Goodbye Guruji, Pradeep Bandekar

‘I
want
to
die
with
my
finger
on
the
click
button
of
the
camera,’
veteran
photographer
Pradeep
Bandekar,
who
passed
into
the
ages

early
on
Sunday
morning
told

Syed
Firdaus
Ashraf
last
week.

The
first
time
I
met
Pradeep
Bandekar
was
when
we
started

Rediff
On
The
Net
(as
it
was
called
then)
in
February
1996.

Pradeep
used
to
come
on
his
motorcycle
with
photographs
of
film
actors
and
actresses
to
our
1,000
square
feet
office
at
Boman
House,
south
Mumbai.

He
would
ask
us
to
select
the
ones
we
liked
and
then
my
colleagues
would
scan
it
and
publish
on
the
Web
site
for
our
Entertainment
section.

In
those
days,
e-mail
services
had
not
started
in
India,
so
sending
pictures
on
mail
was
out
of
the
question.

Hotmail
was
just
born
and
Rediffmail
was
in
the
womb,
about
to
be
delivered.

Internet
connections
were
painfully
slow
with
dial-up
modems
making
strange
noises
to
connect
you
to
the
online
world.

Surfing
text
was
a
pain
and
seeing
pictures
online
on
computers
was
worse
because
of
the
slow
download
speed.

Beating
all
odds,
Pradeep
would
travel
on
his
motorbike
from
Film
City
in
the
far
flung
suburbs
and
various
film
studios
to
deliver
photographs
on
time.

His
daily
routine
was
fixed:
He
would
click
pictures
during
the
movie
shoots.
Then,
get
them
printed
at
a
photo
lab
and
then
rush
to
the

Rediff
On
The
Net
office
to
give
us
the
prints.

In
those
days,
I
would
often
ask
him
how
he
managed
to
do
this
for
the
last
15
years
non-stop
and
his
standard
reply
would
be:
‘Mehnat
ke
baigair
kuch
nahi
hota
duniya
mein
(without
hard
work,
nothing
works
in
the
world).’

Then,
he
revealed
the
mantra
of
his
success,
‘Yahan
jo
dikhta
hai
woh
bikta
hai
(The
one
who
is
seen,
sells).
If
you
are
not
seen
in
the
field,
you
will
be
out
of
work.’

A
staunch
believer
in
Hindu
philosophy,
Pradeep
would
be
ready
with
Sanskrit

shlokas
and
one-liners
to
explain
the
complex
relations
of
the
film
world.

I
once
asked
him
did
he
think
Sanjay
Dutt’s
love
affair
with
Rhea
Pillai
would
last
(this
was
before
they
got
married).

In
those
days,
Dutt
was
on
bail
from
TADA
court
and
was
dating
Rhea.

Pradeep
replied,
it
all
depends
on

Sadhe
Sati.

I
asked
him
what
that
meant.

He
explained
that
a
man
and
woman
are
in
difficult
phases
for
the
first
7.5
years
of
their
relationship,
and
that
was
especially
true
for
Sanjay
Dutt.

He
said
that
any
woman
who
would
be
able
to
hold
Dutt’s
interest
for
more
than
7.5
years,
he
would
be
loyal
to
her
all
his
life.

Bingo!
How
right
he
was
when
I
see
Maanyata
Dutt
with
Sanjay
Dutt
now.

I
told
him
once
I
was
feeling
bad
that
my
favourite
actor
Govinda’s
career
was
stalled.

He
told
me
not
to
feel
sorry
for
Govinda
because
the
actor
had
brought
himself
to
that
situation.

Indiscipline
and
not
reaching
sets
on
time
had
put
Govinda
in
the
situation
where
he
was
then.

‘Kaam
ko
tum
aaj
izzat
nahi
dongey
toh
kaam
tumko
kal
izzat
nahi
dega
(If
you
don’t
respect
work
today,
work
will
not
respect
you
tomorrow),’
he
had
said.

Comparing
Govinda
with
Amitabh
Bachchan,
Pradeep
had
said,
‘See
Bachchansaab‘s
timing.
He
is
never
late,
even
for
press
conferences.
If
he
is
told
to
report
by
7
am
on
the
sets,
you
will
find
him
at
7
am.’

‘The
film
industry
and
life
is
like
that:

Chadte
sooraj
ko
salaam,
dhalte
sooraj
ko
alvida
(Salute
actors
who
are
like
the
rising
sun
and
goodbye
to
actors
whose
career
is
like
the
sunset).’

The
actor
Pradeep
admired
the
most
was
Shah
Rukh
Khan,
and
always
keep
his
photograph
of
SRK
hugging
him
on
his
WhatsApp
profile
picture.

He
felt
no
other
actor
before
Shah
Rukh
Khan
had
the
vision
to
make
more
money
out
of
his
acting
career.

‘Shah
Rukh
Khan
never
felt
ashamed
to
go
and
dance
in
weddings
to
earn
money
or
model
for
products
which
were
considered
a
taboo,’
Pradeep
had
said.

With
numerous
television
channels
and
social
media
influencers
getting
invited
to
media
events,
Pradeep
felt
sad
about
the
way
movie
events
had
changed
in
his
final
years.

‘Mazaa
nahi
reh
gaya
kaam
mein
(There’s
no
fun
in
work
any
more),’
he
would
say.

‘There
was
a
personal
rapport
with
actors
in
our
time.
Now,
just
click
pictures
and
go.
A
sad
future
for
film
photographers.’

Last
week,
Pradeep
called
me
and
we
spoke
about
the
good
old
days
of
the
Internet
and
how
lucky
he
was
that
his
family
responsibilities
were
over
and
that
he
was
in
the
best
phase
of
his
life.

Did
he
have
any
more
wishes?

‘I
want
to
die
with
my
finger
on
the
click
button
of
the
camera.’

God
fulfilled
his
wish.

Goodbye

Guruji,
Pradeep
Bandekar.