The teeja ceremony of veteran producer Gaffarbhai Nadiadwala will be held today (24th August) at the Nadiadwalas’ residence at JVPD Scheme in Bombay. Some memories of the fine human being and the prolific producer who passed away on 22nd August at the Breach Candy Hospital in Bombay:
Gaffarbhai preferred signing actors for three films together. Of course, that was not a pre-condition to signing any actor but if he could help it, he would sign his lead actors for three films simultaneously. The scripts for the films could follow later!
Since Gaffarbhai was a respected name in the industry, it wasn’t rare for him to be invited to do one or the other muhurt rituals. (Yes, in the good old days, muhurts were performed before a film started, more often than not, in the presence of a lot of invitees.) Sometimes, he used to be invited to crack the auspicious coconut on the first day of shooting, at other times, he used to be asked to sound the clapper-board for the muhurt shot, at still other times, he used to be requested to switch on the camera to mark the taking of the first shot, etc. Gaffarbhai was so particular about letting his name be attached to a film that he used to painstakingly research (in his own way) whether the producer had the capacity to complete the film. (Yes, at that time, around 15-20% of the films used to remain incomplete due to drying up of funds or differences between the actors and producer/director, or some other reason.) He used to also do his own little due diligence about whether the film seemed to be one that had a good probability of turning out to be successful. And why did he take so much trouble? Because he did not want his name to be associated with a film stuck in the cans without being completed, or with a box-office dud. For, according to him, that would partially put the blame on him because he had done one of the muhurt rituals! In fact, Gaffarbhai used to pray for the film’s completion and success after he had performed a muhurt ritual for it.
In the Bombay film trade, Gaffarbhai was respectfully referred to as ‘Sethji’. The following incident happened one day when a new ‘Sethji’ had arrived on the horizon. Producer Gordhan Tanwani used to be addressed by this title (‘Sethji’), at least by close friends like Ganesh Jain, Ratan Jain, Dhirubhai Shah, Pravin Shah, Hasmukh Shah, Rumy Jafry, etc. Well, Amitabh Bachchan was on the verge of completing his shooting for the day when he heard that Sethji was expected to arrive on the sets. Even after completing his work, Bachchan kept waiting on the sets. Which made the entire unit wonder why the superstar was not departing for his home. When someone approached him to ask whether he was waiting for something or someone, Amitabh Bachchan replied, “Yes, yes, I heard that Sethji is coming on the set. I’ll greet Gaffarbhai and then leave.” The respect in Bachchan’s eyes for Gaffarbhai Nadiadwala said it all. It is then that the misunderstanding came to the fore, and the person informed him, “Sir, the Sethji who is arriving on the sets is Gordhan Tanwani, not Gaffarbhai Nadiadwala.” Bachchan had a hearty laugh!