THE EDUCATED BRIGADE

Education is a must – so the saying goes and practiced all over the world. However, what is interesting to note is that unlike the earlier stars of yester year – the current brigade is not only equipped with some amazing degrees behind them (to bank on) but also they come from highly acclaimed academic families. With Teacher’s Day being celebrated on the 5th of September, we caught up with some highly qualified stars, whose destiny droved them towards stardom, in the world of glamour and glitz!

Koel Purie belongs to a highly qualified academic family. Daughter of imminent journalist Arun Purie, Koel’s mom runs a school in Delhi. Koel says, “With highly qualified parents, I landed up at Cambridge (UK) to have my ‘A’ grades and ended up learning Economics, Literature and Politics! However, deep down I was soul searching and later ended up at Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, to hone and learn skills of acting, drama and other technicalities.” With a Cambridge degree and three years at RADA, how does she place herself in the glamour world? Koel discloses, “With great power comes great responsibilities! Education is the real power of an individual. Being educated one can decide what is good and bad for oneself in correct perspective. Acting is a passion which made me discover who I am!”

Nandita Das, an actress of repute, daughter of well-known artist Jatin Das and writer mother has a post graduate degree in Geography. Apart from being an actress, she’s an active social activist spreading AIDS awareness campaign all over the nation and US. Having excelled with brilliant performance on stage and cinema, Nandita informs, “As a child I have been brought up with great care imbibing the value of education. I have been interested in studies and Geography has been my favourite subject. I grew up learning, dancing, singing and other art related things for the sake of learning as part of my growing up.” Few may know that Nandita is also a visiting lecturer in various US colleges & universities. Nandita is also slated to turn director very soon.

Unlike yester year stars, which entered films dropping out from schools to pursue their career, the generation today is more educated. The importance of education has been highly realized by today’s generation. Moushmi Chatterjee, who quit studies to become an actress says, “In those days, when I discontinued school to pursue stardom, honestly I was too naïve to understand the importance of education. (She dropped out when she was in Ninth standard). Life taught me a great deal over the years. What I missed in my life (education) I made sure that my daughters get the best and become graduates. My daughters, Payal and Meghaa are both graduates and you will be surprised to know they are always there to correct me if I go wrong.” Such an honest confession seldom comes from a mother who knows what is the importance of education. Meghaa, Moushmi’s daughter is a budding actress, who has all the praises for her loving mom, says, “Even though mom never completed her studies, she made both of us to excel in studies with her dedication. Realising the importance of education, she made us graduates so that we know what it means to be educated. My mom is just great and I pray that I be born as her daughter in all my rebirths.”

Education makes a man articulate and also gives an ultimate confidence to take on the world. While in the earlier days, it was a true case of high dedication struggle to stardom in today’s time it cannot be denied that stardom itself has become a high dedication struggle. The competition is fierce unlike earlier days. The inflow of aspirants today is in thousands as compared to earlier days. Earlier, it was more about survival while in today’s time it is to earn fast money and recognition (as stars) to lead a comfortable lifestyle. Today, star aspirants don’t have a long streak of career as compared to earlier stars, who ruled decade after decades with their powerful consistent performance.

Needless to say, the high qualification these actors have acquired has its own pros and cons just like the two sides of a coin. Amisha Patel, who belongs to an affluent family of lawyer Rajni Patel (her grandfather) is a Gold medallist in Economics from Tufts University, USA. Everyone knows today how she had to drag her parents to court, who grabbed all her earnings to their own benefit. Amisha was bereaved of everything she thought she owned – the flat (she bought with her money), her car and even her mobile phone connection. Had she been uneducated, she wouldn’t have dared to take her parents to court. Unlike Amisha’s sound family background along with her success and tragedy, Diana Hayden’s case is quite contrasting. Diana Hayden, show stormed the world by winning the coveted crown of Miss World in 1997 belonged to a struggling family in Hyderabad. Her achievement indeed is a case of great dedication and hard work. Diana is honest to disclose, “My mother was a teacher and I couldn’t complete my studies as I had to start working at the age of 14 (she was in class Eight) to support my family.” She worked in various places and “it was a sweet success when I won Miss India in 1997.”
When she won the Miss World, Diana traveled worldwide and took a three plus one year acting course at RADA, London. What is noteworthy in Diana Hayden’s case is that today she’s well articulate and says, “Life is a better teacher than any degree in the world. However, I really miss not completing my school and college life.”

