Ganpati's deep connect with Bollywood

With Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations in full swing, it is time to acknowledge Bollywood’s super Bappa moments, songs and films surrounding the festival

Moorti Ganesh ki, andar daulat desh ki, logon dekho dhyan se, pooch is be-imaan se kya chakkar hai? Aaj hamari takkar hai?”

As Ganesh Chaturthi is on, my mind goes back to this under-rated foot-tapper from the gem music creator, Rahul Dev Burman. The year was 1980 and I saw this amazing entertainer called ‘Takkar’, which had a typical pot-boiler plot woven around statue smugglers, and a good god-fearing family caught in their web of deceit, emerging winners in the end.

In one amazingly well written song, the attack on a fake godman and his illegal doings, sounds so today, but the song is a good three plus decades old.What would Bollywood be without Ganpati Bappa? Some of our most legendary cinema moments have been built around him.

If you thought that Ganpati in movie moments is a dated concept, then you need to visit the pure gold “Deva shri Ganesha” song from Agneepath (2012). When Hrithik finally declares open war on Kancha Cheema, a formidable villain, to avenge the wrongs done to his father.

Then that other pot-boiler song “Deva ho deva tum se badhkar kaun,” which had Amjad playing his most devoted god worshipping avatar till date. I daresay that after Gabbar, this is the most memorable cinematic moment where we remember him dancing along with Danny and Mithun. Three brothers unaware of the blood relation between them trying to outdo each other and steal the Ganpati at the behest of evil guys.

Ganpati pooja has been used to build in the moments of lost and found, like in this other reasonable well-made entertainer from the late 80s called ‘Ilaaka’, where the mother, Raakhi is found alive by the villain and the son finally finds the man who killed his father long ago in Ganpati’s pandaal. With his friend he begins his final quest of justice in a reasonable, thrilling climax played by Sanjay Dutt and Mithun.

Ganpati would also come to the rescue of the down and out, like in ‘Dard Ka Rishta’ where post-visarjan of Ganpati idol, Sunil Dutt’s daughter miraculously recovers from the last stage of blood cancer. While I completely forget the hummable song, it was also another chartbuster in an otherwise forgotten but well-made movie. The daughter who recovers from cancer was played by Baby Khushboo, who was to later rule the Tamil box office.

My most favourite Bappa moment is of course from this most red hot masala entertainer called ‘Marte Dum Tak’, where Rana played by the style guru Rajkumar walks in to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi right inside the enemy den. Why? Because he has committed to the spineless and slimy villain that he will walk into his home and come out unscathed as he has the blessings of – you guessed it right – Ganpati Bappa.

He walks in and sings in favour of his god. While walking out, he is shot at but Ganpati’s trusted aid, a rat jumps on the sharp shooter’s gun and Rana remains safe. Sounds stupid, but the movie was probably Raj Kumar’s biggest hit in 1980s. The song “Muqabla muqabla tere bhakt jano ka muqabla” is a must play even today in all pandals.

Must I add, this was way ahead of its times, a well-written sequence where both the hero’s camp and the villain’s camp give up their enmity for Bappa and dance in his pandaal with abandon . Yes, this one had Shakti Kapoor matching step for phenomenal step with Govinda. Kapoor sure gave Govinda a run for his money. Even the villain in this song repeatedly seeks the blessing of the lord. He remains supreme. Take a bow, Mehul Kumar!

Need I say anymore about Bollywood’s rich connect with Ganpati Bappa, that the original effort of Vijay Deenanath Chauhan in ‘Agneepath’ 1990 with Ganpati kind of pales in effort in front of these super Bappa moments?

By:Rahul Deo Bharadwaj