Controversial actor-turned politician Shatrughan Sinha’s book hit the headlines mainly for his provocative engagements with the BJP which ignored him during the Bihar Assembly polls.
But, the former Union minister, fondly remembered as Bihari Babu, SS and Shotgun Sinha, puts himself at ease in “Southern Comfort”, a chapter in which he boasts that matinee idols of Southern India “unabashedly drew inspiration” from him. And some of them went on to become ministers in their respective states or at the Centre.
In this laudatory canvas, he recalled Ambareesh whom he described as a “colourful superstar” who was gutsy to famously sway into a Taj Hotel in Bengaluru holding a Black Label scotch bottle on his head and defied anyone to stop him from consuming his own brand. He succeeded in politics too, believes Sinha, sketching his career graph – served as a junior Information and Broadcasting minister during the UPA regime and is now minister for housing in Karnataka.
“…Ambareesh sat back and proudly underlined, ‘Whatever I am in life today is because of Shatrughan Sinha. My whole career has moved on the same lines as his. More than being his fan, ours is an Eklavya and Dronacharya story. He is my guru’,” said Shatrughan in his book “Anything But Khamosh”.
Ambareesh, the book insisted, connected with him when he watched in his college days Bihari Babu starrer Khilona and Mere Apne movies. The liking was also due to the fact that Ambareesh bore a slight resemblance with Shatrughan. He tried to imitate his reel-life mannerism too. “I threw the cigarette and walked with the same stylish swagger as Shatruji”. Drawing other parallels, the books stated that Ambareesh was just as outspoken as Shatrughan and like him had got standing ovation for villain roles. Interestingly, he admits that the state minister did not quit smoking despite his best efforts and unlike his wife Poonam who gave up acting, Ambareesh’s wife Sumalatha continued to work in films.
