FilmIndia (Jan-Nov 1942)

February 1942 FILMINDIA up drinking and all his old vices and took to prayer. Like all good Mahomedans he prays five times a day even when he is working on a picture. He is never tempted to go back to his old life and is very grateful to the 70-year old Guru for giving him this new outlook on life. Yakub feels now that every man is his brother and every woman his sister. Designing females can roll their eyes till they pop out but they won't beguile Yakub because he only feels brotherly affection for them! Before we forget we must tell you that Yakub is married and has been for abcut 12 years. His wife was an actress in Imperial's when he married her but he is one of those old-fashioned husbands who believe "a woman's place is in the home" so her present role is a permanently domestic one. He has no children and spends on an average about Rs. 600/ a month out of his salary on himself, his wife and his car. He saves most of the rest but Is always helping out relations and friends who are needy and who know he is too kind-hearted to send them away. But don't mistake us. Yakub Is not imprudent. On the contrary he is inclined to be 'picey'. His red Singer which he bought for Rs. 4200/ is four years old but Yakub won't sell it until he's got his money's worth out of it. He is insured for Rs. 13,000/ with the Bombay Mutual and with the Hindustan Co-operativ>. One of Yakub's few extravagances is clothes. He likes good clothes but somehow doesn't seem to wear them with ease. When we interviewed him he was dressed in a woollen suit but although the cloth was good it looked as though it had been buttoned up wrong. ENGLISH IN SMALL DOSES He doesn't speak English very well and says he only uses it for medicinal purposes to make himself understood when he is talking to someone who doesn't understand the vernacular. He says he is fond of tennis, hoc key and football, but then all these film stars claim to be potential Donald Budges or Tommy Farrs. Yakub has a large fan following and receives between 15 to 20 letters a day. Most of these letters are frcm boys. Doubtless the gentler sex feel that to write to even a screen villain would be rather a risky business. With her perfect diction and melodious songs Ratan Bai returns to the screen after a long time in "Ral Saheb", a social production of Janak Pictures. We assure them that this one la as gentle as a lamb in real life. On occasions when Yakub has stopped his car in the Bhendi Bazaar locality crowds have collected around him and caused such a commotion that police have had to disperse them. Yakub is a retiring fellow and is a little embarrassed when he is surrounded by his fans in this way but it is his own fault. If he would get himself a sober looking car he would not attract so much attention. People first of all turn to stare at his flashy red car and then naturally notice its occupant and recognise him as Yakub. It isn't just the colour of his car which makes it conspicuous, it is the terrific noise it makes. It roars like a wounded bull every time it starts. Yakub is not a brag. He is not one of those obnoxious creatures who go around shouting "I'm a selfmade man". He admits that he can't work without a director, and he is never satisfied with his work. He is continually trying to improve his acting. He dees not even call himself a star and indeed he has never been publicised as one. He does not demand or pay for publicity like other stars and as a result he is seldom if ever interviewed and he is never billed as a star. And yet whenever his name appears on the screen before a film it is applauded. No one expects villains to be popular so no one has advertised Yakub's appeal. Just the same the masses love him. They love his wickedness. When they should be booing him, they sit fascinated instead, hoping he won't be killed too early in the film. He is an unforeseen sensation and one that can't be explained. He isn't handsome and he most certainly hasn't got perfect proportions but he's got an unexplainable something that no other screen villain has. When I first heard hew saintly his private life was I was Inclined to be sceptical and say "Who does he think he's fooling with that goody-goody act? The man must be a bit of a villain in real life or he wouldn't be able to play screen villains so convincingly". And yet I came away from my Interview with Yakub convinced that he was perfectly sincere. What convinced me completely was the fact that he didn't care a jot whether 1 believed him or not. He is completely indifferent where publicity is concerned. As long as he doesn't starve he doesn't mind whether he has his name in Neon lights a foot high or whether he is billed last on the posters. 61