Today we bring you an interesting story. It begins in Islampur, a small village in Sangli district in Maharashtra.
The year is 1959, a 12 year old boy is asked to take on the pampered son of the village henchman in a wrestling contest.
In an upset, the 12 year old boy is victorious and his reward – death threats from villagers who treat this as an assault on the village henchman.
This forces the boy to hop on to a goods train with money earned from the fight – a princely sum of Rs 12.
Without his parents knowledge, this boy is now in Pune and joins the Indian Army.
He takes up boxing and is seen as a rising sports star in the Army. Then 1965 war happens.
This 18 year old is sent to Kashmir to stave off enemy fire.
He is hit by 7 bullets – skull, spine, cheeks and thighs and in all this a jeep runs over him as well. He loses his memory as well.
Fighting for his life in an army hospital, he falls off his bed and in a very filmy way, gets his memory back as well.
His family finally discovers him. But by then, the young man was bedridden. The family thinks of him as a burden and refuses to take him back.
He plans to commit suicide. While waiting for the moment to kill himself, he plays table tennis with a hospital attendant and in a game of stakes wins money.
The plans to commit suicide are thrown away.
He checks himself out of the hospital, takes up competitive sport again. He does well.
The great Indian cricketer Vijay Merchant even hears his story and decides to sponsor his training.
This is how Murlikant Petkar went on to win India’s first Paralympic gold in 1972 Heidelberg Paralympics.
He not only won the gold, but also broke the world record.
He turned 74 yesterday.
Some stories need to be told.
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A school-going kid once visited the Congress party office, where Tamil lyricist Kavirajar Kannadasan asked, "Would you like to work in films, child?" The kid said, "Ask my father."
This child was destined to become one of India's greatest superstars!
A thread on Sridevi! 🧵
It is said that when Sridevi was born, there was a bright red mark on her forehead, and hence people started that a devi had born in the house.
Thus she was named Shree Amma Yanger Ayyapan.
Before ruling the box office as a leading star, Sridevi was a phenomenally accomplished child artist.
Here she is, sharing the screen with MG Ramachandran, playing his nephew in a film that also starred J. Jayalalitha!
This film, starring Supriya Pathak & Hugh Grant, is based on a novel by Mircea Eliade.
Its the story of a 23-year-old Mircea who came to Calcutta to study under philosopher Surendranath Dasgupta.
There, he fell in love with Maitreyi - teacher's daughter.
Sounds familiar? A 🧵
In this novel, Mircea fictionalizes how his love story was cut short because Surendranath Dasgupta was unhappy about the relationship. The relationship was "exposed" by Maitreyi Devi's sister.
The novel was published in 1933, a couple of years after Mircea's time in Calcutta.
For some additional context, Maitreyi was a savant! Maitreyi was mentored by Rabindranath Tagore, and she even wrote a book Mongpute Rabindranath (Tagore by The Fire Side) about the time spent with the great poet.
20 years ago, we were reminded that good films need not make money, & films that make good money need not be great!
On June 18, 2004, Lakshya was released, telling the story of an aimless rich youngster who joins the Indian Army & discovers his true goal.
A thread🧵
Lakshya was written by @Javedakhtarjadu: He was told by senior army officers about the declining enrollments to the Indian army each year, prompting him to promise to write a film addressing the issue!
The script marked Akthar's comeback as a scriptwriter after ages!
Lakshya was a departure from the kinds of war movies made at the time like Border, LOC Kargil etc.
In fact, director @FarOutAkhtar's goal was to tell a story about a boy who finds himself in the backdrop of Kargil War.
On June 15, 2001, the world saw the release of a monumental film in scale & vision, with its main plot revolving around a cricket match between India & the British Empire!
A thread 🧵on Lagaan, the film that convinced Aamir Khan to pursue the kind of films he believed in.
After two failed attempts at films, @AshGowariker's confidence was low.
He then conceived a story where a key battle is resolved by a cricket match. He pitched this to Aamir in 4 lines, who told him not to waste time on this.
Lagaan was @AshGowariker’s third foray into direction after his earlier two movies – Pehla Nasha and Baazi.
Baazi is famous for the “Item number” by Aamir Khan. Pehla Nasha had Aamir and SRK in the same movie with some cringe worthy puns
This is freedom fighter Raj Narain, who achieved the greatest electoral upset in India's history.
In the 1977 elections held after the lifting of the Emergency, Raj Narain defeated Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
A thread 🧵
The story begins with the 1971 election.
Originally scheduled for 1972, Indira Gandhi called for early elections, catching opposition by surprise.
The opposition quickly recovered and nominated Raj Narain to contest against Mrs. Gandhi in Rae Bareli.
📸 @htTweets
Indira Gandhi was probably displeased with the nomination.
At a campaign rally she said, "Mr. Narain had been chosen by the opposition parties to contest from Rae Bareli because he was a well-known Nehru hater and baiter."