“There is something called TRUST and there is something called LOYALTY... I don’t know about others but I choose to keep the FAITH...!”
6th July, 2008. Evening time. I had a scrap from the then assistant director of Asambhav. It said “Satish Rajwade 1 July pasun Asambhav direct karat nahit”. I stared at it for a second and closed the Orkut window as an immediate reflex. “No, that can’t be true” I said to myself, “It’s impossible”. Over the evening, I tried to convince myself that I must have read the scrap incorrectly. How could it be possible? “No” I reiterated to myself all the evening “You must have taken a wrong meaning, Ruchi. He certainly didn’t mean that. It’s such a blasphemous thought. Why, infact, only 3 days back Sir (Satish Rajwade) had been online on Orkut and had defended Asambhav against all those who had been criticizing the slow story line. Then how can he not be the director since the past week? You are mistaken, Ruchi” I kept repeating so that, by the time I hit the pillow, I had successfully managed to convince myself that I had read the scrap wrongly.
I logged onto Orkut on the morning of 7th July. Hell had broken loose in Asambhav communities. An editor of the serial had posted the news of Satish Rajwade’s quitting and people were shocked. I was horrified.
I had been (and I still am and will always be) an ardent fan of Satish Rajwade. I swear by his direction. The success of Asambhav, one of the most successful shows on the Indian television, had been universally and rightfully credited to its director. And Satish Rajwade had completely mesmerized the audience not only with his direction but also by his acting. No other character has been loved the way the audience loved Vikrant. Asambhav was synonymous with Satish Rajwade. How in the world, then, were we to imagine Asambhav without him?
There was a heavy downpour of scraps in Satish Rajwade’s scrapbook. Everyone asked “Is it true that you have left Asambhav? Please say no.” I was one of them. That night he painstakingly replied to each and all. And our worst fears were confirmed. “Yes”, he said, “It’s true that I am not doing Asambhav anymore. I thank you all for the love, support and confidence that you gave me.” He cited break from work as his reasons for quitting the show and rubbished all rumours of a fall-out with the producers.
People were not happy. Everyone kept pestering him to return back, to tell the true reason of his quitting the show that made him an icon. “We have the right to know the actual reason behind Satish Rajwade’s ouster”, some of them claimed. This was something that made me uncomfortable. True, the request that he should return back was people’s love speaking. But why in the world were they so hell bent about the stance that there must be reasons apart from ‘break needed’ for his quitting? Satish sir had supplied them with one reason. Could they not just accept it? Whether or not he truly had any other professional reason, whether or not he really did have a fall-out with the producers was Satish Sir’s personal issue. He has every right not to disclose it. And why should he? It may very well be that he really did need a break. Satish Sir is answerable to his audience only for his work, not for the personal or professional decisions that he makes, is something I personally believe; there is something called trust.
Eventually people stopped speculating about the reason why he had left the show. But nobody stopped missing him. (The new team may also be credited for this; their work made everyone understand Satish Rajwade's importance all the more.) I, too, was sorely missing Sir’s direction; may be more than anyone else in this world. And I pinned for Vikrant. But at the same time, I never wanted to see Satish sir as Vikrant under anybody else’s direction. Co-incidentally, the day the titles were changed from “Digdarshak Satish Rajwade” to the new director's name, I happened to miss that episode. I learnt about the change on Orkut the next day. I stopped watching the titles from then onwards. No, I had nothing personal against the assistant director who had replaced Satish sir. I don’t doubt anybody’s capabilities. Do not charge me with prejudice. But nobody can take the place of Satish Rajwade, neither as Vikrant nor as Asambhav’s director. It’s just impossible for me to see somebody else’s name under the title that rightfully belonged to Satish Sir; there is something called loyalty.
I continued watching the show with the only hope that someday Sir would return. “I would rather prefer Vikrant dead than see him replaced” I wrote in my scraps to Satish Sir. To one such scrap he replied, "Ruchi, if at all I am coming back, I’ll inform you first being my best Orkut friend.” This was on 29th July. I was elated. Not just for the honour. Till then, Satish Sir had been saying that his 'comeback seems difficult'. Now, his tone had changed. It seemed positive. I continued hoping with a renewed vigour.
