STEPPING STONE TO GETTING THERE

This article appeared originally in Mumbai Mirror, of the Times Of India group.

STEPPING STONE TO GETTING THERE



This Goregaon lodge has through 60 years housed many a struggler who made it, and many who didn't, finds Rishi Majumder



"Bhatt Se Milwa Doonga." "Bhatt Kaun?" "Arre Mahesh, Mere Bina Hilta Nahin Hai. Maine Hi Rahul Se Milwaya tha." "Rahul Kaun?" "Arre Roy. Woh Kehta Tha Baal Lambe Hai. Maine Bola – Yehi Baal Ise star Banaayenge Mahesh, Tu Dekhna!" This exchange, between an old man and an off-the-boat aspiring actor is one of the first memories that comes to actor Bobby Pervez's mind when he recalls his 10 months spent in Dattatrey Lodge: "This was followed, of course, by many a drinking session sponsored by the young chap, before he realised that perhaps there wasn't a Mahesh Bhatt waiting to cast him at the end of it all." Struggling actors who haven't given up for too long, a music director for Nepali films, a Bhojpuri filmmaker, aspiring painters, photographers, job holders who're waiting for that one opportunity to go abroad... Dattatrey Lodge is Pianoman Billy Joel's Piano Bar.

"My grandfather founded this place in 1946, with just two rooms and a shed for cooking," informs a rotund Sameer Eknath Talwalkar from behind an old wooden desk in the lodge's vast reception area, at the end of a winding two minute walk from Goregaon Station. Though brothers Sameer and Sunil handle day to day management of the now 3 storied reddish-pink building, Dattatray Talwalkar, who the lodge is named after, continues to look to it's affairs at a whopping 91, sitting in at the office every day. Rumour whispers that Dharmendra and Anupam Kher inhabited this space once, but the brothers dismiss this. "But other established artists have started their Bombay life from here. My grandfather was an artist himself, you see – an expert Mridang player, so he connected with such!" says Sunil proudly. He goes on to list: "Rajesh Tandon, actor in Balaji serials, McDonalds ads and movies like Kaho Na Pyaar Hai; Raj Kumar Sharma, director of Bhojpuri films much before they gained the popularity they have today; Murlidhar, a Nepali music director; Aboozar Rizvi, an upcoming music director who's one film old... many have stayed for eight to nine years." The lodge itself has had it's ive minutes of fame: "Some scenes from the serial Gubbarein were shot here..." Samir claims.

The blue painted reception hall, with it's traditional Ganpati images and wall scrawlings like 'dont smoke in lobby and 'check out time 8.30 am' could belong to any Maharashtrian lodging household. What is Dattatrey Lodge's USP? "It's cheap (Rs 1,300 per month) and clean, it's next to the station, and it's located focally between the Lokhandwala-Adarshnagar belt of entertainment offices and film city (three kilometres away)," explains Shwapnanill Chatterjee, a Zee Telefilms associate director who's residing at the lodge. "It's the only place in Mumbai where strugglers can squeeze in." More importantly, the lodge caters to birds of a feather. While Chatterjee discusses people from similar fields "exchanging contacts and information about opportunities" Pervez stresses on something else. "We were all lost in some special way, that created a camaraderie," remembers the theatre, ad-film and TV actor who now lives in a Lokhandwala flat. "There was a wannabe painter who told me dead seriously that if all else failed he would use his driving skill to enroll in the Mafia. Another man had returned from Dubai having spent all the money he'd borrowed for a business. So he was unwilling to return to his wife and family in Bangalore!" Balm for these pilgrims of progress would be morning Chai and chess games amid intense discussions on tinsel-town.

The rooms board between three to five people each. Amid one five-bed room's whitewashed walls with cross-room clotheslines, sit three reclining figures. The oldest, Rajeev Jha, introduces himself as being "in the hotel industry". "There's a friendly environment here – people help each other..." Jha, here or four years, starts droning, when Chatterjee (mentioned earlier) enters the room. "You should ask him about struggling, he was a theatre person!" Chatterjee gestures towards Jha. But Jha turns away: "All that is past... don't want to talk about it." Does the "friendly environment" help ease such frustration? "Frustration is a private emotion," Chatterjee's voice is ominously resolute. "One can cure it while all alone, or not be able to when amidst ten friends. Curing it isn't an interactive endeavour."