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On Shatrughan Sinha’s B’day, Penning an Ode to a Defiant Shotgun

Shotgun is like a Dennis the Menace who isn’t afraid of putting his hand into the cookie jar, writes Khalid Mohamed.

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(Shatrughan Sinha is everything you’ve chosen to call him over the past several decades – an actor par excellence, a fierce orator, a protective father. What he is not is boring.

From the sonorous ‘Khamosh’ to the nuanced and intelligent commentaries on politics today, Shatrughan Sinha has been a riveting character to follow. Today, on Shotgun’s birthday, therefore, The Quint is republishing an article that was posted more than a month ago. The article, penned by esteemed critic Khalid Mohamed, was published in the aftermath of the Bihar election results. However, the personal anecdotes about Shatrughan Sinha make for a delightful read at any time.

Happy Birthday Shotgun!)

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He can return wedding laddoos if he’s offended. Circa 2007, on being omitted from the invitation list of the Abhishek Bachchan-Aishwarya Rai band baaja baarat, he refused to look at the platter of cannon ball-sized motichoors sent over by the Bachchans a couple of evenings later.

Lauta do!” I can imagine him raging, “Hume baasi mithai pasand nahin hai.” (“Return them. We’re not used to eating stale mithai!”).

And in the political arena, he can yell, “Khamosh!”. He can do a tweet for twaat. Expectedly, then, as soon as the BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya compared him to a dog, came his Doberman salvo, “Haathi chale Bihar…bhaunken hazaar.” (Transliteration: Be thick-skinned... while a thousand dogs bark.)

Clearly, in the aftermath of the BJP rout, Shatrughan Sinha – anointed ‘Shotgun’ by Stardust in his halcyon days as movie star – is still smarting. Now could he be licking his wounds? Or is he contemplating defection to another alliance which would acknowledge his mass appeal? Will the BJP give him the heave-ho or will the fences be mended?

Questions, questions – or stark reality – if I know him, questions aren’t his scene.

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The Frank and Funny Mr Sinha

If he does respond to some of them, the answers are rigidly unilateral. Actually, the 69-year-old politician is something of an endearing child-man, a Dennis the Menace who isn’t afraid of putting his hand into the cookie jar. If I have asked for a tweet-retort for that, no issues. The man I suspect, still has a sense of humour, which has seen him through crises, minor and major.

At the evening durbars at his home, Ramayana, in Mumbai’s Juhu-Vile Parle enclave I’ve seen upstate politicians and Bollywood-wallas, fawn over him, dropping as many compliments as the number of favours required.

On one such evening, enwrapped in a shawl, sitting under an Arctic air conditioner, he called me aside to chortle, “They make me feel as wanted as Pamela Anderson.”

Shotgun is like a Dennis the Menace who isn’t afraid of putting his hand into the cookie jar, writes Khalid Mohamed.
Shatrughan Sinha thinks Rekha is not fit for politics. (Photo: Dev Sharma)

Frank and funny, he can offer a shami kabab and simultaneously, a take on Rekha’s calibre to become a politician, saying,

“She is not cut out for politics. She’s into yoga, meditation and is a hardworking actress. Rekha is for politicians to talk about, discuss, admire and desire.”

Or he can conjecture, “Raveena Tandon is the only actress who’s qualified to become a politician. She carries herself well, speaks Hindi without a London accent. She could bring reforms in the conditions of under-privileged women.”

Huh, are you sure? A guffaw follows.

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As a conversationalist, Shatrughan Sinha can keep you in splits. As an actor, his mannerisms like the cigarette tossed in the air to land right between his lips, can inspire legends like Rajinikanth. And way back in the 1980s, he hobnobbed with the likes of Pakistan’s Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, and on occasion has claimed, “I have much more acceptability in Pakistan and other Islamic countries than many pseudo secularists here.”

By habit, he’s a chronic latecomer but always forgiven. Proof – once he kept a British Airways flight from Mumbai to London, grounded by half an hour or more. Upon his flamboyant entry, the stewards and passengers clapped out of sheer relief. If the applause was sarcastic, it was lost on him. “Great! See, time and people wait for me,” he beamed.

Shotgun is like a Dennis the Menace who isn’t afraid of putting his hand into the cookie jar, writes Khalid Mohamed.
Shatrughan Sinha with Bihar CM Nitish Kumar. (Photo: PTI)

In part, the reason for the rewind to Shatrughan Sinha today, is that he didn’t quite get his place in the Bollywood sun. Reason – he seconded his raison d’etre to wade in the quicksand of politics instead. Elected as member of Parliament twice, nominated to the Rajya Sabha, and appointed Union Cabinet Minister of Health, Family Welfare and Shipping (was that his niche?), with age his acting career can’t come anywhere close to that of his contemporary Amitabh Bachchan.

As an actor Bachchan is an icon, who quit politics. Shatrughan Sinha’s the opposite – a full-time politician who acts, once in a bluish moon.

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Not Always the First Seat

In an interview with me, his candid remark was, “Amitabh joined politics for a friend (Rajiv Gandhi) and not out of any belief or commitment. When we meet today, Amitabh Bachchan and I are cordial with each other. Yet, there is no doubt that ours is an issue-based friendship. That hasn’t been put to test of late because there has been no occasion to return any box of wedding mithai.” Ouch!

As a graduate of the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, Shatrughan Sinha could have, for sure, played a far more enlightened role in resolving the students’ 139-day-long strike against the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as the chairman of the FTII’s governing council.

Uncharacteristically, the politician defended the credentials-challenged Chauhan, by asserting that the appointee could prove to be an able administrator. Using a trademark punchline, he added, “There is a difference between reel and real life.”

Here alas, was a case of toeing his party’s line.

Shotgun is like a Dennis the Menace who isn’t afraid of putting his hand into the cookie jar, writes Khalid Mohamed.
Shatrughan Sinha with his daughter Sonakshi at IIFA awards. (Photo: Reuters)

Otherwise, Shatrughan Sinha’s image is that of an incensed dissenter against the glitches and gaffes made by the BJP’s powers-that-be. He’s unstoppable, mad as hell and won’t take any attempt to sideline him.

Come to think of it, special care is always taken to seat him in the front row whenever he makes an appearance at a film event. In politics, obviously, the front seat doesn’t come as automatically.

The election hurly burly done, his movie quotes are being re-appreciated right now by his abiding fans. Take the line, “Billi ke naakhoon badh jaane se, billi sher nahin ban jaati.” (When a cat’s nails grow, the cat doesn’t become a tiger.)

Forget elephants and dogs. How’s that for a perfect Shotgun-ishtyle, “Meowwww”?

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(The writer is a film critic, filmmaker, theatre director and a weekend painter)

(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)

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Topics:  BJP   Shatrughan Sinha 

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