Happy Birthday Sahara Shree 10th June

The hijacking of the IA flight IC 436 at Lucknow Airport...Part 2

In my last post I have written about my adventure in the sky. IA Lucknow- Delhi flight IC 436 was hijacked by 4 college student with 59 passengers on board. The student hijackers were demanding postponement of examination, grant of more funds to their college, investigation of corruption charge against the Principle of the college and introduction of postgraduate course. All the passengers were in the grip of extreme fear except for the army gents. Due to the inebriated condition of one of the defence personnel, who was restless and kept getting up to catch the hijackers and every time the fellow passengers would push him back into his seat. 

The hijacked flight (Illustration purpose only)

 Suddenly the plane started losing height and there was panic in the aircraft. I was sure that doomsday had arrived. Calm prevailed only when the plane stabilized.  “Ladies and gentlemen, the plane lost height due to the air pocket, nothing to worry. .Governor of UP has agreed to meet the students and we have been given clearance to land at the Amausi airport at Lucknow.” It was the voice of the captain over the PA system. And amid fervent prayers the plane finally landed at the airport.

 Calm prevailed only when the plane stabilized.....

Fire Engines approaching the hijacked aircraft

Plane off  main parking bay.

When I looked outside it was a scene straight from a James Bond movie, gun toting policemen, red and blue siren lights on the vehicles surrounding the plane? Everyone was waiting nervously, with bated breath for the doors to be opened. Nobody on board realized that due to the hijack protocol the plane was not allowed to taxi towards the terminal building and was parked far off from the main parking bay.

Security forces aiming at the aircraft

 I forgot to mention that due to my media profession I managed to grab the attention of 2 student hijackers during the hold up. So after the plane had touched down I requested them to allow me to go to the washroom as I thought it was the safest place in case of crossfire. After consultation with his colleague one the student hijackers accompanied me to the door of the toilet which was at the front of the aircraft. I do not know how long I was inside the toilet until I heard a knock. I realized that holding myself inside would be an exercise in futile. I unlocked the door and came out. 

     As I was walking back to my seat things began to happen very fast. The next moment I was on the floor with the hijacker on top of my back and the Army guy on top of him. The small tin box (of Paan Masala) fell out of the hijacker’s hand as he started screaming “plane ko uda do ,koi bachne na pai”(blow the plane. Kill them all). But it was over for the hijackers as the tin box was empty. There was no RDX in it. The hijackers had managed to hijack the plane on ransom on a hoax.

The relieved passengers after the ordeal

Mean while as this hijacker was being tackled the other passengers too overpowered the rest and started beating them mercilessly. The air hostess opened all the doors of the aircraft, and people in their panic started jumping out of the plane not realizing that they were high above the ground, at least 20 feet. A lot of people got injured due to the fall.  I jumped out onto the wing of the plane and the next moment I landed on the tarmac. I could see the policemen aiming their gun at every person who jumped out of the plane, till we told them that the hijackers had been overpowered and were still in the plane.

Back in the Sky

   The over powered hijackers were picked up by the police and we all sat in the airline surface transport to return back to the main airport building. Later on the flight IC 436 was once again rescheduled for departure. But I avoided it like the plague. I came back home and took the night Train to Delhi.

To the best of my knowledge this was the only hijacked flight in the world, wherein the hijackers were overpowered by the passengers of course led by the high spirited army personnel.

Passenger 59...When I was Hijacked....10th April 1993

My first posting was as the Deputy Director of the DD TV station , Mumbai. I had gone to Lucknow for official work. Upon my return, on 10th April 1993, I boarded the Indian Airlines flight IC 436 from Lucknow to Delhi at 4pm. It was suppose to be a 50 minute flight and had 59 passengers. But destiny had other plans. There was this group of four students in their twenties who also boarded the flight with us. They were lanky boys, each weighing not more than 55 to 60 Kgs. Once inside the aircraft, they had different ideas.

Amausi Airport Lucknow

After the take off and completion of usual security formalities by the air hostess, we were looking forward to the light snacks, when we heard the voice of the captain.. "Kind attention ladies and gentle men, this is your captain speaking.. Well our flight has been hijacked and we are not going to Delhi.. Let me inform you"..... And all of a sudden the English speaking, mild mannered captain was overtaken by a rough youth voice in chaste Hindi." Idhar dijiye microphone'' and he continued.."aap log dhyan se suniye ..hum logo ne is  hawai jahaj ko hijack kar liya .hai. Humaare pass RDX hai.. agar aap logo ne hamaari baat nahi maani to hum is jahaz ko uda denge.. hume apne marne ki koi fikar nahi.. hum to sar pe kafan baandh kar nilkle magar aap mein se koi bhee zinda nahi bachega.. aap sub apne apne sir neeche kar ke baithe rahiye.. aage kiya karna hai batayenge"( Translation in English "Give me the microphone...listen carefully...we have hijacked this plane..we are loaded with RDX explosive.. if you do not obey our orders we will blow this plane...we are not afraid of dying.. But none of you will survive..  Keep your heads down and remain seated.. Next instruction will follow.")

