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Baburao Patel: A great Hindu thinker
By L.S. Madhava Rao
THE birth centenary of Baburao Patel, the doyen and staunch exponent of Indian culture and philosophy, is being celebrated on the April 4, 2004, in a befitting manner which he richly deserves for reasons more than one. He was a stormy petrel who fought throughout his life for a just cause to save and uphold Indian values and heritage.
He used to publish his monthly magazine Mother India on fine, glistening white art paper and I used to scan through the articles without batting my eyelids as far back as 1948, when I was a student of Andhra University. In particular his question-and-answer pages were thought-provoking and worth reading for he could hit the Nelson's eye with his pungent pen and acerbic tongue.
The Konkan area of Maharashtra, the birthplace and battleground of Shivaji, was also the cradle of Baburao Patel. He was born, in a hut of a small Banjara hamlet, called Maswan, nestling in the dark and rough bosom of Mount Kalamegha situated on River Surya, 7 miles (10 km) from Palghat station-50 crow-miles from Mumbai.
Turbulent early life
Baburao Patel was a man of courage, dedication and high social values. He was a gypsy, a Banjara. He was a great analyser, decipher and thinker, and a damn good critic too. He was a colourful personality, a prolific and creative writer, journalist, film director, astrologer, politician, homeopath and blessed with a universal sense of humour. In fact, Baburao took to wit and humour with as much ease as a duck takes to water.
His early life as a boy was miserable. His mother died at the age of five. That misty memory in his sorrowful eyes was the only heirloom he jealously guarded throughout his life. He felt it as a design of destiny. He left his father's roof as he was uncared for.
Crusade against anti-Indian films
On his 31st birthday, the first issue of Filmindia was published, reflecting Baburao Patel's honest reviews of Hindi films, without fear or favour. In 1938, he launched a countrywide campaign against anti-Indian films, such as The Indian Tomb, The Drum produced by British imperialists and their German and American friends. The success of this campaign made Filmindia a national magazine and he was elected president of the Indian Film Journalists' Conference. Realising the impact of these films, he took the campaign right up to the studios of the producers in England, America, Germany, France.
By now Filmindia had begun to react readers in about 40 countries and helped arouse curiosity and create a market for Indian films abroad. This was something no other Indian or any magazine had achieved so far. In 1943, he launched a vigorous campaign against crime pictures produced in India and demanded the establishment of a production code on the lines of Hollywood.
Thinker, patriot and critic
Baburao Patel had the power of intuitive perception. To a question, ?do you mix among people to build your ideas?? prompt was his reply, ?I am a thinker, not a carpenter. I create the thought, which takes its own wings and flies to the various corners of the world. Those with sympathetic vibrations receive it and, perhaps use it. Those not on the same wavelength, miss it.?
For the steady rise of Baburao Patel, his lifemate and sahadharmacharini, Smt Sushila Rani stood by him through thick and thin in all his endeavours. She is still alive and has completed 85 summers. For Baburao, Sushila Rani was his soul and breath. Having been in the saddle for so many years, she had shared the trials, the travails and tribulations of Mother India with Baburao and continued its publication till it completed a glorious, full-blooded spirit of 50 years.
Baburao Patel was a daredevil in journalism. Truth was the nib of his pen. He had a complex personality dedicated to the single and stern purpose of improving the world around him. His power of discernment enabled him to see hidden evils where others could see none, and his intense patriotism, that did not accept any compromise or temporisation, made him an excellent critic of public affairs.
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