I AM NOT PARTICULARLY known for directing children's films or even films with child protagonists. If anything, my cinematic world has largely been populated by adults, grappling with serious themes like politics, casteism and corruption realities starkly different from the realm of childhood, so often defined by joy, laughter and innocence.
Yet few know that in my own life children have always held a special place. Years ago, while making Shree Vats for an NGO, I was deeply moved by the smiles of children from orphanages. That experience sparked the desire in me to adopt a girl, and my daughter, Disha, is the fulfilment of that dream.
There was also Hip Hip Hurray that I made in 1984, where I directed a group of high school students, and the more recent Pareeksha in 2019, which again revolved around school children. But unlike many child-centric films, these stories were rooted in reality and not fantasy. The children in them lived lives on screen that mirrored their own - unlike most child actors, especially those I observed in the 1970s and the 1980s. Often, these child actors have had to grapple with gruelling work hours and bear family burdens on tender shoulders. Of course, there were the fortunate few who navigated that phase unscathed. Yet I do know that even the most successful among them must have wondered at times, if the trade-off - a childhood lost to sets - was truly worth it.
This book explores precisely that question. It dims the blinding arc lights, strips away the make-up and steps behind the camera to reveal the untold lives of child actors.
From Daisy Irani and Baby Naaz's heartbreaking stories of exploitation to how the film industry turned out to be Junior Mehmood's true calling in life; from the crushing weight of early fame on the child actors of Slumdog Millionaire to Jugal Hansraj, Ravi Valecha and Alankar Joshi's struggles to rebuild their lives once adolescence arrived and work opportunities vanished - this book offers startling insights into lives you had probably given little thought to.
Behind the Big Screen is meticulously researched and written with unflinching integrity. It reminds us that the magic of cinema is built on human experiences fragile, fleeting and profoundly real. We also get a nuanced portrayal of the film industry as directors, counsellors and legal experts add their point of view to the narrative, adding layers of depth and perspective.
The stories within these pages nudge you to think about the delicate balance between opportunity and cost the glittering opportunity of finding fame and fortune so early in life and the cost of risking scars that may linger far beyond the final cut. More crucially, they offer subtle guidance on what may be the correct way for a child actor to navigate a world basically built for adults. That alone makes this an important piece of work and an invaluable contribution to literature on Indian cinema. Because we are what our childhood was.
ER SOFT SMILE LIT up her eyes as she talked of her magical days as a child actor. But the rose-tinted glasses H blurred just a little when Tabassum concluded the story of her journey, smile intact, saying, 'There is no such thing as a child actor. Because when you enter the industry as a child actor, the word child just drops off from your life.
A few years ago, a national newspaper carried the story of Sharad Goyekar, who won the national award for best child actor for the Marathi film Tingya in 2009. The feat had catapulted him from the humdrum life of Junnar in rural Maharashtra, where he grazed cattle in fields, into the glamorous, glittering world of films.
What followed, though, was a terrible tale of wrong decisions and wrong actions that very quickly took his life spiralling downwards into a black hole. In just four years, the boy found himself spent, unhappy and at a dead end.
More distressing was a cover story by a daily tabloid on one of the most popular child actors of the 1960s: Daisy Irani. She revealed how she was raped at the age of six by the man who was supposed to be her guardian, whilst she was shooting for a film, along with details of how her mother had played a huge part in destroying her childhood. Even as the story stunned and saddened the readers, many knew that this was just the tip of the iceberg.
There have been many more tales of horror, before and since. Of Baby Naaz, who by the tender age of ten had attempted to take her life two times; of Sarika and a bitter court battle with her mother over finances; of Khushbu, who became a money bank for her unscrupulous father, among others.
Of course, there are also those who revelled in the spotlight and would go back to it in a heartbeat, like Junior Mehmood and Sachin Pilgaonkar. And there are those who weathered the ups and downs of facing the camera at such a young age and whose sweet memories outnumber the bitter ones, like Jugal Hansraj, Alankar Joshi, Shahinda Baig and Raju Shreshtha.
So while there were those who were pushed in front of the camera by overambitious parents and spent their lives carrying the heavy burden of a childhood lost, there were others who entered the industry of their own free will and took to it like fish to water. Some have happy tales of being pampered on the sets; others recount terrible tales of exploitation. Some feel blessed, others betrayed.
And this precisely is the crux of the story - what exactly is the life of a child actor like and how does trading a carefree childhood for a working one affect the personalities of these children?
Does the entry into the film world offer an enviable opportunity early in life, on which the children can build a happier, more secure and successful future? Or does it make for unsteady and unreal foundations that can never offer stability? What happens when childhood fame dissolves almost overnight into adolescence anonymity? How does a child handle this difficult time?
Success and fame have always been a double-edged sword. But perhaps the blade cuts deeper when it comes to the very young, who are barely able to grasp the meaning and impact of stardom when they enter this highly competitive and unpredictable industry, unprepared for the demands that the celluloid world will invariably make on their childhood.
It was to get answers to these questions and more that we decided to enter the world that few have attempted to examine closely the world of child actors in Bollywood, especially those in the yea from the 1960s to the early 1990s when they formed perhaps the most vulnerable component of a film production unit.
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