The hijacked Passengers

          What followed was a dead silence in the aircraft. Passengers were looking at each other’s face ..is it some kind of a joke or its real..There were altogether  four hijackers two in front and two at the rear, holding the Tin(pan masala) box close to their chest, which they claimed had RDX  Suddenly one of the hijacker passed by. I was sitting in the third row on the window seat. In the front row two army officers were seated. One of them who was tall and well built was quite tipsy.  All of a sudden he stood up and wanted to catch hold of the hijacker who passed by. The hijacker shouted 'Inko baithne ko bolo..khud bhee marenge aur aap logo ko bhee marvaayenge."(Translation in English “Ask him to remain seated.. or else every one dies") and he pointed towards the small tin box in which he was suppose to be carrying RDX- the plastic explosive.

RDX...The Plastic Explosive

 In those days RDX was a terror. The bomb last of 1992 at Mumbai was carried out by using RDX. Nobody wanted to take chances. Somehow people managed to calm the army officer down. Mean while the flight continue to hover in circles between Lucknow and Delhi. I was 39 when this happened. My kids were not even 10 years of age. This is no way to die.  As I was in my thoughts, suddenly the voice of the hijacker was again on the public address system. "We have only one demand.... the UP govt should grant Rs one crore in aid to our Arts college, Lucknow. Our college is in a bad shape" .The student hijackers were demanding postponement of examination, grant of more funds to the college, investigation of corruption charges against the principal of the college and introduction of post graduate course.  

Arts College , Lucknow

 They continued "We are not asking anything for ourselves. We have sold our paintings to buy these tickets and hijack the plane. This was the only way to highlight the plight of our Arts College. We have chosen today's day because the daughter of the Principal of the Arts College is with us in flight. We will only speak to the Governor of UP”. And then the pilot was on the public address system “Yes they are right. We are trying to establish contact with the Hon'ble Governor of UP. We may also have to refuel in the sky .So please stay calm and remain seated.".

The refueling in the sky..

 Once again the high spirited army officer got up from his seat and once again he was pushed back.  The tension continued to prevail for more than one hour. Nobody knew if they will be able to touchdown alive .Specially after the pilot's announcement that plane was running out of fuel. I could see people praying and some of them crying. Reaction of the passenger was creating a fear in each other’s mind. And all of a sudden the plane started losing height and all hell broke loose....

The ill fated IC 436 loosing heights....

LET ME GIVE A BREAK TO THE STORY, SO THAT THE SUSPENSE CONTINUES IN THE SECOND PART OF THIS POST....

Do watch out Part 2 of when I was hijack....Passenger 59 in my next post.

Anna Hazare at DDK Mumbai when he was not fasting and a cup of tea was the order of the day.

Exceptional problems need exceptional solutions... 

The Mahatma of this century has done within 100 hours what the people in power could not do in 42 years..

Thank you Anna Hazare for risking your precious life for the common man of this great nation...

When Anna came to Doordarshan Mumbai..
The above rare photograph is a part of my collection when I had invited Anna Hazare at DDK Mumbai when he was not fasting and a cup of tea was the order of the day. 

The making of the film RHINO and its related jungle adventure.. Part 2

In the previous post, I had mentioned how I dropped my wallet, while sitting on the elephant. Later on the search for the wallet had begun. Holding a bamboo stick, Shashank and myself were led by the mahout. Suddenly we heard the elephant rumbling. We looked at the mahout.. "Sahab jab tiger aas pas hot hai to haathi aise hi aawazz karta hai... magar darne ki koi baat nahi aap ka purse dhoond ke hi nikaalenge.." Just as he was reassuring us, we saw a  tiger coming towards us. Before we could react the mahout started shooing the tiger away with his bamboo stick . The elephant also started making loud rumbling noise. 

....The incident of the lost wallet became a part of the film Rhino

Shashank and I  joined the mahout and the elephant in the chorus and the poor tiger, totally confused started running away from us. Seeing the opportunity we also started running away from the tiger  The Mahout called us .. "Sahab tiger to bhag gaya , aaiye batua dhoondte hain " . By then I had made up my mind.." Batue ko maro goli . hume es jungle se bahar nikalo". And within no time we were back at the beat office. Although the mahout was  hundred percent confident that he will find the purse.... we were scared to go back. 

Mahout called us .. "Sahab tiger to bhag gaya , aaiye batua dhoondte hain " 

 Help came from Mr Tiwari an IAS officer who was  the commissioner of Dispur divison. He ensured that we leave no stone unturned and finish our location hunting work while we were in Assam. I must admit, had it not been for  Mr Tiwari's  positive and  proactive approach ,we  would not have been successful in our mission.

