Rajni, the gentleman
When I was studying screenwriting I read a very interesting chapter on characters and their characterization and I must admit that at that point of time it seemed all too confusing but let me not get ahead of myself here and slow down a bit. The chapter told me that a character is not what a character says it is, but what a character does. Huh? What does that mean, “Not says but does?” Could not get it so I left it at that.
Dissolve to years later and I see the hoardings of the film Robot and Rajni sir. I am a huge fan of his. Two people, Amitabh Bachchan and Rajnikanth don’t just fill me with awe, but with genuine love and admiration. I digress. Back to the point. So, seeing the hoardings of Robot I was reminded of the time that I worked with Rajni Sir as an assistant to Mukul Anand in the films Hum and the lesser known and immensely forgettable Khoon Ka Karz. Rajni Sir starred in both those films.
We were shooting a sequence for Hum where there was an action scene in a motor garage. At the end of the sequence there was a lot of mud flying around and Rajni Sir was filled with it. (I don’t remember if that sequence saw the light of day.) But after the shoot, he wanted to go back to his make up room some five hundred meters away. I sat in my old 1965 fiat and decided to drive to his car and bring it for him. He stopped me and asked me if he could ride in my car. I was embarrassed. Rajni Sir in my dilapidated Fiat? I hesitated. He smiled and said please. I was further embarrassed. Sure he could sit in my car.
I got off and opened the door for him, but instead of getting in he waited. I thought perhaps he changed his mind after looking at my car. Then a spot boy came running with a newspaper. He asked him to spread the paper on the seat so that he does not dirty the seat. As I drove the great Rajni Sir in my car I remember getting very moved. He did not think my car was all that bad. He put newspapers on the seat! He cared. A character is not what he says, but what he does.Talking about goodness is easy. Being good is tough. Deeds make you good, not words. Thinking of Rajni Sir I understand what that chapter meant. It’s only the person who is the most like us that can rise above us.
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