‘Soorma Bhopali’ character, played by Jagdeep, was script and screen play writer Javed Akhtar’s creation. According to the late journalist Nasir Kamaal, Javed Akhtar, himself a Bhopali, modelled on a real-life Soorma Bhopali – Nahar Singh, was a contemporary of Javed Akhtar at Bhopal’s Saifia College. That was in mid-1960s. By that time, Soorma Bhopali was a well known figure in Bhopal. Javed saw Nahar Singh from close quarters and enjoyed his sharp wit and his delightful company.
In a profile, Nasir Kamaal described Nahar Singh having medium height, dark hued, very witty and large-hearted person with a couldn’t-care-less attitude towards life. “He invariably wore dark glasses and a golf cap. His sense of humour and his repartee made him popular; what made him earn respect and love was that he was always prepared to help friends facing any problem. Actually, he was always ready to intercede physically for friends and this perhaps earned him the sobriquet of ‘Soorma Bhopali’.
But the reel character, immortalized by Jagdeep in Sholay had no resemblance with the real personality of Nahar Singh, except his sobriquet.
Nahar Singh had special affection for Saifia College. At that time, the college had a very strong hockey team that challenged the might of many a formidable team in various tournaments. Soorma Bhopali, even when he turned a municipal employee, accompanied the team wherever it went as its unofficial cheerleader. He even picked up players from their homes on his way to railway station. Nasir Kamaal recalls how Soorma Bhopali was always prepared to jump into the field whenever he felt umpires had done ‘injustice’ to the team or when the opposing team played rough. “When it came to a scrappy encounter, inflicting a bleeding injury on shins, knees and wrists through deft stick-work, which even the umpires could not see, was called ‘phool khila diya’ – made a flower bloom.” Soorma Bhopali even shared the team’s accommodation and sometimes bore his travel expenses himself.
Former president of the Bhopal Hockey Association, Prof Rafat Mohammed Khan, himself a national player who represented Bhopal and Saifia College, has written that Nahar Singh’s many qualities included his deep spirituality. Whenever he saw lying on ground a wrapper of Ganesh Bidi (with a image of lord Ganesha printed on it), he would pick it up, direct a couple of profanities towards the irreverent smoker, and pocketed the wrapper to later dispose it off respectfully.
A devout Hindu, the original Soorma Bhopali was genuinely secular too. Once Saifia College was playing in Scindia Gold Cup at Gwalior. Olympian Inam-ur-Rehman was at his peak and unstoppable when Saifia College team was playing against a local team of Gwalior. Rafat Mohammad Khan was present when suddenly, someone from the stands shouted, “Pakistani hai! Maro!’ In a flash, an infuriated Nahar Singh was in front of the stand, shouting, “You are a Mahasabhayee (of Hindu Mahasabha)! No Muslim in my Bhopal can dare treat a Hindu player like this! Come on, come on! I can take you on! I am Soorma Bhopali!” and then he broke down.
Nasir Kamaal remembers when Sholay was released, Nahar Singh had got upset with Javed Akhtar and even went to the court, alleging he had been defamed. The case was settled out of court by friends of Javed Akhtar.
The actual Soorma Bhopali died sometime in 1979 when he gone to drop a colleague on his scooter. While returning, a truck knocked down his scooter. Soorma Bhopali died and with him died a part of Bhopali character essayed wonderfully well by Jagdeep.
[Author-Journalist Rasheed Kidwai is a visiting Fellow of the Observer Research Foundation. He tracks government and politics and considered a specialist on Congress party affairs.]
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