I distinctly remember that fight sequence from the movie Kaalia where
everybody is standing in line while food is being distributed and
Michael (actor Bob Christo) decides to spoil the decorum and breaks the
queue. While one of his crippled inmates gathers courage and decides to
retaliate against this brawny white guy Michael shouts back, "Hum jahaan
khade hote hain line waheen se shuroo hotee hai"(The line always start
behind me). Immediately after that all the other prisoners in the queue
go and stand behind Michael.
The most I knew about Bob Christo
then was he was an actor from Australia renowned within the Indian Film
Industry as the "bad man" of Indian Cinema who played either the role of
collaborator, hostile prisoner or British Officer.
The
septuagenarian Robert John Christo whom the world popularly knew as Bob
Christo died in Bangalore (20 March 2011) winning the affection of
millions of Indian Movie Fans for over two decades which included over
230 films and 15 television serials.
The newly released book Flashback: My Life and Times in Bollywood and Beyond by Penguin Books India
gives the readers wealth of information by sharing the best and bad
times experienced in life by Bob Christo. The actor's biography was to
be released by Akshay Kumar in June 2011 post which he was planning to
return back to work in Hindi Cinema in an Akshay Kumar film.
The
book gives an interesting insight about the many roles (Engineer,
Adventurer, Lover, Mercenary and Bollywood villain) played by Bob
Christo in real life apart from holding the credit for being one of the
renowned villain of the Indian Film Industry in reel life.
The
memorable autobiography traces the journey of this Civil Engineer from
Sydney, Australia. Bob firmly believed in the discipline of reading and
was also a prolific writer who held the recognition for achieving top
marks and prizes for writing outstanding essays right from his school
days.
Bob's wife was killed in 1974 in a car crash leaving him the
responsibility to bring up his three children. In 1977 he decided to
pursue his career in Civil Engineering and was deputed for his
assignment at Muscat. But destiny had its own plans. No sooner he
resumed his work in Muscat he was communicated that his friend American
scriptwriter George Marzbetuni had a massive heart attack and was
hospitalized in ICU in Nanavati Hospital, Mumbai.
Bob decided to
come back to Mumbai for a couple of days to visit his friend in the
hospital. George was not able to stay for long in India to shoot for the
English version of the movie Abdullah as his family was on the way to India and had decided to take him back to L.A.
George
wanted Bob to write reports and ensure that the crew sticks to the same
script as written by him for Abdullah. Alternatively if Sanjay Khan
wanted Bob to do some role in his movie George suggested that it was his
(Bob's) call to go ahead with the same.
One big success wiped out
all his previous failures and with passage of time Bob was kept busy
and occupied with several opportunities coming up on his roads to
achievements. Abdullah, Qurbani, Kaalia, Namak Halal, Mard, Mr. India
and Agneepath were some of the opportunities that Bob got and also had
the opportunity to share the screen with Marlon Brando, Amitabh Bachchan
and Raj Kapoor to name a few. Bob also took special classes in Hindi by
taking the help of Qadir Roomi who visited him every morning at 8 a.m.,
six days a week, to teach him the National Language.
In 2001, Bob
decided to retire and left Mumbai for Bangalore to work in Sanjay
Khan's hotel, The Golden Palms Hotel and Spa starting off as gymnasium
manager and yoga master. Once the hotel was fully operational by 2002
Bob had become the Fitness Director. Spine Injury made Bob to quit his
job from the hotel and in 2006 he started his work on his autobiography.
The
book is divided into three parts giving the reader a detailed account
of how experience enriched his life. His journey is covered in the book
in the following manner (Part 1 - Hong Kong-Philippines, Part 2 - Africa
to India, via the Middle East and Part 3 - Odyssey in India).
In
Foreword by Tom Alter Bob questions, "Tom, why don't they give me
romantic roles?". To which Tom replies, "The truth is, my friend, your
own life was the most romantic role of all". Bob agrees that as he looks
back on his life, he feels blessed.
Behind every success lies an
untold pain in one's heart and the pain is usually revealed when the
individual rises to the top. The key message the author (Bob Christo)
wants to convey to all his readers is the great mixture of bliss and
sorrow that he experienced in his life. It was life that he fully lived.
And why not, as long as there is life there are bound to be struggles.
No comments:
Post a Comment
terima kasih telah berkunjung semoga bermanfaat