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“At the age of 14, my father Sardar Malik ran away from his family, trying to save his life,” said his son, Daboo Malik, in a series of podcasts about his family and its continuing legacy. Daboo Malik is the brother of Anu Malik, and the father of Amaal and Armaan Malik. In his newly launched podcast series, he narrated the story of his father, Sardar Malik, who escaped certain death in Punjab and made his way to Mumbai to pursue his passion for music. He worked with legends of their time, but his career spiraled into decline just as his three sons were coming of age. The family’s declining financial condition forced all three of them to start working as well, while their father slipped further into sadness.
Recalling stories he’d heard from his father, Daboo began, “He was artistic, he was creative. He wasn’t a fundamentalist. He didn’t want to be caged. No religion, no rules, no regulations. He was 14 when some people came to his house, threatening to kill him. He ran away, and found train tracks, and decided that he would follow the tracks to the next station. He was born in a religious household, but he was fond of dancing. He would dance in the rains, in the sun, everywhere.”
Daboo continued, “After walking four days, he landed at Kapurthala. He found his way to the palace of the Maharaja, and hopped across barricades and entered inside. He fell at the Maharaja’s feet. That was the kind of courage he showed. He could’ve been killed. Luckily, the curious Maharaja asked why he’d broken into the palace. My father folded his hands, told the Maharaja that he is an artist, and like a mad person, he started dancing. The Maharaja was amused. Coincidentally, one of the era’s biggest choreographers, Mr Uday Shankar (brother of Ravi Shankar), was present at the party. The Maharaja asked him to give my father the opportunity to work with him, and that’s how my father got his start.”
Sardar Malik met future greats during this time, and performed at several shows. “He was still a teenager when a Russian ballet troupe came to India. My father told me that a love story blossomed between him and one of the dancers, but the romance was short-lived, as the troupe left shortly afterwards. Ustad Allauddin Khan spotted musical talent in my father, who then decided to move to Mumbai and try his luck out there,” Daboo continued, adding, “He took training in music, and he gradually became a master of the form.”
Sardar Malik’s career took off. “Many of his movies did very well. He became known as the ‘Saranga man’, after the success of the 1961 film Saranga. Daboo said, “But he wasn’t the kind of person who could do politics. He was a very simple man. Keep in mind, my father hadn’t spoken, or had any communication with his family. He ran away at the age of 14, and he was now 27, and there had been no exchange of letters between them. His family didn’t try to locate him, nor did he reach out to them.”
Although the family had a posh house in a well-to-do locality of Mumbai, Sardar Malik’s fortunes began to turn. “We had a house near Juhu beach. A lot of illustrious personalities lived in that area. Yash Chopra ji was a neighbour. Farah Khan, Sajid Khan, me and Anu bhai, we all grew up together. Coincidentally, each of those families was going through financial challenges. All of us kids were witnessing incredible struggles at home. To help out at home, Daboo took up a job, and earned Rs 500 in the first month. He decided that he would buy his father a good pair of shoes, because he didn’t have any,” Daboo said. Recently, Amaal Mallik also spoke about the family’s hardships. In an episode of Bigg Boss, he said, “Sardar Malik, who owned a pink Ambassador, faced so much poverty that he had to shift to a small room in a chawl.” Amaal also implied that his grandfather’s career was sabotaged by competitors. “Because of this one person, our house saw famine, there was no food left. That person declared that whoever will give work to Sardar Malik, I will not step in that studio. He misused his power so much,” Amaal said.
After experiencing early success in his career, Sardar Malik’s career began to spiral. He had three children and a wife to take care of, and he realised that he would have to do something drastic if he wants to provide for them. “He was prepared to work as a musician even. He asked his brother-in-law Hasrat Jaipuri for some work, because he had to earn a living somehow. The same man who worked as a music director was now ready to work as a musician in the same very same studio,” he said. The musicians wouldn’t hear of it. They respected Sardar Malik too much to see him humiliated. They gave him Rs 300 and told him that he shouldn’t sit among them and play instruments. “He didn’t accept the money, of course, but he wasn’t allowed to be a musician either,” Daboo said.
In a fit of anger and disappointment, Sardar Malik took every artefact related to music that he possessed, and hurled them into the sea. Daboo said, “Times were so bad, he was willing to pick papayas from a tree for food. But an amazing thing happened after that. A father who swore off music entirely decided that he would provide all the education he could to his children, so that they could do a normal job like others, and stay away from the film industry. His eldest son was a child prodigy, Anu Malik. Seeing his father in such a sorry state, he was determined to make a name for himself, and that too in the music line,” Daboo said.
Sardar Malik was lost in a spiral of sadness. “After he quit films, he would take up odd-jobs. Sometimes, we’d see him working as a carpenter, and wonder what was wrong with him.” Daboo said that his father was a witness to Anu’s success, but he wasn’t included in it. “He was proud and pleased, but he wasn’t a part of the success story. He couldn’t share in the success and wealth and abundance of his son. I take responsibility too. My father experienced that isolation despite having three sons. We didn’t treat our father with the love that he deserved.”
In a previous interview, Daboo accused his brother, whom he said he loves dearly, of abandoning their parents after achieving success. “Everyone should acknowledge all that he has achieved in his life, but he never let anyone use his position or the power that came with it. He was trying to safeguard himself, but that caused the distance between us to grow. Ameer aur gareeb ka chakkar hogaya. Mere papa toh wahi rahe chote se ghar ke andar (It became a matter of rich and poor. My father still continued living in that small house. He never saw the inclusive success, and Anu never invited the parents to live with him,” said Daboo in an interview with Vickey Lalwani.
Before that, Daboo’s son, Amaal, had accused Anu of sabotaging his brothers’ careers to further his own. He told Siddharth Kannan, “It was Anu Malik’s wrongdoings that made me want to prove myself. Not just Anu Malik, even Sajid-Wajid sabotaged my dad’s career. They would play games. My dad was betrayed by his own family and friends from the music industry. My dad was too naive to fight back.”
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