Memories of my early days in Bollywood

In my college days, I was inspired by the great documentary maker Late shri S. Sukhdev. Hence my interest towards cinematography initiated from then. My Uncle Late Ace Cameraman Shri Dwarka Diwecha ( Sholay fame) who was close to me told me once - " I will appoint u as my assistant under one condition that you should complete your diploma in Art, then you can become my fifth assistant". This shows how he gave importance to education. Those days he was shooting a Film called " Manoranjan".( Starring Sanjeev kumar, Zeenat aman).

As I finished my diploma I was excited to meet Dwarka uncle...I visited Siddhivinayak temple to seek ganesha's blessing, prayed for my bright future and my guru diwecha uncle's well being. But god had some other plans for me. I experienced a filmi situation..As I entered my home I saw Dwarka uncle's photo on T.V. Then later on someone told me that Dwarka uncle had expired the same morning..I was devastated.All the memories of him advising me to complete my education before cinematography crossed my mind.

That was the turning point.

After a month or so I met Diwecha aunty.She supported me and told-" I will fulfill your ambition". She introduced me to S.M Anwar and agreed to take me as his assistant cinematographer in Ramesh sippy's film 'Shaan'.

This is how my journey began in Bollywood......

Art Nostalgia

During my school days I used to draw potrait of all famous actor's like Devanand, Rajendra kumar, Rajesh khanna, Madhubala & many more.....with pencil, charcoal and oil pastels......My art became popular with many people in my colony....Many people appreciated my work. One day my neighbours paying guest saw my drawing work.So he called me up & shared his Art experiences with me, and gave me advises...I still remember his words - " To Copy other's Art and becoming an Artist are two different things...If you want to become an Artist start practicing atleast five sketches a day and in few years you will get command over your hand, then you don't need to imitate other's Artwork.".

With his advise I took admission in J.J school of Applied Arts in 70's. In my five years Diploma course, I practiced sketching throughout the course...This helped me a lot in my Advertising and Painting profession & successfully helped me in exhibiting my paintings all these years..