Saransh team to reunite after 25 years but Nilu Phule remains missing

Remember Nilu Phule, the stage and film veteran Marathi actor who played the sleazy terrorizing politician in Mahesh Bhatt’s timeless classic on countering hooliganism Saaransh?

When the film’s leading man Anupam Kher on completing  25  years  in  films decided to  hold a belated  premiere  of  the film  on May 25  at the  very theatre (Metro) where  it  was first released, he decided  to regroup the entire cast and crew of Saaransh.

From director Mahesh Bhatt  to producer Raj Kumar Barjatya to the film’s romantic lead Mohan Joshi and Soni Razdan(director Bhatt’s  wife)  to music composer Ajit Varman(the musical genius now lives in anonymity in Andheri)…they all jumped at the idea of reliving what’s unarguably the single-most important  event in their life.

Only Nilu Phule, an  important theatre and film actor active from 1956, was untraceable.

There began Anupam’s hunt for  the missing actor. “There was no way I’d  relive Saaransh  which  today is more relevant  as a  work of cinema than ever before, without one of  its important  actors. No one seemed to know where Nilu  Phule was.I finally got an address for  him in Pune.I drove down personally to the address. But Nilu didn’t live there any more.My  hunt began all over again.”

Phule was finally tracked him down to another location in Pune.

Says Anupam emotionally,  “It  was a glorious revisitation. We both could barely hold back our tears.Unfortunately Nilu’s health  does not permit him to make that journey from Pune to Mumbai. He was ready to come. But  his doctor   advised him against it. We’ll miss Nilu at  the premiere.”

Anupam has  invited   his close friends  from  within and outside the  film industry  for  the premiere  of Saaransh  on  Sunday. “Naresh Goel and  Yash Chopra  will be there. But Subhash Ghai can’t attend because he’s in Cannes. I even invited singer Kavita Krishnamurthy who sang  an evocative song  in Saaransh . But she’s in Poland.”

The actor has also  commissioned  a half-hour documentary  on  Saaransh.

“To me Saaransh is   the sum-total of  my entire career. It  voices all the concerns that I hold precious. If  I’m even  20 percent of  the  humanbeing that my  character B.B. Pradhan was, I’ve achieved  enough in life.”

- SAMPURN (Subhash K Jha)