*Memsaab falls off her chair laughing and is unable to continue*
LOL with Baburao Patel
57 Comments to “LOL with Baburao Patel”
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Hehehe sweet potato? of all things? That’s just mean. :D
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It is, but calling Yash Chopra one of her emotions is sheer genius :)
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I dont even know what that MEANS but I love it! Hee.
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My thoughts exactly! How I wish I had Baburao for a friend in High School. :-D
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Baburao Patel – ah he described Suraiya’s nostrils as repulsive, claimed Naseem Banu had ball bearing breasts, called Mala Sinha a potato face and labelled Kalpana Kartik a pigeon chested heroine! :)
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He spared nobody, really, not even himself :)
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I wish I had him for a friend NOW. We need more Baburao Patels in the world :)
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Totally. The world is too full of boring, politically correct people. Full of conformists.
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RIP Baburao, RIP.
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Yash Chopra did cast her in four films of his!
And Gulzar none!
Though Gulzar directed Sharmila Tagore, allegedly Rakhee’s ‘arch rival’ in nearly three movies.-
Well, Gulzar refused to let her work after she married him! BOOO!
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did he? But she had been working throughout the 70s and early 80s. If he did his ban must not have been very effective. ;-)
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Well, she left his ass after a pretty short married life, taking their daughter with her. It seems to be the main reason they divorced, she missed acting and he refused to compromise…
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I love when Baburao goes on about how some actor (I think it was Dilip Kumar) is troubled with sleepwalking, the way he always ends up at some or another actresses home late at night! Patel He was a genius. the way he could write goss about the industry people.
And he certainly gave some personalities a very hard time…he seemed to really dislike Suraiya, for instance, and for a time V. Shantaram ended up with the bulk of his poison pen.
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He had a keen eye and a willingness to speak the truth—a lethal combination for some, but pure enjoyment for others (ME)…he definitely did also have his prejudices which I am sure were hurtful sometimes for people, although at least he did seem to be able to take what he dished out.
V Shantaram was a golden boy for a while, but something happened and his later films are not excepted from BP’s bad books. Although I dislike Shantaram’s later films myself, and think that the criticism was not unwarranted :)
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She loved her dinner too well, and drinks too, from all accounts. I love the early Rakhi of Sharmilee days.
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I love her too, and think she was gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous, even in the mid to late 70s when people criticized her for putting on weight.
I have no fingers to point in THAT direction!!! I love my dinner and drinks too well too!
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And Jeevan Mrityu – she’s so gorgeous in that, too!
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And BLACKMAIL…to DIE for.
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hello madam, can you please give a little more info on Baburao? Who he was? Is?
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Well, I’ve written quite a bit about him here if you look, and you could also Google him and find out more :)
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That is a beautiful picture of Rakhee. She is one of the most talented actors in hindi films. It is a pity that she put on so much weight so early in age. Memsaab is right that she acted in many good movies after the collapse of her marriage. I think other than Gulzar’s unhappiness in her continuing her acting career, infidelity (on his side) was also a factor in the collapse of her marriage (if press reports were to be believed). Once at an awards ceremony, Rajesh Khanna was called to do the honour of giving Gulzar an award. He called out sarcastically to Gulzar in hindi saying “Ajhi Suntey Ho Ji” ie the way a demure traditional indian wife addresses her husband. I some how got the impression that it was dig at Gulzar’s treatment of Rakhee after their marriage!
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Well, Rajesh Khanna was not different in this matter, he didn’t allow Dimple to work after marriage. You can read about his views on this subject in his Stardust interview, which Memsaab put on her blog few weeks ago.
By the way I heard about this snippet the other way round, that it was Gulzar handing the Filmfare trophy to Rakhee and he was calling out to her “Ajhi sunti ho”. I think it was in 1989 when Rakhee won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for Ram Lakhan. And this remark has got nothing to do with being demure. Hindi speaking couples used to (and still do) call out each other in this way.Rakhee was a great actress! I liked her nearly in all her movies, which I have seen. And more than her looks I like her voice.