Two of the most interesting case study during writing this article was of Bangalore guy Kabir Sadanand, a well-known TV actor and who made POPCORN KHAO MAST HO JAO; the second one is Kannada actress Chandni Sharon (AK 47 / LOVE YOU / ‘A’). Kabir says, “Dad was in the army and education was a must and primary in the family. Being a good student, I mastered in Organic Science. For five long years I worked as a consultant of Organic Farming & Management in Agriculture. However, it was theatre, which attracted me the most during my college days and later. From theatre, I graduated to TV and films. Education surely helps a great deal in one’s life as it opens new vistas to try out new things while analyzing the pros and cons of the field that you wish to excel in.” Chandni Sharon is a Keralite but it was Mysore where she landed up being a Commerce graduate after having traveled worldwide. She reminisces, “Both my parents were working at the UN. After my graduation, I went onto do my Masters in Food & Agriculture Marketing Management from Mysore University. I was the Gold medallist in my batch and was bestowed the medal by Shri Manmohan Singh (now our PM). Later, I did my Ph.D in Food & Agriculture Marketing Management from USA.” Chandni rose to stardom with Kannada hit movie AK 47 / LOVE YOU and ‘A’. However, she migrated towards Mumbai without much luck. “I work as consultant for various agricultural companies and even write columns in agricultural publications. I have acted in films and have enjoyed my stint but it’s my education which earns me more respect and contentment,” says the beautiful actress.

Preity Zinta’s bold attitude to take on the underworld and media is well known to one and all. Having come from an army background, Preity reveals, “I wanted to be a nun when I was a child. However, the all around development that is the wont of army house made me complete my graduation. Having finished my graduation in Shimla, I arrived in Mumbai to complete my Masters in Criminal Psychology. However, as destiny had to shape up my life, modeling happened. Now, here I am!” She may not practice what she studied “but when it comes to judging people (from the industry), my education surely helps me to a great deal.” The current CM of Maharastra’s son Riteish Deshmukh is not only a qualified architect but also owns a firm (run by him & his friends) called EVOLUTION. Riteish informs, “I studied architecture and went to US for a year to specialize and worked with “M & A Firm” in New York. My firm is actively involved in various projects. I do take out time on and off to keep myself update about the firm’s progress from my hectic shooting schedule. Acting was something I just wanted to try for the heck of it; little realizing I would become busy acting in films after film. However, I knew before starting (film career) that I can always fall back on my degree if I failed in Bollywood. Luckily, for me both my careers are doing great!”

Nandana Sen, who is the daughter of Nobel laureate Dr. Amartya Sen and Sahitya Akademi winner Bengali Littérateur Nabanita Deb Sen, completed her graduation from Harvard. She says, “Studying at Harvard was surely an experience because imagine what joy it was to have famous writers (whom you have read and were in awe of) as our lecturers! Education plays an important role in making an individual stand out in society.” Destiny drove Nandana first to RADA London, then Lee Strasburg Theatre and finally to USA School of Cinema & Television, California. She lives her life in US, UK and India. She concludes, “ I have traveled worldwide but it was Shantiniketan (where her mom lives) where I learned the best lessons of my life. Writing has been a passion with me right from my childhood and I shall never stop writing!”

There are many actors in today’s generation who are well educated - Kay Kay Menon (Physics graduate with an MBA), Saurabh Shukla (belongs to an academic family and has a B.Com from Delhi University, Nisha Kothari (B.Sc. Chemistry Honours from DU), Abhishek Bachchan (Graduated from Boston University) and many others. However, in Bollywood there are dropouts as well like Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Karishma and Kareena Kapoor, Randeep Hooda (left his MBA final year to pursue stardom) and many others. What is noteworthy about these dropouts is that they realized the importance of education when they succeeded as stars. In spite of not going to school or colleges, these stars have caught up with time by hiring private tutors to educate themselves. No wonder, one cannot rule out the importance of education even in the world of glamour. As they say, “Education makes a man!”

Johnny D