to me. I was lost in my Phablet is a combined term Smartphone and Tablet, handset manufacturers were jumping on the trend of mu for nine years, he joined Kashmir University as lecturer in deep sleep, but you woke me up in the conscious state of is a class of smart phones that has a screen size between larger screen sizes to suit all niches, Apple (under the Media Studies in 1988.