Jaspal Bhatti's Power Cut - Misdirected by God

Misreported By Manuwant Choudhary

Indian Humorist Jaspal Bhatti dies in a car accident this morning when his car hit a truck at Shahkot near Jalandhar in Punjab where he had gone to promote his latest film `Power Cut'.

His son Jasraj and actress Surilie Gautam are also injured.

The good go first.

Famous for his skits like `Ulta Pulta' Jaspal Bhatti became a loveable character who took on the corrupt through hard hitting humour.

Like near Chandigarh where he owns a plot he put up a board saying it was a factory only for foundation stones and meant for politicians who only put up foundation stones.

His earlier stint on TV saw him make a sattire on corrupt builders.

Its an irony that just a day before the release of his film Power Cut....Jaspal Bhatti's life has been cut short.

I have very fond memories of Jaspal Bhatti.

As  a cub reporter with Bombay's Afternoon Despatch & Courier I got a letter from Mr. Bhatti and when we opened the envelope we found a petition written to the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court.

In it Mr. Bhatti had prayed to the Bombay High Court that he be allowed to have three wives. (This was Mr. Bhatti's take on Boney Kapoor marrying a much younger actress Sri Devi...)

So I had taken  a Bombay local train to meet Mr. Bhatti.

At his apartment when I rang the doorbell Mr. Bhatti opened the door and welcomed me in...

And we talked for hours...on why he had written this petition to the Chief Justice.

Was he not happy with his wife? His family??/

And he replied, "No its not like that. I have come all the way from Chandigarh to get a break in Bollywood but here I have found that if you have only one wife you don't stand a chance of making it Big....Do teen biwiyaan and teen chaar affairs hone zarooree hain..."

And then he add, "But if this letter amounts to Contempt of Court, then please kindly ignore the letter."

I asked Mr. Bhatti what he did before he became an actor.

He replied, "I was an engineer at the Punjab State Electricity Board."

My next question was what his father did?

And he replied, "My father was a Chief Engineer at the Punjab Electricity Board."

And then he adds "Kya aapko yeh nahin lagta ki mujhe naukri pitajee ke sifarish se milee hai (Doesn't it look like I got the job because of my father?")

"That is why I quit the job and became an actor.."

As I left he gifted me an audio cassette (no CDs then)..."I am also the President of the Hawala Party".

In the tape there were songs like Jai Hawala..a sattire on the Hawala scandal where top Indian politcians had taken US dollars from terrorists.

So  Mr. Bhatti was the right man to make a film on `Power Cuts'.(Watch his tutorial on How To Kiss In The Dark !)

But sadly life is `Ulta-Pulta'.

Indiavikalp salutes the spirit of Jaspal Bhatti.