When I was a young boy in Kerala, during the days of
Doordarshan, while Manoj Prabhakar played one day matches, I used to think
about his handsome features. I thought, it was his handsome looks that had got
him a chance to play cricket. Those were the days I preferred to look more at
Kamal Haasan than Rajni Kant, and Kapil Dev than Ravi Shastri. Each juncture of
growth any individual develops certain kinds of physical attraction towards
rich and famous people. Today when my son idolizes Dhoni or Virat Kohli or
Shikhar Dhawan, I do not feel any wonder. But when I ventured out of Kerala
during my early twenties, especially in North India, I could see so many Manoj
Prabhakars in the streets. Same was the case with my youth idols, Amitabh
Bacchan and Mithun Chakravarty. Today when I see young men from Uttar Pradesh,
especially if they are coming from the Rai clan, I see a submerged Amitabh
Bacchan in them. So is the case when I travel in Kolkata. Several middle aged
people look like Mithun Chakravarty and the die-hard fans amongst then sport
even Mithun’s hairstyle, simply heralding an anachronistic fashion statement. A
few years back, when North India got hooked to the Great Indian Laughter
Challenge, I noticed a striking similarity between the stand-up comedian Raju Shrivastava
and the famous star, Amitabh Bacchan. Mukesh Khanna, the Bhishma of Mahabharata
serial had come to the scene emulating Bacchan. Singer Sudesh Bhosale had made
his mark by giving voice to many of Amitabh Bacchan songs. But out of them Raju
Shrivastava caught my imagination by storm.
Today, I remember Raju Shrivastava for a different reason.
One of the leaders of Aam Aadmi Party, Kumar Vishwas, reminds you of Raju
Shrivastava, not only by looks, but also in intonation of voice, presentation
style and even in public performance. If you morph Kumar Vishwas image with
Raju Shrivastava it would gel perfectly. If you further morph this already
morphed image with that of Amitabh Bacchan it would gel again. The simple
reason for this is their locality of origin; they all come from UP and they
share more or less the same cultural ethos of UP, of poetry, literature and
great histrionic skills. Raju Shrivastava does not shy away from the fact that
he had gone to Mumbai in order to become an actor because he idolized Amitabh
Bacchan. One could easily see, or imagine that a younger Raju Shrivastava might
have looked more like a younger Amitabh Bacchan. Or rather, a younger Amitabh
Bacchan’s image has a lot to do with an older Raju Shrivastava’s image. In many
interviews, after his television success as a stand-up comedian, Raju
Shrivastava has accepted that his ideal is Amitabh Bacchan, though his shifted
his forte from serious acting to stand-up comedy when he realized that he could
not get heavy roles like Bacchan in Bollywood. I was not surprised to see
Shrivastava as a middle aged person, as the years of struggle are still etched
on his happy countenance. But his optimism helped him to wade through the
turbulent waters of survival and until he could write his own name in the
history of stand-up comedy in India.
Something intrigued me when I saw Kumar Vishwas for the
first time in television. He was attending one of the debates pertaining to the
Aam Aadmi Party’s declared stance on the ending of the VIP culture in Delhi.
While other seasoned politicians in the debate vehemently reiterated the fact
that having a red beacon is thing of distinction and it is an unavoidable
necessity, Kumar Vishwas in a very calm and composed way replied that it was not
so. His arguments were not vociferous. Perhaps, for the first time in the
history of Indian television, I could see English News Channels inviting a
non-English speaker like Kumar Vishwas just because he and his party are convincing
enough even in the use of Hindi. I do not know, whether the use of Hindi by is
a reclamation of national idealism of the yester years or it is a deliberate
choice of the AAP to play to the galleries, whatever it may be, today the fact
is that the English speaking News Anchors also have to come down a few steps in
order to accommodate the Hindi speaking politicians to their English citadels.
Kumar Vishwas spoke in Hindi and the other answered in English. To their
English arguments, he replied in a kind of Hindi which is pure enough to be
dignified and mixed enough to be pedestrian. It was poetic and rhyming.
(Raju Shrivastava, stand up comedian)
I saw some kind of depth in Kumar Vishwas eyes. At that
moment, I did not know that Kumar Vishwas had already become a darling or the
Delhi’s middle and lower middle class masses. Even I did not know that he had
already been a darling of the BJP even before he joined the AAP. What I liked
in his eyes was not just the depth but the enigma that denies a complete
penetration into his personality. His eyes showed composure but they glowed
with some sort of determination and angst. Then I just remembered the smiling
face and deep eyes of Raju Shrivastava and the benign eyes of Amitabh Bacchan. Their
eyes are big, dreamy and a bit slanting. Their hairs are straight which
naturally parts in the middle. There are a lot of similarities between them.
