Filmmaker Arun Kuckreja asked his friend to write his obituary. He told Shrabasti Mallik that sudden demise of his childhood friend made him realise the frailty of life
It is rare that one would want to read his own obituary during his lifetime but filmmaker Arun Kuckreja wanted that. So he requested his “poetess, songstress and friend”, Maulshri Shukla Rajdhan, to write his obituary.
Unlike most people, Kuckreja does not find anything strange in this. According to him, death is a celebration. “It is a proud victory,” he said, adding, “I have had the privilege to be appreciated by renowned critics for my works. But I want to read my obituary before I die. I am open to death because it is inevitable and I would love to read a few words before my time is up” The frailty of life dawned on him after he lost his childhood friend Megha last year.
He came across Shukla, a budding author, in 2012 through a social networking site. “The first question that she asked me was why I wanted to befriend her. I told her that I could use her creativity in my directorial projects and hoped to work with her,” shared the director, who has cast Shukla as Ganga in his movies and has also used her songs in them.
The filmmaker shared that Shukla came into his life at a time when arrogance was giving way to humility and maturity and truth was taking over deceptions. “I met her when I was becoming more open to things. Old age does that — it makes you more receptive,” he said.