WHO SAYS THAT JUBILEE KUMAR RAJINDER KUMAR WAS A KANJOOS MAKKICHOOS?

Jyothi Venkatesh

Now that the lockdown has entered its grand 50^th day, when I recollect that  for the last 40 days I had not even touched even a single drop of alcohol after a tiring day of interviewing celebrities on the phone as well as e mail, till a lady distributor friend of mine very thoughtfully landed at my building gates with a 1 litre bottle of the scotch Chivas Regal for me, which has helped me break my dry spell  during the lockdown, I remember fondly how Rajinder Kumar was known as a kanjoos makkichoos among the industry folks, because, as a matter of fact he did not like spending money on booze parties for friends from the film industry.

Ironically, I struck a good friendship with Rajinder Kumar also known as the Jubilee Kumar when I wrote about him in the then popular evening paper of the 70’s -Evening News of India that Rajinder Kumar had staged a comeback with a particular film one Friday. I remember he had literally accosted me at the Jubilee Room of the then only popular five star hotel in Mumbai the Bombay- Sun N Sand only to reprimand me for my statement. “Am I a local train that I should stage my comeback in films? For your information, I had never retired from acting in films. My films may click at the box office or flop.l but I have never announced my decision to quit acting in films. How can you say that I have staged a comeback in films in acting just because I did not act in a few films for a few years”? he had thundered to me.

The year was 1975 and luckily for me, my senior colleague Devyani Chaubal was around to come to my rescue from Rajinder Kumar, who was not even known to be media savvy. The gentleman that he was, Rajinder Kumar did not bash me or drench me with swear words at the party but had taken my landline number from Devyani Chaubal later on. Though I was trembling and wondering whether he would send his henchmen to beat me up at my Worli house, one day Rajinder Kumar himself called me on my landline and invited me to his home for drinks after inquiring whether I liked drinks. I landed at his bungalow in Bandra in the evening, straight after working the whole day at Hotel Oberoi Sheraton at Nariman Point in Bombay (where I was working as the Accounts Supervisor).

Rajinder Kumar showed me his well stocked bar where he had displayed scotch of every brand. I was surprised because my so called friends in the industry had warned me that though he had invited me for drinks he would end up offering me only tea or coffee since he was a pucca kanjoos but I was thrilled because it was for the first time since I had become a freelancer journalist just three years ago that a big mega jubilee star had actually invited me to his bungalow. When I hesitated because I did not know which brand of scotch to take, Rajinder Kumar himself volunteered to give me Black Label

It looked like Rajindersaab had studied what I was thinking in my mind. “Are you wondering how come a kanjoos like me is offering you scotch? At the very first glance I liked your frank approach and the way of writing by calling a spade a spade. It is a fact that I had staged my comeback after a gap  and you wrote that but as I was so used to people always talking highly of me, I did not take to it kindly but when I pondered over it, I felt like I should call you home to apologise to you for having reprimanded you in public that day”, he said in all humility.

Gradually he started liking me a lot especially since I had put in only three years in journalism and was a novice at that time and used to call me at least once every month for a drink and dinner session at his palatial bungalow. On one such occasion, there was a private party at his home for his birthday and I went there though I was suffering from a bad cold and cough. Though I had preferred to have just warm soda, Rajinder Kumar insisted that I should have scotch with warm soda instead opting for only warm soda, though if he was a kanjoos like all used to tell me, he would have been happy if I avoided alcohol at his private party. Later in an aside with me, Rajinder told me that when it came to his friends and people who he liked , he was a generous host and likes to ply them with drinks and dinner but he was not ready to offer drinks or dinner to any and every one in then industry and hence people used to dub him a miser.