But the dissimilar factor is the difference in their voice modulation. Amitabh
Bacchan has a baritone voice. Raju Shrivastava has a voice that could go upto
baritone and shrillness and go down to rustic intonations. Kumar Vishwas’ voice
stands in between; it is neither baritone nor pedestrian. While these three
personalities could articulate poetry efficiently, Amitabh for the academic and
classic, Raju for the ones who want to be entertained and Kumar for the masses
who yell and scream for effect, their rootedness is expressed in some sense of
sophistication in their articulation.
Kumar Vishwas belongs to my generation. He is born in 1970
in Uttar Pradesh. He studied Hindi literature, took a doctorate and became a
college lecturer. But his calling was for poetry. His website says that he is a
romantic poet. As a South Indian, for me it is very difficult to understand the
nuances of Hindi poetry, however my interest in gazals and the general interest
in the poetry of Galib have helped me to catch a little bit of Hindi romantic
poetry. As per the certain revelations, it is said that the couplets of Kumar
Vishwas have become so famous that many ‘pappus’ (as in the poet’s own
admission) use it as their ring tones. Here I cannot help thinking about the
popular singer, Altaf Raja who had shot into fame when he sang the bus boys’ and
lorry drivers’ all time favorite song, ‘tum toh thehre pardeshi, saath kya nibhaogey’.
Kumar Vishwas says, in one of his speeches that he left his academic career to
become a ‘shayir’ (poet). He travels all over the world (every year he goes to
the US, according to him) and he writes a lot of poems for the jawans, Bharat
Mata and the love-lone couples. His website also says that he is one poet who
could perform without any paraphernalia other than a microphone. He could reach
out to people through his poems and he has been hailed as a contemporary poet
who brought romantic poetry once again to the masses.
(Amitabh Bacchan, younger days)
I thought that the resemblance between Raju Shrivastava
(Bacchan upto an extent) and Kumar Vishwas was just facial. But while reading
his website introduction, I chanced upon a line which made my thinking quite
clear; he is hailed as someone who could excel any poet, theatre person, actor,
academic and a ‘stand up comedian’. That means, Kumar Vishwas simply knows and
accepts the fact that his personality has been developed by looking at the
mannerisms not only of Amitabh Bacchan but also of Raju Shrivastava. Some
people might have even mentioned it to him. Interestingly, like any popular
poet or populist poet, Kumar Vishwas also has written a lot about Kargil war.
He celebrates the sacrifice of the jawans who are killed in the war. These
poems had made him a darling of the BJP and even of the RSS. They did not know
that one day the same poet was going to be one of their biggest rivals.
Perhaps, politics always attracts poets or the other way round. In every
political party one could see a few poets. Jawaharlal Nehru himself was a poet
of prose. In BJP we have/had Atal Bihari Vajpayee. V.P.Singh was a poet and a
painter. Even Kapil Sibal writes poetry. Forget the IAS people. Every IAS
man/woman is either a poet or a painter, if not a stand up comedian.
In Kumar Vishwas, one could see today’s poet transforming
into tomorrow’s politician. He has already shows the symptoms of becoming a
belligerent politician. His public speeches are pepped up with poetry and
direct challenges to the opposition parties. Like both BJP and Congress, he too
evokes nationalism and national idealism, he also yells Bharat Mata ki jai. And
for a change, like the Communists he also calls out ‘Inquilab Zindabad.’
Growing in stature, Kumar Vishwas’ composure, when he is out of the television
studios, is giving way to aggressive political speech. So far he has challenged
both Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi in the coming general elections slated to
take place in May 2014. He, like a populist politician who is riding on
idealism and people’s support has openly challenged Rahul Gandhi declaring that
he would fight his even in his home constituency, Amethi. Moreover, he has
invited Narendra Modi to come and contest from the same constituency. This is
an open challenge for a triangular fight. Perhaps, only a poet can give out
such challenges (stand up comedians too can but they meekly surrender to the
macho of the heroes). But Kumar Vishwas looks real and more shrewd a politician than Arvind Kejriwal. Kumar, Raju and Amitabh plays well when it
comes to giving speeches. Raju has not yet contested any elections. Amitabh has
and Kumar is going to be. It is time for watch out this politician.
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