Cut to 1st October, 2008. I remember it perfectly; it was around half past 3 in the afternoon. I logged onto Orkut. And there it was, the scrap for which I had waited for days, posted just 2 minutes before. “Hi Ruchi”, it went “Thank you so much for the love and support. As promised earlier I want to tell you first that yes I am coming back in Asambhav as Vikrant Bhosle and also as its director very soon. Thanks for keeping the faith and your admiration.” I celebrated. So did the numerous people along with me who had longed to see him back. For 4 months, I had closed my eyes or else look away when the titles flashed the name of the new director; I had waited for the titles to proudly proclaim “Digdarshak Satish Rajwade”. And the day they did, I cheered the way I cheer only when Sachin Tendulkar hits a century.
30th October, 2008 will go down in the history of Asambhav as the date of telecast of the most awaited, most celebrated episode of the show. Living up to all the expectations, he accomplished the difficult task of extracting Asambhav from the pits into which it had fallen in his absence. And furthered the irresistible charm of Asambhav the way he, and only he, can. I watched happily as people who, till then, had taken his presence for granted, had finally grasped his magnitude. The world had at last woken up to the fact; Satish Rajwade is an indispensable man. My only worry is - how long will this enlightenment last...?
It has been a general tendency of Orkut netizens to praise Satish Rajwade to the stars for his work and to blame Satish Rajwade again, for anything and almost everything. Just because he is approachable does, on no account, mean that you hurl stones at him for things that aren't his fault in the least. Let me make myself clear; I am not saying that Satish Rajwade should never be criticized. We should praise that what is good and criticize what we do not like; that’s a mark of a good audience. True, being a director, he is responsible for everything about a project; but he is not the only one responsible, is he? Why don't people question the screen-play or the dialogue writers? Why is it that only Satish Rajwade is critisized all the time? Why do people tend to take him for granted? If he doesn't check his Orkut account for 5 days and is therefore unable to interact with his audience, people start protesting about him being irresponsible. I ask - Who, here, is acting irresponsible? Satish Rajwade? Or those who are having a go at him for nothing? Do you all have even the slightest idea how much work, energy and time Sir has put into making Asambhav a success? You may not even be able to imagine the amount of hours he must have spent at the sets and in editing studios! Even though he may return home at unearthly hours, tired from the day's hectic and gruelling schedule, he makes sure he takes out some more time out of his personal life to interact with us; 'cause each of his fan and every single audience is personally important to him. Satish Rajwade has given us so much and asks for just a little faith in return. It is sad then, that this very audience, can do nothing but point fingers at him for every little thing and often go overboard in their criticism. Stop taking Satish Rajwade for granted just because he has given you the liberty to approach him.
6th July, 2008. Evening time. I had a scrap from the then assistant director of Asambhav. It said “Satish Rajwade 1 July pasun Asambhav direct karat nahit”. I stared at it for a second and closed the Orkut window as an immediate reflex. “No, that can’t be true” I said to myself, “It’s impossible”. Over the evening, I tried to convince myself that I must have read the scrap incorrectly. How could it be possible? “No” I reiterated to myself all the evening “You must have taken a wrong meaning, Ruchi. He certainly didn’t mean that. It’s such a blasphemous thought. Why, infact, only 3 days back Sir (Satish Rajwade) had been online on Orkut and had defended Asambhav against all those who had been criticizing the slow story line. Then how can he not be the director since the past week? You are mistaken, Ruchi” I kept repeating so that, by the time I hit the pillow, I had successfully managed to convince myself that I had read the scrap wrongly.
I logged onto Orkut on the morning of 7th July. Hell had broken loose in Asambhav communities. An editor of the serial had posted the news of Satish Rajwade’s quitting and people were shocked. I was horrified.
I had been (and I still am and will always be) an ardent fan of Satish Rajwade. I swear by his direction. The success of Asambhav, one of the most successful shows on the Indian television, had been universally and rightfully credited to its director. And Satish Rajwade had completely mesmerized the audience not only with his direction but also by his acting. No other character has been loved the way the audience loved Vikrant. Asambhav was synonymous with Satish Rajwade. How in the world, then, were we to imagine Asambhav without him?
There was a heavy downpour of scraps in Satish Rajwade’s scrapbook. Everyone asked “Is it true that you have left Asambhav? Please say no.” I was one of them. That night he painstakingly replied to each and all. And our worst fears were confirmed. “Yes”, he said, “It’s true that I am not doing Asambhav anymore. I thank you all for the love, support and confidence that you gave me.” He cited break from work as his reasons for quitting the show and rubbished all rumours of a fall-out with the producers.
