The Pachchan effect

My introduction to the late Egyptian Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz was on a flight from Mumbai to Cairo, en route to Tel Aviv, back in 1990. The journey began in Chennai, followed by a train journey to Mumbai, an Egypt Air flight from Cairo, then on to a tiny prop plane of Air Sinai belonging to Egypt Air and staffed by the most hostile airline crew I have ever come across. It was just 20 minutes from Cairo to Tel Aviv8217;s Ben Gurion Airport.

With no direct flights between India and Israel at that point, it was an arduous journey. The only reading material on Egypt Air was a rather grotty edition of Egypt Times. Mahfouz was well known by then, having become the first Arab writer to win the Nobel for literature in 8216;88. My eyes fell on a column bearing his photograph with the intriguing headline: 8216;Why Pachchan is good for the youth8217;. In it the author compared 8216;Pachchan8217;, apparently the hero of Egypt8217;s younger generation, and Raj Kapoor, who was evidently adored by the older folk. I must have read the column three times before it sunk in. 8216;Pachchan8217; was the local way of spelling Amitabh Bachchan!

My visit to a souk in Jerusalem full of Arab and Sephardic Jews originally from Arab countries shops was another eye-opener. Street stalls and shop shelves were piled high with Hindi movie videos. Once my nationality was known, I was mobbed. One shopkeeper even grabbed me and sobbed, 8220;Raj Kapoor, Nargis dead; very sad, very sad.8221;

The return journey entailed a 12-hour stopover at Cairo. On the taxi ride from the airport to the hotel, the cabbie wanted to know where I was from. My driver then said he always refused to take money from an Indian. 8220;I keep fighting with my son. He says 8216;Pachchan8217; is the best, I tell him no one can beat Raj Kapoor,8221; he explained. Well, thanks to them, I saved a few precious dollars!