Gene Hackman, Hollywood's Balraj Sahni, turns 80 today

In last several weeks, I finished reading three memorable books:

1. "Stalingrad" by Antony Beevor
2. "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy
3. "Palkhi" (पालखी) by D B Mokashi (दि. बा. मोकाशी)

If I have to choose the most interesting character from each of them, they would be Friedrich Paulus, the Father and Mokashi respectively.

And if I were to make feature films based on these books, to play all those- seemingly disparate- roles, I would choose Gene Hackman or Balraj Sahni.

These two gentleman make me watch their film- on second viewing because I am simply awestruck first time- the way I would read good poetry: I want to dissect every word, I want to pause, I want to go back, I want to focus on what they do with their whole body....

In their hands, cinema as an art scales the heights reached by written word and music.

Cinema is primarily a director's medium but there are always exceptions.

Hackman has dabbled in writing. According to Wikipedia "Sahni was a gifted writer, his early writings were in English, though later in life he switched to Punjabi, and became a writer of repute in Punjabi literature."

I did not need Wiki info because Sahni's worth was proven when he wrote dialogues, screenplay and story of my favourite Hindi film Baazi(1951).

Hackman is a child of a broken home while Sahni had to suffer early death of his beloved daughter after her marriage.

Mr. Sahni never turned even 60.

p.s.

Soumitra Chatterjee, when asked "You have been a model to more than two generations of aspiring actors. Who has been your model?":

"One person who really inspired me was Balraj Sahani. I think he is the best cinema actor that India has ever seen. He could carry on a big role, a hero's role with the nuances of a character actor."

(Frontline, May 4 2012)