 One horned Rhino at Kaziranga National Park

 The film Rhino was made in the year 1987. At that time some artistes and technicians were taking their first step towards Bollywood and some were already established names. Upon our return to Mumbai, we finalized  the  technicians and artists for the shooting. Debu Deodhar who had worked as the cinematographer in many of Amol Palekar's film was the Chief cameraman for Rhino. His wife Shrabani Deodhar was the chief asst.director of the film. Unfortunately Debu Deodhar passed away this year after battling lung disorder. Incidentally in the year 1999, Shrabani  Directed "Silsila Pyar Ka" with Karishma Kapoor and Chandrachud Singh. 

(L to R) Manjari, Child Artistes, Ashoo Singh, Shrabani Deodhar along with Mr Phukkan

 Another female technician who accompanied us for the shooting of Rhino was Ashoo Singh, as the dress designer. She is now the wife of actor Alok Nath. 

NSD personality Manjari was a part of the Rhino team as an artiste. She is now happily  married to Om Katare,who heads the Yatri Theater Group in Mumbai.
I too was a part of the star cast of Rhino. I played the role of a forest officer, who helps the child artistes (in the film) to catch the poachers.

Mukesh Sharma with the child artistes in a scene from Rhino

During my 12 years stint with CFSI, I produced nearly 15, feature films. All of them full length, 35mm and Eastman colour.  I use to handle the projects single handedly on behalf of CFSI, as all the other manpower and staff use to be on contract basis for any particular film.  Care was taken to choose the right person in consultation with the director of the film. But some times you get the bad along with the good.

Two such cases found their way in Rhino's basket. One was an artiste Arora, who was to play the role of the villain and other was the cook in the production department who accompanied the unit . 

Mukesh Sharma as forest officer

Manjari as Mami

As per my instructions the kitchen at the location was suppose to be closed by 10 pm whenever there was an early morning shift. Hence all artistes and technicians were required to finish there dinner by that time. It so happened that on the very first day of shoot in the jungles of Manas wild life sanctuary, artiste Arora who was fully sozzelled reached the dining hall at around 10.15 pm. By that time I was in my bed since the next day's shoot was planned at 6am. Suddenly I heard shouting and commotion from the dining hall. The cook and Arora were having heated arguments. Arora was asking the cook to lay the dinner. The cook refused to oblige him as the dinner hours were over. Suddenly the  heated commotion turned into fist fight. By the time I reached the hot spot with my Production Manager the damage was done. The cook had slit open the cheek of Arora with his cooking knife, Aroa was bleeding and running after him . We were running after Arora, who was swearing that he will kill the cook. Some how the athletic built cook climbed the wall and  left the premises. He was not to be seen . I managed to control Arora and promised him that the cook would be punished. In any case I had made up mind to send the cook back, even hand him over to the police. Upon examining Arora's wound I thought he needs stitches on left side of his face. But then we were deep in the forest and there was no doctor around. Some how we needed to close the wound. The best solution was to staple it temporarily. But that was a weired idea . So I decided to close the wound by sticking cello tapes on it. We used one full big size cello tape . Arora was so drunk that after sometime he just passed out.  

Arora the villain, with stitch marks on his face

 The cook never came back. We had to manage without a cook for a couple of days but help came from the fairer sex of the unit. Right from Shrabani to Ashu to Manjari every one was there to guide the production team as to how to cook the food . Next day Arora was taken to the doctor who stitched his wound. Since he had to play the role of a villain, the scar on his face matched with his character. The wound healed in a week's time and his stitches were removed. But since the stitches had become a part of the  continuity, false stitches were drawn on his face in all his subsequent shots.

The real Rhino horns..were a part of the film

Before I forget, let me tell you, the wallet was recovered by the mahout. He handed over it to the beat officer, who in turn informed Mr Tiwari the Divisional Commissioner. Mr Tiwari called us at Mumbai and informed that all the monies etc were intact. When I went for shooting, the first thing I did was to contact the mahout and award him. But he refused to accept any kind of monetary benefit. "So what does he want" I inquired .."Just a bottle of Rum." pat came the reply..

Film Rhino was well received by the children. It was screened at several International children's film festivals.

WATCH OUT for 10th APRIL .....THE DAY IC 436 WAS HIJACKED ..... I WAS ONE OF THE PASSENGER IN THAT ILL FATED FLIGHT................"The Day I was Hijacked"...

The making of the film RHINO and its related jungle adventure.. Part 1

The Book Kaziranga Trail..

The year was around 1987. Mr Amol Palekar had taken over as the Chairman of Children's film Society, India (CFSI).  Mr Gulzar along with TS Narsimanh (of Malgudi Days fame) were the executive council members in Mr Paleker's team. The new chairman like his predecessors was in a hurry to ensure that some good children's film were produced  during his tenure.