I find it very hypocritical of men (not only in the film industry) asking their wives to stop working after marriage.-
Harvey, you’re right…it was Gulzar who said ‘Aji Sunte Ho” while announcing the Filmfare award for Rakhi.
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Someone mentioned here once that Gulzar called Rakhee the “longest short story” of his life :)
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Yes there was Rajesh Khanna, then the very insecure Amitabh Bachhan, then Kishore Kumar. These men and many many others did not want their wives to work but more importantly, their wives careers to eclipse theirs. Abhimaan was made to present the absurdness of a man taking a backseat to his wife’s career. I left India a long long time ago just because all this. My kind of life would have been impossible there.
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don’t know specifically about the other men, but at least Amitabh didn’t restrict Jaya from pursuing a career. She has said in many interviews that it was HER decision to stop working. in fact, she was working after marriage.. and also after motherhood, and it was a comment from baby Shweta ( the typical “stay at home Mommy!” requests that many children make) made her reconsider her decision to keep working. SHE chose to be a homemaker — Amitabh didn’t impose any restrictions on her, afaik.
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I remember hearing that about Jaya too :)
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I love Raakhee. And I love Baburao Patel.
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I find it unpardonable for a film actress that she should begin to look matronly in her twenties (she was born in 1947) itself. By the time she was in her thirties, she had begun to look in her 40s and 50s. I fully agree with Baburao Patel’s sarcastic comments about her.
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Including that Yash Chopra is one of her emotions?
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She looks like a sweet rosogolla, really. A sweet potato looks nothing like her. :) But she’s still gorgeous.
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How true!
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That is a lovely way to put it Banno. I really think she’s one of the most beautiful women ever in Hindi cinema.
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very true! “sweet rosogolla” is a very apt description!!
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I wish I was a tiny bit as lovely as her even with the weight on.
As for their relationship…any speculation is just that. As a friend of mine wisely said: there is no greater mystery than what really goes on between a couple in private!
No baburao, but here’s a little something…
http://khamba.blogspot.com/2010/04/why-sreesanth-and-vivek-oberoi-are-same.html-
Me too (wish I were as lovely as she is)!
They did air quite a bit of their relationship laundry in the press (I have stacks of 70s Stardusts, not that I take them as gospel but still)…
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One reason I love Hindi films…sometimes the heroines are a little plumpish, but still considered desirable!
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me too, me too :)
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I love this caption….I couldn’t agree more with Manto more after reading this, he has a beautiful account of his interaction with Baburao….:)
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I love that book so so so so much :) Wish I could have met both Manto and Baburao. What a dinner that would have been!!!
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There is a wonderful bit in Filmindia in 1951 wherein Baburao fights with Shantaram about a “bribe”/gift of Rs 500. Absolutely scurriolous and good fun
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I don’t have any issues from 1951 :( but I can imagine it! :)
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Memsaab, if you come across any gossip item on Dev Anand, esp with Zeenat Aman, in stardust, do let me know. They were an item those days
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Hi Memsaab,
Lovely entertaining post, like always :) I was wondering which magazine is this? And what is the date of this issue?
thanks!
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Baburao Patel is just classic… i just love that he had no scruples about sharing his honest and frank opinion about even the most popular stars of the 40s/50s. His merciless digs at ‘Fat’/ ‘Chubby’ heroines is just hilarious. He once also called Gauhar from Ranjit Studio a sweet potato :) but my new favourite is “Yash Chopra is one of her emotions.” LOL.
Thanks for sharing.
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Yup, the Yash Chopra comment is def. one of my all-time favorite Baburao quotes :D
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The reason why most men prevent their womenfolk from working after marriage is mainly because
a.they want them to take care of children
b.they can’t bear to see them getting too close to other men
c.- it becomes embarrassing to watch their wives enacting close bedroom scenes with other heroes.
I know this sounds a bit chauvinistic – if men can do it why not women ? But India is like this only. Marriage gives some sort of sanctity to women. In any case, most actresses just put the blame on their men instead of openly accepting the fact that marriage has ended their career because they have lost the market value.
