Far more than a structure has been lost in the tragic fire that consumed R K Studios recently
Amitabh Bachchan at R K Studios. Pic/Pradeep CHandra
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Far more than a structure has been lost in the tragic fire that consumed R K Studios recently. Our friend and former colleague, photographer Pradeep Chandra was one of the few, who had actually spent time going through the treasure trove contained in that venerable institution.
"When I heard the news that RK Studios had caught fire, I prayed that it was not the building that contained the property and costumes rooms," said the man who'd spent many hours scouring the site while scouting for a location to shoot Ranbir Kapoor there a few years ago.
Chandra with Ranbir Kapoor outside Rishi Kapoor's office at R K Studios
"I was given a bunch of keys to the inner chambers by an old R K hand," he says. "On the first floor was a huge corridor where a number of the original paintings of iconic R K heroines hung. The property room had wall-to-wall cupboards where all of Raj Kapoor's personal costumes were neatly stored. In its centre was a piano which Kapoor had hired, but later purchased for the princely sum of Rs 64000, and on which he would compose the notes that would become the chartbusting hits of his films," he says.
"The famous dafli which was used in Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behati Hai was also here, and in the extreme corner on the right, was this huge life-size Joker, which was used in Mera Naam Joker, while a bit further hung portraits of Raj Kapoor surrounded by memorabilia statuettes of Abraham Lincoln and Sai Baba…" he says.
As for his shoot with the young Kapoor scion, Chandra says, "He came dot on time and was very friendly. I asked him to pose with the R K dafli and then with the iconic life-size Joker doll," he says.
Yes, the same dafli and life-size doll now lost forever to the flames.
Memories die. Only celluloid lives. Hopefully, forever.
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