Salaam Bombay, released in 1988, made its director Mira Nair world famous overnight. Her cast, particularly Syed Shafi, too basked in the new-found attention. Then, Mira moved on. Shafi no longer was the cynosure of all eyes. The history of cinema is riddled with scores of such stories.

While many programmes remembering and honouring great acting stalwarts have been telecast umpteen times on the channels, there was not a single show that traced the life of artists after their sell-by date was over.

Now, ETV Kannada brings you a show, Banna Masida Baduku, (life without colour) that offers an intimate glimpse into the lives of once-upon-a-time stars including Shafi, veteran composer R Ratna, P Kalinga Rao’s wife Meenakshamma etc. The show is directed by journalist Ganesh Kasargod, who has already written about many such people in his columns and has also brought out a book on the same. “ In the print medium, I used to put a person’s face and his contact address and number, in the hope that somebody would come to that person’s aid, by reading my column. Later, it dawned on me that the electronic medium was more effective in reaching out to people and conveying ideas I wanted to. This has led to Banna Masida Baduku,” says Kasargod.

Indeed, many people have come to the aid of the needy artistes after reading about them in the column, appearing in a tabloid. With the show taking a bow on Sunday October 7 at 5 pm on ETV Kannada channel each week, Kasargod hopes his dream of addressing neglected artists’ woes will be realised.

BSS