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Journalism of Courage
IT8217;S TITLED ISHQ NA KARNA, but for lead actor, di-rector and producer Waqar Ahmed, his maiden celluloid ven-ture is a far cry from love8217;s labour lost. The story of this small-town rickshaw-puller from Shahjehan-pur in Uttar Pradesh is actually the stuff that dreams are made of.
For many like Waqar Ahmed, born and brought up in small nondescript towns of Uttar Pradesh, the Friday fever that ac-companies every new release in their cramped single-screen the-atres is the sole escape from the harsh realities of life. The kitschy masala movies provide larger-than- life heroes and dreams that hold promises of a future far away from the daily drudgery.
Waqar says the financial crunch forced him to take to pullingacycle rickshawtosupple-mentfamilyincome. 8220;For six years I drove a cycle-rickshaw in the towns of UP8212;Shahjehanpur, Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Kanpur, Meerut, Varanasi and Agra. Even that didnoterasethedreamofBol-lywood frommymindand finally, after three-and-a-half years, I col-lected enough money to come to MumbaiwhereI graduated todri-vingmyfirst auto-rickshaw.8221;
It8217;s with a wry smile that he re-counts those early days in Mum-bai. 8220;I used to start every day with a prayer on my lips. A lot of people told me I resemble Suniel Shetty. I would do the rounds of film stu-dios and eventually get thrown out by the guards. In between, I would manage to get a glimpse of what was happening on the sets. Each day would cost Rs 150, fromwhich Rs 100 would go to my mother to help her run the house, while I would keep Rs 50 for my own trips to the studios. From spot boys to guards8212;I greased palms, pleaded, tried every trick in the book till fi-nally a Patna-based director took pity on me and cast me in his soon-to-be made film Apna Kaun.8221;
That break was jinxed. The producer and director fell out with each other and vanished, leaving the crew behind to pay the hotel bill. 8220;With no money in our pockets, we spent 20 days in that hotel room, starving. Some-how, we managed to reach Delhi. From there I returned to Mumbai and started all over again.8221; This time, the grind lasted six years, spent plying an auto-rick- shaw and starting a small busi-ness.
8220;Sixyearslater, I wasreadyto givewingstomydreams,8221;hesays. Ishq8230; was made at a cost of Rs 65 lakh. It has taken all of Waqar8217;s savings, loans from various sources and contributions from the Mumbai Autorickshaw Union of which Waqar is now the Navi Mumbai vice-president. Waqar stars in the lead role with new-comers Rinkal Tyagi and Urvashi Choudhury. The only recognis-able names in the cast are TV star Ehsaan Khan and Milind Gunaji, who plays the baddie. However, with singers like Kumar Sanu, Udit Narayan, Shreya Ghoshal, Sukhwinder Singh and Shaan crooning for him, Ahmed is sure to grab at least some attention.
Handling the distribution of the filmonhisown,Waqarhascovered 5,000 kms already, touring those small towns where he once plied hiscycle-rickshaw8212;appealingto people to see the film. 8220;Main koi Salman ya Aamir Khan to hoon nahin. Inhi shehron se nikla hua ek aamaadmi hoon.Par mujhe yakeen hai yahan ke log mujhe badhava dengey. I am no Salman or Aamir Khan. I am just a small-town boy who has full faith that the people of these towns will support me.
So what plans for the future?
8220;I already have a role with an-other Shahjehanpur artist, Rajpal Yadav, in the forthcoming Under-trial. Whatever theoutcomeof my maidenventure, I will continueto make films. The industry is hard onnewcomers. I will use local tal-ent inmyventuressothat another small-town lad does not have to put in 15 years of struggle before makinghisdebut.Whoknows, my nextfilm maybeaboutarickshaw driver8212;it8217;s a story no one can tell betterthanme.8221;