People were not happy. Everyone kept pestering him to return back, to tell the true reason of his quitting the show that made him an icon. “We have the right to know the actual reason behind Satish Rajwade’s ouster”, some of them claimed. This was something that made me uncomfortable. True, the request that he should return back was people’s love speaking. But why in the world were they so hell bent about the stance that there must be reasons apart from ‘break needed’ for his quitting? Satish sir had supplied them with one reason. Could they not just accept it? Whether or not he truly had any other professional reason, whether or not he really did have a fall-out with the producers was Satish Sir’s personal issue. He has every right not to disclose it. And why should he? It may very well be that he really did need a break. Satish Sir is answerable to his audience only for his work, not for the personal or professional decisions that he makes, is something I personally believe; there is something called trust.
Eventually people stopped speculating about the reason why he had left the show. But nobody stopped missing him. (The new team may also be credited for this; their work made everyone understand Satish Rajwade's importance all the more.) I, too, was sorely missing Sir’s direction; may be more than anyone else in this world. And I pinned for Vikrant. But at the same time, I never wanted to see Satish sir as Vikrant under anybody else’s direction. Co-incidentally, the day the titles were changed from “Digdarshak Satish Rajwade” to the new director's name, I happened to miss that episode. I learnt about the change on Orkut the next day. I stopped watching the titles from then onwards. No, I had nothing personal against the assistant director who had replaced Satish sir. I don’t doubt anybody’s capabilities. Do not charge me with prejudice. But nobody can take the place of Satish Rajwade, neither as Vikrant nor as Asambhav’s director. It’s just impossible for me to see somebody else’s name under the title that rightfully belonged to Satish Sir; there is something called loyalty.
I continued watching the show with the only hope that someday Sir would return. “I would rather prefer Vikrant dead than see him replaced” I wrote in my scraps to Satish Sir. To one such scrap he replied, "Ruchi, if at all I am coming back, I’ll inform you first being my best Orkut friend.” This was on 29th July. I was elated. Not just for the honour. Till then, Satish Sir had been saying that his 'comeback seems difficult'. Now, his tone had changed. It seemed positive. I continued hoping with a renewed vigour.
Cut to 1st October, 2008. I remember it perfectly; it was around half past 3 in the afternoon. I logged onto Orkut. And there it was, the scrap for which I had waited for days, posted just 2 minutes before. “Hi Ruchi”, it went “Thank you so much for the love and support. As promised earlier I want to tell you first that yes I am coming back in Asambhav as Vikrant Bhosle and also as its director very soon. Thanks for keeping the faith and your admiration.” I celebrated. So did the numerous people along with me who had longed to see him back. For 4 months, I had closed my eyes or else look away when the titles flashed the name of the new director; I had waited for the titles to proudly proclaim “Digdarshak Satish Rajwade”. And the day they did, I cheered the way I cheer only when Sachin Tendulkar hits a century.
30th October, 2008 will go down in the history of Asambhav as the date of telecast of the most awaited, most celebrated episode of the show. Living up to all the expectations, he accomplished the difficult task of extracting Asambhav from the pits into which it had fallen in his absence. And furthered the irresistible charm of Asambhav the way he, and only he, can. I watched happily as people who, till then, had taken his presence for granted, had finally grasped his magnitude. The world had at last woken up to the fact; Satish Rajwade is an indispensable man. My only worry is - how long will this enlightenment last...?
It has been a general tendency of Orkut netizens to praise Satish Rajwade to the stars for his work and to blame Satish Rajwade again, for anything and almost everything. Just because he is approachable does, on no account, mean that you hurl stones at him for things that aren't his fault in the least. Let me make myself clear; I am not saying that Satish Rajwade should never be criticized. We should praise that what is good and criticize what we do not like; that’s a mark of a good audience. True, being a director, he is responsible for everything about a project; but he is not the only one responsible, is he? Why don't people question the screen-play or the dialogue writers? Why is it that only Satish Rajwade is critisized all the time? Why do people tend to take him for granted? If he doesn't check his Orkut account for 5 days and is therefore unable to interact with his audience, people start protesting about him being irresponsible. I ask - Who, here, is acting irresponsible? Satish Rajwade? Or those who are having a go at him for nothing? Do you all have even the slightest idea how much work, energy and time Sir has put into making Asambhav a success? You may not even be able to imagine the amount of hours he must have spent at the sets and in editing studios! Even though he may return home at unearthly hours, tired from the day's hectic and gruelling schedule, he makes sure he takes out some more time out of his personal life to interact with us; 'cause each of his fan and every single audience is personally important to him. Satish Rajwade has given us so much and asks for just a little faith in return. It is sad then, that this very audience, can do nothing but point fingers at him for every little thing and often go overboard in their criticism. Stop taking Satish Rajwade for granted just because he has given you the liberty to approach him.