Gulzar

Amol Palekar

                                                  As luck would have it, CFSI already had the rights of the book Kaziranga Trail, written by Aroop Kumar Datta & published by Children book Trust . The book was a work of fiction, a thrilling jungle adventure about the one horned Rhino, found in the Kaziranga National Park, Assam. Mr Palekar wanted to start work on the project at the earliest. He chose his Chief assistant Mr Shashank Shankar (son of famous choreographer Mr Sachin shankar) to direct the film. Accordingly Shashank and myself embarked on the location hunting work and left for Guwahati from Mumbai.

Shashank Shankar, Bhrigu Phukkan (Ex Home minister,Assam) & MukeshSharma

  At that time the ruling party  in Assam was  Assam Gana Parishad or AGP headed by Prafulla Kumar Mahanta ,as the CM. The home minister was  Bhrigu Phukkan , who  met us and assured us of all possible help, while we produce the film in Assam.

Manas Wild life sanctuary .......famous for Tigers

                   The film Rhino was to be shot in the Kaziranga  National Park. How ever Shashank was keen to visit Manas (famous for Tigers) wild life sanctuary too.  He felt that a combination of both the locales will do justice to the film. So early one morning we set out for the Manas sanctuary on elephant back.The mahout in front followed by Shshank and myself . The weather was pleasent and we could hear the sounds of peacock, monkeys and birds. We were now  a little deeper into the forest. Suddenly there was complete silence. It was a bit weired. Shashank asked the Mahout "Ye achanak janwaron ki awwazen kyun band ho gayin''? the mahout said "kuch ghabarane ki baat nahi   sahab, Sher Ver hoga."   I retorted "Sher hoga matlab? Ye to phansnewali baat  hai". The mahout was more then relaxed. He made us comfortable. He told us  we are safe, as we are perched high up on the elephant .

Perched safe on elephant's back

 Just as we were adjusting to the new environment, I felt a weight loss in my hip pocket. I had dropped my wallet. It had every thing , our air tickets, monies , Identity card etc. When I told Shashank about it , he was completely foxed. But again our mahout consoled us. "Koi baat nahi shaab, mil jayega. Idhar  kidhar hi gira hoga. Hum log haathi se utarkar dhoonege." Without batting an eyelid Shashank said, "Matlab haathi se utarkar seedhey, Sher ke mooh mein jaayen". But the reassuring approach of the mahout and the lure of finding the wallet, compelled us to get down from the elephant and search for the wallet.

Searching for the wallet

 As we were walking, we heard a sound of rumbling near the shrubs. We looked at the mahout ,"Darne ki koi baat nahi shaab, tiger hai, ye lijiye Sab ka saathi". and he gave a small bamboo stick in our hands. Shashank looked at me as if to ask, if we can shoo away the tiger with this stick. It was like akaash se gire aur khajoor mei atke. I was not sure whether to continue with our search or just abandon it.  And Suddenly all hell broke loose...

THIS IS A GOOD SITUATION TO  GIVE  THE STORY A BREAK
NEXT POST WILL REVEAL IT ALL
TILL THEN..   THE RHINO  SUSPENSE CONTINUES..

Ustad Bismillah khan Born March 21, 1916 – August 21, 2006

Bharat Ratna who came to DD studios at Mumbai

21st March happens to be the Birth Anniversary of  Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismillah Khan, the Shahnai maestro, who hailed from Banaras. He was the third classical musician to be awarded the Bharat Ratna (In 2001) the higest civilian honour in India and gained world wide acclaim for playing the Shehnai for more than eight decades . Upon my invitation he had come to  DD (TV station) at Mumbai.   Khan Sahab was not keeping well, still he came to participate in the Phone in program HELLO DD. He was thrilled to talk to  his friends, fans  and well wishers via DD through the LIVE chat.

Bharat Ratna Late Ustad Bismllah Khan with Mukesh sharma at DD Mumbai

The duration of the program was one hour. As soon as the Live chat was over I handed him his professional fee for participating in the TV show. "You have already connected me to my fans through your network, thats enough for me" said  Bismillah Khan.

Feeling at home

 Since he had come all the way  from Banaras  to take part in the program , I made sure that his cheque was encashed and the monies were given to him before he leaves the TV station. My concern to ensure that he was comfortable and the Live TV show made him happy like a child.

On his death, as an honour, his shehnai was also buried along with him. 

 Ustad sahab died after a couple of months .On his death, as an honour, his shehnai was also buried along with him. He was known for his vision of spreading peace and love through music.  I remember re telecasting the entire recording of Hello DD for the benefit of viewers, his fans and well wishers and paid tributes in my own humble way .