He’s a big cheese alright. He’s the brain behind the coveted Amul campaigns. Shah Rukh Khan asked him if he’d like to act in One 2 ka 4 . Then, Ram Gopal Varma gave him a role in Company . He’s also starred in a Telugu film with Nagarjuna, done a Malayalam movie with Mohanlal, and a Tamil film with Rajinikanth. “I just did these things for fun,” chuckles Bharat Dabholkar. A lawyer and business management graduate, advertising is Dabholkar’s main line of work and, he says, his first love. Theatre, he adds, is a hobby, and films, a second hobby. But, it doesn’t stop there.
Dabholkar used to select the final candidates for Kaun Banega Crorepati . He often debates his views on Arnab Goswami’s and Barkha Dutt’s news shows because, he chuckles, “I have very strong views; if there’s anything controversial, they call me”. Apart from being a creative consultant and advisor to companies, including Vicco, Rambandhu Masalas and RA Energy, he also flies to Tanzania every month to manage his advertising firm there. “My days are like Arabian nights, each is different,” he laughs.
For a multi-faceted man, he is delightfully easy to talk to. And even though he has so many celebrity friends, he doesn’t enjoy meeting them at parties. “I get bored at parties. I’ve launched many of the liquors by Vijay Mallya, but I don’t drink. So unless I have to, I don’t socialise at parties.” Instead, his evenings, he reveals, are sometimes spent watching WWF Wrestling. He proudly states that all his friends’ children love talking to him because “Bharat uncle is the only one who can talk to us about Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Undertaker”.
In the world of theatre, he is hailed for pioneering the ‘Hinglish’ trend. “I couldn’t speak a word of English before I went to college. I studied in a vernacular school; even though I’d learned English, I wasn’t always sure if I was using the right words. So, when I spoke, I’d infuse my language with words from Gujarati, Marathi and Hindi. It was a handicap, but thankfully, it became fashionable,” chuckles Dabholkar.
It was for the same reason that his play Bottoms Up caused a stir in the 80s. At a time when plays would struggle to carry out 30 shows, this one ran over 300 shows. “English theatre then was still western, and still trying to be faithful to international scripts. In Bottoms Up , we had actors from Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati theatre come together to stage a play in English with their Indian accents.” The play, which featured some big names including Shiamak Davar, Javed Jaffrey, Shweta Shetty, Suneeta Rao, Louis Banks and Sivamani, was a massive hit. It is still credited as the only Indian play to have been reviewed by Time magazine.
Last year, he revived the play, and this weekend, he’s staging it in Chennai. The revue — meaning a entertainer featuring sketches, songs and dances — is grander and more glamorous than before, and talks about budget airlines, traffic jams, politicians, news anchors and “things which are a part of people’s lives today”.
( Bottoms Up , by Ashvin Gidwani Productions, will be staged at Sir Mutha Venkatasubba Rao Concert Hall on March 6 (7 p.m.). The show, organised by Backstage Events, is a fundraiser for Madras Heritage Round Table 124. Tickets are priced between Rs.750 and Rs. 5,000 and available on www.bookmyshow.com. For details, call 98847 46017. The Hindu is the print partner for the event.)
