Debonair Navin

Devinder Bir Kaur pays a tribute to the talented actor Navin Nischol, who died last week

THe suave Navin Nischol’s dreamy eyes sent female fans in raptures. The man, who gave us "pachasi jhatke", was poised to be a superstar. Alas! Destiny willed otherwise. From a leading actor, he became a character actor.

The good-looking actor, who crooned "Raat kali ek khwab mein aayee...", began his career with a Wills ad in Calcutta when he was still in college. On a visit to Bombay with his family, he went to Filmstan studio where Meena Kumari was shooting. She told Navin that he should join films. Thereafter, he decided to give films a shot.

Navin competed in the United Producers Talent Contest in Mumbai. Though he did not win (the judges had already set their minds on giving Rajesh Khanna the prize), yet he was noticed.

Producer-director Mohan Saigal promised him a lead role in a film, but advised him to join the film and television Institute in Pune.

Navin topped the two-year course, walking away with the gold medal. Legendary Raj Kapoor, who was one of the examiners, had argued for hours with other examiners, who were favouring Asha Chandra. Navin considered Raj Kapoor’s faith in him the best moment in his film career.

Ironically, Navin never worked with Raj Kapoor, but years later, he did an RK banner film Aa Ab Laut Chalen directed by Raj’s son Rishi Kapoor.

Navin started his career with Saawan Bhaadon. Incidentally, it was Rekha’s first film as well. Saawan Bhaadon was a runaway hit and Navin an overnight star. The movie completed silver jubilee all over India. But the next two-three years were rough for him.

Suddenly Lady Luck smiled at Navin and he had a string of hits — Victoria No. 203, Hanste Zakhm, Dharma, Dhund and Woh Main Nahin.

Navin, in particular, enjoyed doing Victoria No 203. The only troubled moments he faced were when he had to do a romantic scene with Saira Banu. Embracing Dilip Kumar’s wife was unthinkable. Director Brij screamed, "Go on, hug her!" But Navin refused to step closer. Finally, Saira Banu made things easier for him by stepping forward towards him.

In B. R. Chopra’s Dhund, Navin had to do a longish courtroom scene. He requested Chopra to let him speak the way a simple man would in real life. The scene turned out to be very natural.

In Hanste Zakhm, Navin worked with Chetan Anand, who was family for Navin as he was married to Chetan’s niece at the time. Once when Navin reported for shooting after an all-night party, Chetan took one hard look at him and announced "pack-up". He explained later that he was planning to use high-powered lens for extreme close-ups and the camera would capture the puffiness around Navin’s eyes. After that, throughout the shooting, Navin would religiously go to bed by 10 pm sharp.

In Woh Main Nahin, Navin played seven different characters with different mannerisms, get-ups and even voices. Years later, superstar Shah Rukh Khan admitted that he had picked up that crazy laugh of Darr from Navin’s Woh Main Nahin.

Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Buddha Mil Gaya was immensely liked as it was clean comedy with lilting songs.

Navin’s co-star in Parwana was Amitabh Bachchan, who was playing the villain. Years later, they did Desh Premi together. This time, Amitabh Bachchan was the hero and Navin a character actor.

By now, Navin’s career had started going downhill. He started playing second leads. He also switched over to television and worked in serials like Yugantar, Farhaan and Dekh Bhai Dekh.

For Aastha, Basu Bhattacharya had asked the film’s leading lady Rekha who she would like to be seduced by in the movie. She had recommended Navin Nischol’s name. On being asked why, she said she felt safe with him. Navin laughed saying it was hardly a compliment.

Navin was recently seen in films like Bollywood Calling and Khosla Ka Ghosla. The former with Om Puri was a crossover film wherein he played the role of an aging actor trying to look young. And in Khosla Ka Ghosla, Navin definitely had a hand in its success. Thus, in his four-decade-long career, Navin Nischol had seen all aspects of filmdom and left his mark in his own gentle way.

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