With the lovely month of November ushering in the winter yet once again in the Doon valley, the mind goes back to the November of the year 1992 when Doon was yet a little sleepy town in the Himalayan foothills, verdant and slow-paced.
I had recently come back to Doon from Delhi to look for reporting opportunities in the valley. Politically, the town did not have much activity. However, I soon discovered that there were happenings and issues which were quite special and could bring the valley on the news map. In my journey of finding out these unique issues and aspects, I came to know that a large film unit was coming to the picturesque Indian Military Academy (IMA) to shoot a film based on the life of a Gentleman Cadet(GC).It was great news for me. I began to ensure that I would be allowed to cover the shoot. I managed to do so.
The next couple of months, I wrote extensively about the film and how it was going to highlight the life of the gentlemen cadets and officers at the academy, how it would familiarise people with life at the IMA and show them its beautiful campus. The film was Salaami and its hero, who played a GC, was Ayub Khan who was just a film old that year. There were two heroines-one played a local girl while the other played the commandant’s daughter. The film’s music was outstanding and the songs are hummed by people till today. “Chehra kya dekhte ho”, “ Tumhe Chhede hawa chanchal” and “ Dil jab se toot gaya” were among these lilting Nadeem-Shrawan melodies. Efforts were made to fully utilise the scenic beauty of the IMA as well as other parts of the valley, especially in the song picturisation. The beautiful golf course of the academy, the billiards room, the imposing Chetwode building, the Nizam Pavilion and the Officers’ Training Institute can all be seen in the film besides the commandant’s sprawling bungalow. For all those who have known the academy well, the film brings back sweet memories. Of course, the life of a GC that was shown in the film was not shown completely close to reality. It was romanticised according to the requirements of the love triangle the film portrayed. However, it did try sincerely to show the routine of a GC.
It was a very happening winter ! Doonites always love to know about film shoots. And in those days, the early 1990s, there were fewer films shot here than now. There was great excitement and crowds gathered in Vijay Colony outside the lovely house that had been chosen to be the house where the heroine and her mother lived. The valley was caught in the shooting fever and everyone seemed to be talking about the film. At Meedo Grand hotel, where the crew stayed for a while, people would wait for hours to have a glimpse of the actors. Salaami had made great waves in Doon even before it was released. And when it was released, Doonites went to watch it again and again to look at the valley locales. Officers and GCs from IMA could be seen in large numbers at the cinema hall. It also went down well with all army personnel as it brought back fond memories of IMA, their alma mater.
Ayub Khan did some fine roles after Salaami. His role as Inspector Keemat lal in Ek Tha Rusty TV series, based on Ruskin Bond’s stories, is one of his best performances. He is a sophisticated and refined actor whose potential could have been used better by the industry.
Even today, when I go to the academy or to other places where the film was shot, memories of that far away winter flood my heart and I yearn to go back in time , to sit in the sun in the lawns near the Nizam Pavilion, interviewing the cast and listening to the enchanting songs of the film. Whenever I hear these songs they always take me back (at least for a while) to those brilliant November days in the valley when things were slow-paced and leisurely, when it was still “the town of grey heads and green hedges.” Salaami is actually a colourful tribute to the beauty of the IMA and the Doon valley.
That was indeed a “Sweet November”!