Day 10- 10 Ka Dum

The rehearsal sessions continued at Mehboob Studio, near my house in Bandra. I had pulled a hamstring while shooting an action scene for Boney Kapoor’s Wanted therefore I had to limp to the first floor of the studio, where they had put up the temporary set. While climbing those wooden stairs, memories of the great Sony recordings flooded my mind. Those melodious tunes somehow reduced the pain in my leg. It’s sad that the recording studio has been closed. Imagine once upon a time over a hundred musicians use to record in this great studio. From Naushad saab to Laxmikant - Pyarelal ji they all recorded evergreen songs here. Lyricists like Shakeel saab to Anand Bakshi wrote such time defying songs. The live recording was so exciting but now in a small room, songs are recorded and there are as many cables as there were musicians those days. With these thoughts I entered yet another room full of cables and computers. But the music in my memory had a soothing effect on me and I performed with effortless ease.

My friend Ajay Chhaberia insisted that I do it sitting on a chair because of pain in my leg. You see, those days I was doing two shifts for Boney Kapoor’s Wanted and Subhash Ghai’s Yuvraj and the 10 Ka Dum rehearsal was like the third shift. I rehearsed sitting for a while but soon realized that the whole thing sounded fake and lacked punch. It’s like stale soda; some shows done with anchor and contestant sitting on chairs. The energetic format of 10 Ka Dum does not permit you to sit like a corporate head on a chair addressing your subordinates. The very spirit of informality is lost. So in spite of the excruciating pain I got up from the chair. A very high energy level is necessary for this DUM show…and I wanted to give it all and enjoy it.
I always believe that when you do something, do it with all your heart and you will enjoy it. Once you enjoy what you do, even pain of any kind cannot hold you back…Dum da Dum da dum yes yeh hai 10 ka Dum!