So, my baby brother started reading on his own… but we still watch films together:)

The songs that baby Vivek enjoyed dancing to, became huge hits in the country… Those were the days of cassette players… Although, we still had record players at home, old and new… Papa loved old melodious songs and would also bring the latest Hindi film music… (he got some cassettes taped with old songs and numbered them all; a cousin of ours had been asked to make an index in a diary, when he came on holiday!:D) Baby Vivek loved dancing to ABBA's 'voulez vous', which was played even by the cousins who were supposed to be ‘at war’; yes, around that time, we had a ‘baTwaara’, an official separation from the joint family... Tough time for all, but the baby provided respite.

Seen here, baby Vivek on Papa's shoulder, clicked by little Barkha, using Papa's polaroid.

I think this was on 'Holi'...

Anyway, as we got older, Kaalichanran’s dialogue tape was our favourite for the longest of time until it got damaged and then a new one was brought.

We learned from our neighbours and then my father also rented a video player and cassettes for the movie marathons a few times. Soon enough, we bought our own VCP. The cassette-walas used to come door-to-door and rent out movies in the building.

Once, there was heavy water-logging in Calcutta, due to incessant rains for 3 days. We had people pouring in from different corners in the neighbourhood whom we only knew by name or face, “7H mein zaroor milega”/ ‘you will definitely get something at 7H’ (our flat)… They were looking to borrow movies!
In the meantime, upon doctor’s advice, our father decided to forgo the exhaustive construction business and got into movie exhibition after building a Cinema Hall in ‘86… (Which by the way, he wanted our mother to inaugurate… But she suffered a heart attack so some minister must have been called… Anyway, our father passed away in ’88; the business was in a different city and finished by the time we grew up.)

All said and done, as a family, we were addicted to films.

So, Vivek had decided he wanted to be a director, by the time he was 6 or 7 years old… I suggested, “jab tum film banaoge, toh hum tumhaari film mein dialogue likhenge”/ ‘when you make a film, I shall write dialogue for it.’ (There was no concept of screenplay, being separate, at that point) And his reply was, “pehle hum toh film banaayein”/ ‘let me get down to making my film first’…
And without him being too interested, there seemed no point in pursuing that dream… it was only because we had such fun doing our improvisations together. Soon enough, the lure of the computers took me away to a more feasible line of career. And Vivek watched more movies, (at home and with Barkha, our elder sister who took him to watch movies in theatre); and read up on films and so many varied subjects…

(Seen here, Vivek getting into Barkha's solo photo time. Picture, most probably taken at Macau, during a family holiday)

As we grew older and busier (me with studies and he with friends), I missed having that fun with my baby brother, and dreamt of perhaps studying together sometime… But I used to think, ‘will I fail for four years?' as I am that much older. But it did happen... When I was done with my IT stint and we had shifted to Lucknow, we decided to pursue courses at a Media Institute. Vivek wanted to learn the process that Actors undergo, so that he as a Director could get through to them. I wanted to learn Scriptwriting. But it so happened, that there were very few students, so we all had combined classes taught by experts. And yes, we jumped with joy together when our favourite teacher taught!

(Vivek, clicked by Barkha at our MiThu didi's tea garden in Darjeeling)

A few years ago when I reminded Vivek of his reaction to my proposition, he replied, "us time pe hum Javed Akhtar se likhwaane ka sochte the... humko pata nahin tha tum kaisa likhti ho"/ 'At that point, I used to think about getting Javed Akhtar (sa'ab) to write for me; I did not know if you could write..." Now, of course, he tells me to write for him, but he is not allowed to pressure (while I finish a script for my friend). We have managed to do some corporate film work together in Lucknow and Delhi. Both Barkha and Vivek end up adding a lot of value to my fictional radio stories that are currently available on youtube.

So, Vivek has been working in Mumbai since 2002, on adfilms, corporate fims, feature films, etc… In 2011, he landed himself a Creative Head’s job at a TV production house. They were about to leave for an outdoor shoot on a different serial and asked him if he was ready to do some extra work. So, he went with them to Switzerland! He assisted the Director, did the Creative Director's work,  production work and also acted… Here’s a clip. He said, he felt like such a lech, asking someone to bring his wife, so many times…:D He appears from around 2:26 until 2:55, and he looks pretty decent, don't you think?