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Journalism of Courage
To those who laughed and danced to the films of Govinda at his peak in the 1990s, it is hard to imagine the youthful actor is now 60. But then, it is also hard to see him as a politician – which is a role he is reprising in real life after a long gap of 14 years.
On Thursday, Govinda joined the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, and is likely to get a ticket as well as be one of the party’s star campaigners.
The career of the actor, who thrived in risque comedies and gave Bollywood one of its top dancing stars, has been in the dumps for a while now. However, his next career move was not expected to be politics given how he burnt his hands last time, with his term as a Congress MP (2004 to 2009) coming to a close amidst a blaze of criticism over his low attendance in Parliament.
He vowed at the time never to return to politics, saying it was not his cup of tea. In 2013, he reiterated this, calling joining politics the biggest mistake of his life and regretting the slide of his acting career after that.
On Thursday, making his comeback, Govinda described it as the end of “a 14-year vanvaas (exile)”, to a party leading “Ram rajya”, going on to praise the work of the Shinde government.
Like his smash Bollywood debut with the hit Love 86, his political start in 2004, in fact, was also a blockbuster. Contesting on the Congress ticket from Mumbai North, Govinda defeated senior BJP leader and five-time MP Ram Naik by 50,000 votes.
Talk is that the Shinde Sena may field him again from the same seat. Interestingly, when asked about this, while Govinda said the CM will decide, Shinde stressed that the actor had laid no conditions for joining, and that he “does not want to contest”.
Govinda was born to Arun Ahuja, who had been a small-time actor during the 1940s, and Nirmala Ahuja, an actor and singer. He didn’t have the pedigree nor the conventional looks of a star, but he hit gold with his very first film, Love 86, released in 1986 (hence the title), a romance with two sets of leads. It would also be the start of Govinda’s hit pairing with Neelam.
In 1987, Govinda got married in secret to a distant relative, Sunita, managing to keep the relationship hidden for four years.
Then followed other successful films such as Ilzaam (1986), Khudgarz (1987), Jaisi Karni Waisi Bharni (1989) and Swarg (1990), helping him establish his position even as Bollywood still had older biggies such as Amitabh Bachchan and Mithun Chakraborty, and rising stars such as Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Ajay Devgn.
His movies Aankhen (1993), in which he played a double role, Raja Babu (1994), Coolie No. 1 (1995), Hero No. 1 (1997), Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (1998) and Haseena Maan Jayegi (1999) defined Hindi cinema of the 90s.
What stood out was both Govinda’s comic timing – put to best effect in films with Kader Khan as dialogue writer and David Dhawan as director – and his dance skills, to songs some of which still remain popular.
Awards too came his way, including the Filmfare Award for Best Comedian for Haseena Maan Jayegi, and a Filmfare Special Award for Saajan Chale Sasural.
However, even then, Govinda was trailed by talk of being indisciplined, particularly for never reporting to sets on time.
The 2000s saw Govinda deliver a series of duds, barring Bhagam Bhag (2006) and Partner (2007). As he ventured into politics in this decade, the veteran of over 160 Hindi films slowly faded away.
In recent years, Govinda has made appearances as a judge in dance reality shows. One of his latest film projects was Mani Ratnam’s bilingual Raavan.
Soon after that 2004 Lok Sabha win, there were reports of a lack of coordination between Govinda and the local unit of the Congress, with the actor seen as inaccessible and not serious about his new role.
This added to the criticism against him of remaining absent from Parliament for long durations, prioritising his film projects.
Govinda later claimed that in 2009, the Congress party’s central leadership wanted to renominate him from Mumbai North, but the state unit did not pass on the message to him. He says it was then that he decided to not continue in politics and resigned from the Congress. “I was literally gheraoed by my own party and people,” he said.
Whether his political stint this time is different or not, he has passed on the Bollywood legacy to family. Of his two children, daughter Tina and son Yashvardhan, Tina made her debut in the 2015 film Second Hand Husband.