There are a quite a few exceptions of heroines who worked after marriage as a heroine for quite sometime – Nutan, Sharmila Tagore, Hema Malini, Moushmi Chatterjee. A story that appeared sometime ago was how Sharmila’s husband had never watched a single movie of hers and that’s why their marriage is still rocking.
There were rumours about Gulzar and Tabu, but I don’t that is true at all. Gulzar and Tabu shared a father-daughter relationship. There was speculation that Shashi Kapoor was instrumental in the divorce of Rakhee and Gulzar.
Pritish Nandy offered to marry her, but Rakhee refused.
But it is heartwarming to note that both of them (Gulzar and Rakhee) never let their divorce affect their daughter. Isn’t that remarkable..
Now what role Shashi Kapoor played in this… In case anyone is interested, happy to share-
Women are not the PROPERTY of men to do with as they please. We are human beings and we deserve to live happy and productive lives, however we choose to do it.
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Wow! So many things I didn’t know – about Raakhee, Jaya and Sharmila.
My Maharashtrian neighbour had one description for all the women after she watched Trishul – gubgubit – Marathi word meaning rounded/plump/chubby but she agreed they all looked gorgeous despite that.
Baburao Patel said it like he saw it. Thanks to your blog, I have been introduced to his barbs and have enjoyed the sampling.
I’m sure you’ve heard of film columnist Devyani Chaubal – I believe she wrote for the long defunct Star’n’Style.
Then there was the `Blitz’ newspaper reporter, apparently roughed up by Garam Dharam once. -
Nice tribute this, from the memsaab of the blogs to the memsaab of the silver screen.As most would know, Raakhee was the ‘memsaab’ in Muqaddar Ka Sikandar which was released in the same year as Trishul. Baburao Patel is hilarious as ever. To be fair, Rakhee got slotted into serious roles in most of her films post Kabhie Kabhie which I think was her comeback film after marriage.
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Faldo, that is marvellous…that you remembered “Mukaddar ka sikandar”. Not many know that Rakhee also acted in arthouse movie called “27 Down” – I enjoyed this movie that was a bit esoteric, not everyone may have the patience. But I liked it. The fact is that Rakhee could have become an actress of calibre of Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil, but commercial cinema overtook that. Yet, “Paroma”, “Rudali” are some of the other art house movies she has done. It was widely believed that Rakhee drank too much and that is why she bloated. BTW, Gulzar was Rakhee’s second husband. She had been married to Ajoy Biswas briefly for a while before she did Jeevan Mrityu. Once a journalist asked her about sanctity of marriage and the actress retorted , ” You are asking me, someone who has divorced twice”.
Memsab, do watch “Just married” that was directed by Rakhee’s daughter. It is a nice movie -
When Yash Chopra’s Daag was being made, the clash of the Bengali tigresses had the filmi presses abuzz.
When we recently watched Raakhee-Sharmila in Rituparno Ghosh’s `Shubhomuhurat,’ I eagerly awaited the scenes where they shared screen time and it was very satisfying – Raakhee perfect as the doting, Miss Marple-like aunt of Nandita Das and Sharmila as the gracefully aging filmstar. -
Memsaab
Thank you for bringing out Old Gold in Open… for Public Good…
I just wish Dr.Baburao was alive to see how much love he gets in times of Internet…
In times of Print Media, he was out of reach to International Audience… And Now Sky is the Limit for Dr.Patel…. I pray his soul is in eternal peace… and if at all God commands him to take birth again… he should be as dynamic dynamite as he was…. through out… from FilmIndia to Motherindia…
Thank You
Kishor -
Devyani Chabal has written in Stardust, about her encounters with film biggies… she mentioned FirozKhan… and his way of handling women…. The stardust issue dates back to 1985 to 1988… not exact month/year… But she has graphically described what interests FK… She was at his home, and as his guests were to come for partying, he asked her to leave early….
This much is in my memory… Memsaab is requested to dig up the ‘truth’ printed in Stardust…-
So far Membsaab could not find the reply….
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Yash Chopra it is alleged had a soft corner for most of his heroines – may be Patel was mentioning about it when he said Yash Chopra was her emotion. Raj Kapoor did everything openly & Yash did it on the sly.
MemsaabStory 