Is finding faults a favourite pastime for some? They then label their criticism as ‘idealism’ and the support of his fans as ‘idolism’. I ask the world at large – if you are free to criticize then am I not entitled to support? You may call it 'idolism’ but for me, its plain, simple ‘faith and loyalty’; and there is more than semantics to it. You can’t declare my views as ‘blind love for Satish Rajwade’s work’ just because they don’t match yours. Then I wont be wrong in labelling those who criticize all the time as being ‘cynical’ or ‘pessimistic’, would I?
The rumours have it that Satish Rajwade has quit Asambhav again; I have no idea. If it is true then, it will be another round of “Don't leave Asambhav. Why are you leaving the show? Tell us the true reason.” all over again. People will be quick to accuse him of once again leaving the show that gave him so much popularity. But are you blind to the fact that even he has given his blood and sweat to Asambhav? And that he’ll certainly have his reasons for discontinuing that serial which got him so much love of the masses? How much ever his quitting Asambhav might pain me, I'll never say "Don't leave the show" because it is his decision and I respect it immensely. I really don’t wish to know what his reasons are for quitting the serial. For, as far as I am concerned, if they are good enough for him, they must be good enough for everyone else. I reiterate – Satish Rajwade is answerable to the audience only for his work and not for the personal or professional decisions that he makes.
“Always keep the faith…”, he had written in one of his scraps to me, “…and god will do the rest.” I don't know about others but yes, I choose to keep the faith. As a true fan, I’ll support whatever his decision is. Asambhav or no Asambhav, Vikrant or no Vikrant, my admiration for Satish Rajwade will continue. Once again, I’ll stop watching the titles. How much ever I may love the character of Vikrant, I would rather see him dead that see Satish Sir play Vikrant under anybody else's direction. If anyone replaces Satish Rajwade as Vikrant, I'll never watch Asambhav ever again; not even by mistake. Asambhav has always and always been synonymous with Satish Rajwade and it will always remain so. I am not prejudiced. But some things can never be replaced, can never be over-shadowed.
The rumours have it that Satish Rajwade has quit Asambhav again; I have no idea. If it is true then, it will be another round of “Don't leave Asambhav. Why are you leaving the show? Tell us the true reason.” all over again. People will be quick to accuse him of once again leaving the show that gave him so much popularity. But are you blind to the fact that even he has given his blood and sweat to Asambhav? And that he’ll certainly have his reasons for discontinuing that serial which got him so much love of the masses? How much ever his quitting Asambhav might pain me, I'll never say "Don't leave the show" because it is his decision and I respect it immensely. I really don’t wish to know what his reasons are for quitting the serial. For, as far as I am concerned, if they are good enough for him, they must be good enough for everyone else. I reiterate – Satish Rajwade is answerable to the audience only for his work and not for the personal or professional decisions that he makes.
“Always keep the faith…”, he had written in one of his scraps to me, “…and god will do the rest.” I don't know about others but yes, I choose to keep the faith. As a true fan, I’ll support whatever his decision is. Asambhav or no Asambhav, Vikrant or no Vikrant, my admiration for Satish Rajwade will continue. Once again, I’ll stop watching the titles. How much ever I may love the character of Vikrant, I would rather see him dead that see Satish Sir play Vikrant under anybody else's direction. If anyone replaces Satish Rajwade as Vikrant, I'll never watch Asambhav ever again; not even by mistake. Asambhav has always and always been synonymous with Satish Rajwade and it will always remain so. I am not prejudiced. But some things can never be replaced, can never be over-shadowed.
You see… There is something called TRUST and there is something called LOYALTY… I don’t know about others but I choose to keep the FAITH…!
