Cinema star to Patna poster boy to Cabinet minister — Shatrughan Sinha is a man of many roles, discovered a select audience at An Author’s Afternoon, presented by Shree Cement and Taj Bengal, held in association with t2, Prabha Khaitan Foundation and literary agency Siyahi. He chatted with Bharathi S. Pradhan, the author of Anything But Khamosh: The Shatrughan Sinha Biography. Excerpts...

THE BEGINNING

Bharathi: We took seven years to put this biography together — 37 interviews and 200 hours of taped conversation with him! I wanted to do this book because I was very sure of my subject. Thirty years ago, when publishing magnet Nari Hira asked me who would do an honest biography in India, we looked at celebrities from various fields — sports, politics, business. I came up with Shatrughan Sinha. I said, you have people who can be honest but their story won’t be interesting or inspiring, you have people whose story will be inspiring but they will not be honest. This is the only gentleman I know who is a celebrity, who will be honest and who has a very inspirational story to tell. This I said 30 years ago! I am very happy that even 30 years later my comments stand. 

Shatrughan: In the film line, besides having a very colourful and exciting life, you will find very few people whose political image, social image, family image and personal image or image in terms of income tax is good, with no FIR and who talk straight. This is because I have not compromised with my principles or honesty. 

My wife (Poonam) was a little apprehensive when I told her about the book. She was like... ‘Baap re baap, kya kya likhenge, kis kis heroine ki baat ayegi!’ I said, nothing doing, we will go in the right direction. 

FAVOURITE CHAPTER

Shatrughan: The chapter closest to me is the one on tolerance and intolerance. I would request everyone to go through it. Also the chapter where our darling daughter Sonakshi spoke about me.

There are many chapters that we could have either elaborated upon or included some more chapters. But the book had become so big that we had to edit. Next time, those hidden facts will come out, but in an artistic manner, so that families and children can enjoy reading it. It should be inspiring and motivating for the younger generation. 

Bharathi: My favourite part of the book comes towards the end, when he had bypass surgery. Just before that, when he was gasping for breath at Kokilaben Hospital in Andheri... from that moment what he remembers is the crowd looking at him and shouting ‘Shatrughan Sinha! Shatrughan Sinha!’ And he was waving out to them, saying... ‘Hello, main theek hoon.’ 

I found that hilarious. Here is this man at death’s door... can’t breathe... and even then the celebrity in him comes to the forefront. I have met so many people who have aspired for this kind of attention and stardom, but the moment they become famous, they wear blinkers and say, ‘No autograph, no photograph’. His own daughter treats fame very differently, because she got it far more easily. He is one celebrity I know who worked for it, aspired for it right from when he was a nobody in Patna. Now that he has had it for 40 years, he still celebrates it as much as he did as a newcomer. He gives it that kind of respect. 
 
 

PAINT ALLERGY

Shatrughan: I shifted into my new house, Ramayan, and slept in a room that had just been painted. The AC was on the whole night. By the time I got up in the morning, I was gasping for breath.... At the hospital, they said one in a million gets this kind of an allergy — paint allergy! 

My wife ran to the doctor and said, ‘He needs immediate help’. I corrected her, and said, ‘I need immediate relief.’ She looked at me and said, ‘Yeh language mere husband ka toh ho hi nahin sakta, iska matlab he is suffering’.

Fortunately we did not have to stop at any signal, my security people were kind enough to hold the oxygen cylinder. Shayad achhe din aane wale thhe mere (laughs). I remember them taking me to the top-most floor. After sitting there, I passed out. When I opened my eyes a few days later, I was on the ventilator.

SAME GOAL POST

Bharathi: A lot of people have asked me if in these seven years I ever had to cajole him or convince him to say everything. But there has been no such incident in this entire journey because we had the same goal post. The journalist in me did not have to come out to get the copy. He was there to give the copy.... Just after his operation, he called me to the hospital. He said, ‘A lot of things have happened here... this was a kind of a rebirth, so will you come and talk to me right now, before I forget it all?’ 

I went there, but thought to myself that this gentleman just had a bypass, how much can he speak?! I told my driver to not go for lunch as I would come back soon. I went up and he spoke for two-and-a-half hours! He told me his entire experience of being in the hospital, what happened, what went through his mind... 

MAMMA’S BOY

Shatrughan: I came up from no man’s land. ‘No man’s land’ because till date, no one has become a star in the true sense from Bihar and Jharkhand. (I was) The first person from Bihar to graduate from FTII, and not only enter films but struggle with commitment, determination and passion, without any support. 

I did not know anybody. I was a pampered child of our family who had never seen hostel life. My father was an academician and a disciplined man. My train was at 2am. I had to go to the station in a rickshaw, because my dad said the driver needs rest at night. My mother started crying. I got down from the rickshaw with tears in my eyes, saying, how will I stay so far away without my mum? But that was the time my mum said, ‘You go.’ I tell people about this moment in my life. I was crying when I reached Pune station. I did not know where to go or where to eat. I got a culture shock too... first time I saw girls cycling! 

Anywhere I went, they would say, ‘Shooting dekhne aaye ho? Chalo kal Rooptara Studio mein aa jana teen baje.’ I said, ‘Hum shooting dekhne nahin, karne aaya hoon.’

SUCCESS MANTRAS 

Shatrughan: I faced two problems when I started getting into films. First, what do I do with this name of mine — Shatrughna Prasad Sinha?! This name never works. In Prem Pujari and Sajan, my name was S.P. Sinha. But I was like... this sounds like some retired bureaucrat! Then Mani (Kaul) called, he was my senior (at FTII). He said, ‘Kaam chalega toh naam chalega.’ This is one thing he taught me and now when I give lectures, be it at IIM, IIT or the police academy, I make sure I tell them this. He was so right! Naam se kaam nahin milega, kaam milega toh naam badhega. He said, ‘If people can remember Rock Hudson and Richard Burton, they will remember Shatrughan Sinha too.’ He said ‘Shatrughan’, and I knew what my name should be. So, I changed ‘Shatrughna’ to ‘Shatrughan’. 

But then my Punjabi friends call me ‘Shatruganj’, like ‘Paharganj’ or ‘Daryaganj’. Bengali friends say, ‘Ki re Shatrugno, kemon achhish?’ Sindhi people call me ‘Shatrughun’. When I go to Bihar, they say ‘Shatrudhan’, South Indian friends call me ‘Shatrugham’ (laughs). Now my friends from Maharashtra have shortened my name to ‘Shatru’ and the English media made it ‘Shotgun’ (laughs). 

The second problem was, how to settle in Mumbai?! Then I learnt the second mantra — in this competitive world, prove yourself better than the best and in case you can’t, then be different from the rest. I am not saying that I am the best but definitely I am different from the rest. I have inspired a lot of people, in fact ‘khamosh’ has become a signature tune everywhere. People try to copy me but till today I have never copied anyone. 

Text: Malancha Dasgupta
Who in your life would you say ‘khamosh’ to in Shotgun style and why? Tell t2@abp.in