Although I began as a freelance writer, the best time I had was when I got to talk to a lot of celebrities, personalities, and actors during my stint with Society magazine.
It was a different world then, I loved to talk to them, but they are a busy lot – interviews, press meets, shoots, etc, etc …they barely sometimes had fifteen minutes to chat or reply to your questions. And yet were gracious enough to request me to call later or leave the questions and they would get back.
Umpteen calls later, yes, someone picked the phone- would I get my answers now. I made it a point never to bank on gossip, or question them on it, it was their life they have a right to live it as they choose too and this attitude has helped me far more in my way of life to (not good attitude if I have to write for page three, but I do not, so its ok). I usually had a topic to work on and only questioned them on it and sometimes requested for pictures. Many sent a copy of the magazine, which was something that I always did, no matter if I got only a line from them.
I once got a call from Jas Arora, the hot model with a fantastic voice, I was surprised, he had called to say thank you for sending him a copy of the magazine and also for printing his interview and was proud that as a Punjabi I was doing a good job (that magazine had four to five articles written by me). It had come out of the blue and has remained as a fond memory that I will always cherish.
When I met Rahul Dev it was a different experience in itself. He was making a name for himself for his role in Asoka. I met him at 7pm in the evening, it had been a hectic schedule and he was tired, running a temperature, yet had no time to rest for after my interview he had to go for a shoot. In between small talk he requested his wife what he wanted for dinner, talked to his 4-year-old son to calm him down and put to sleep. His home was filled with cameras, people, we sat in a corner talked, shot pictures and he dropped me off at Andheri station, son of a police commissioner who could have lived it off and yet chose to work hard and make a name for himself.
The next time we met at Jaipur airport after the World Gold Council fashion show. We sat and chatted, many a gossip had been written about him and that became a topic of our discussion and I told him my way of thinking – I chose not to write gossip, or believe them or question the celebs on them – who was I to do that – I believe if I cannot walk in someone's shoe for a while, I will never know where it pinches. He was surprised and patted me on the back, and said it feels good to hear a different way of thinking.
I did also got a than you for my write up on the Blind School run by the Birlas in New Bombay from Rajshree Birla and my boss and on the first interview ever with Neerja Birla.
I stuck to my guns, and I won a lot of praise and friendliness from 'celebs'. And new upcoming personalities after the interview who got more attention and praise would come up to me and say thank you, like Zia-ud-din Khatib, kickboxing champion and trainer to stars now. Terence Lewis, dancer, choreographer, fitness expert, who walked up to me and kissed me on both the cheeks thanking me for printing his interview with such nice pictures - it felt very nice, but what had I done, I had just written about them, printed pictures – it was them, they were talented and I had chosen to write about them.
For the article on PETA and Jason Baker I received a small plant from them that was in 200I, I still have it – I took shoots from that potted grass and planted it in almost over a hundred small glasses and it is still growing, telling me that my way of thinking is right and never to change it.
I have had funny experiences to like the interview with model John Abraham whom I talked to on the phone in the train while going home, I had to ask him what sort of music he liked and what he loved to hear in his pastime. But I had to call three times before he answered my questions, once I think it was him who picked up the phone but said it was his brother, but half-an-hour later he did give me the replies I wanted. And Simi Garewal – who made me repeat her words to make sure I had them correctly and also, told me to send her a transcript before it was printed. Which I could not do as the story had to go the same evening, but I did send her a copy of the magazine and she did call to say she was disappointed and had expected me to send the transcript before printing.
One big interview I did do, but it was never printed for I had literally nothing new to write about this personality although his wife had requested I make it a cover story. I said I would try, but editor's word is final. It never happened and the interview never was printed. I would rather not name the star and his wife. It was an embarrassing experience for me.
There were other moments which disappointed me, when I could not meet the people I admired and so badly wanted to meet like Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Rosha. Hrithik I have admired him since he came into limelight, read how hard he has worked and yes he deserves the accolades he is receiving now, people were wrong – he was never a one movie wonder. Yes, I can watch his movies back to back – smile, laugh, cry and love to read the hard work he puts into every movie he works in.
Those who were really, really famous were given to the senior correspondent and the editor, we 'correspondents' never got a chance to talk to them. I would have loved to meet them.
Well anyway, it was a great experience many who began as models have become Bollywood stars now – John Abraham, Dino Morea, Bipasha Basu, Samir Soni, Sameera Reddy, Sushma Reddy, Arjun Rampal, Meher Jessia, Rahul Dev, the list is unending. They would not even remember a correspondent from Society Magazine. |
