Skip to main content

A Gun Salute for Veeru Devgan


Jaideep Sen

Jaideep Sen pays tribute to Bollywood's Star Action Director

As I stood in front of Veeru (Devgan) Ji’s pyre last evening I felt that an era of genuine “greatness” had come to an end.


When I kissed his forehead, through numbing pain that crossed my heart, the only thought that passed my mind was: why can’t our parents be immortal.  


It took me back to the Prayer meeting organized for the late Divya Bharti’s Mother where the priest conducting the ceremony had in his discourse said “Jo Bhagwan dikhte hain woh Mata Pita hote hain, jo Mata Pita nahin dikhte woh Bhagwan” 


These words have made a lasting impact on me. I’ve unfortunately lost both my parents and who would feel the impact of those words more than me.


Veeru Devgan: Hindi Contemporary Cinema's First Star Action Director
Veeru Ji is the first Star Action Director in contemporary Hindi cinema, a name that has graced the credit titles of more than 80 films & my personal favourites among them are Manoj Kumar Ji’s Kranti, Raj Sippy’s Loha and Rajiv Rai’s Tridev. The sheer scale of the action of these three Films is breathtaking and considering that all three were huge multi-starrers, to weave in the strength of the actors into the designing of the sequences and justifying the presence of each of the actors in them is the work of a gifted and genius craftsman which Veeru Ji indeed was.


Here I must make a special mention of Kranti because Veeru Ji considered its monumental filmmaker, Manoj Kumar Ji his Guru and Manoj Ji had a very special place in Veeru Ji’s life and heart. I overheard veteran actor Raza Murad Saab mentioning to someone at Veeru Ji’s last rites that it was Manoj Ji’s Roti Kapda aur Makaan which had a big climax set at a railway bridge with which the fraternity took notice of Veeru Ji and he even played a small cameo in Kranti.


Not many people are aware that Veeru Ji had actually come to Mumbai to be an actor but destiny had other plans and he became one of the biggest action directors of Indian cinema from east to west and north to literally south where in collaboration with the legendary actor, Jeetendra Ji, he has given an avalanche of mega hits in Himmatwala, Justice Chaudhary, Mawali and many more.


Veeru Ji also choreographed the action for Super Star Rajnikant Sir’s debut Hindi film Andhaa Kanoon and devised for the first time a concept of multiple kicks where the hero would jump up in the air and kick the opponent multiple times before landing on the ground. This gravity defying stunt was lapped up by the audience which went ballistic with applause. This was something which Veeru Ji had conceived with his acute sense of editing which gave the Hero a Super Hero status; that is how big a hero Veeru Ji was behind the camera.


Ajay Devgan in Phool aur Kaante
Let’s now come to a glorious success story of Veeru Ji’s life which is the arrival and immediate super success of his son, Vishal Devgan, who took the nation by storm as Ajay Devgan when he burst on screen straddling two motorbikes in Phool aur Kaante. Ace filmmaker Rohit Shetty – for whom too Veeru Ji is like a father – paid a tribute to this sequence in Golmaal Returns. Rohit himself was an assistant director on Ajay’s debut film.


Since Ajay’s birth Veeru Ji had decided that what He couldn’t achieve as an actor, his son would and that is exactly what Ajay achieved.


I’d like to believe that Ajay’s success story has been singlehandedly fuelled by Veeru Ji’s passion and determination who left no stone unturned to make it happen. I doff my hat to Ajay’s devotion for his father and his dream to give his hundred per cent  to realise and fulfil his father’s dream. 

When Ajay lit his father’s pyre, am sure Veeru Ji would have had a smile within him as he bid adieu to this world seeing his son’s super success. Ajay too would have had the satisfaction of being the successful and dutiful son his father had always hoped to have. Having interacted with and experienced the greatness of Veeru Ji, I can say with certainty that they don’t make Men of Steel like Veeru Devgan anymore.

Jaideep Sen is a filmmaker and a connoisseur of the art of storytelling. 
 
Labels:

Comments

  1. Anita Kanwar28 May 2019 at 22:26

    This is film industry's great loss.Words cannot even begin to express our sorrow. May veeruji's soul find peace and comfort.lord bless him.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown29 May 2019 at 12:10

    Jaideep,

    This is such a well written article. Concise and very impactful in describing your emotions and effectively acknowledging the artist and his contributions.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unknown29 May 2019 at 12:17

    Raja
    No amount of words can fathom the loss that I feel it’s like I worked for him for one day for a film called CHANDRAMUKI & that one day changed my whole life
    Sirji you will be missed by the entire film industry

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Facing my fear - one Pitch at a time

Pitching makes me freeze up. In fact, the very thought of it makes me wanna run away.  For a screenwriter that's simply bad news. Because no matter what, if you want to get your stories out of your computer and hit the big screens, then you need to get comfortable with selling your story to potential producers and studios. And the first step in that journey is pitching.  My fear of pitching has prodded me to find different ways of overcoming the hurdle. So, for a few years I tried to work with agents in the hope that they would read my book and be able to handle the job of pitching. But soon I realized that agents were not into reading. So, I was just another name in their long list of clients. How that helps them grow their business is a different story, and one that I will perhaps share at a later point when I get around to solving that mystery! But the turning point (life does imitate screenplays!) came when I was called to pitch my book to a prominent OTT channel. This was...
1 comment
Read more

Basu Chatterji's "Balcony Class" Films

Basu Chatterji's Rajnigandha was like a breath of fresh air in the 1970s film universe of Bombay. At a time when the Angry Young Man was beginning to dominate celluloid screens, Amol Palekar was as un-hero-like as you could get. He was the Common Man who traveled in buses, did not have hero-like mannerisms and did not breathe fire and brimstone at his opponents. Basu Chatterji's Middle of the Road Cinema burst on to the scene and surprised the movie-going audience with its everyday situations and storylines that had an undercurrent of humour. Chatterji catered to an audience that he liked to call the "Balcony Class".  Anirudha Bhattacharjee, author of Basu Chatterji and Middle-of-the-Road Cinema writes an entertaining and heartwarming account of the life and work of Basu Chatterji, one of the most under-rated directors of Indian cinema. Recall of Chatterji's brand of feel-good, slice-of-life movies is perhaps highest for his Rajnigandha, Chotisi Baat, Baaton Baa...
4 comments
Read more

'Pure Evil' has been my biggest and most complex project - Author Balaji Vittal

Love them or hate them, you simply can't ignore them. That cliche is perhaps most apt when it comes to the bad men of Bollywood. In fact, some of the most memorable lines of dialogue have been mouthed not by the heroes but by the villains of Hindi cinema. So it is only fitting that these shining stars of the dark world (after all, antagonists are the protagonists of their own stories!) deserve to be spotlighted. Balaji Vittal , the author of Pure Evil: the Bad Men of Bollywood undertakes this onerous task of highlighting the world of these evil characters and how they have come to occupy a special place in the hearts and minds of movie goers.  I spoke to Mr. Balaji Vittal, a National Award winning and MAMI Award winning author of Bollywood books, a columnist for News18, Outlook India, The New Indian Express , a Bollywood commentator and a public speaker, about his journey of venturing into the world of Pure Evil .   Here are some excerpts:   Your book "Pure Evil: the Bad...
Post a Comment
Read more