AK Hangal: My Contribution

It breaks my heart to learn of AK Hangal's untimely demise. When I saw him in Lagaan I thought he would go on for at least another fifty years. He didn't.

Despite the Kalashnikovs, Hangal was undoubtedly the most potent AK in the history of mankind. Remembering AK Hangal is not only about remembering Bollywood; it's about remembering the history of Man. He was there when India became independent. He was possibly there when even England became independent. Or even when cavemen communicated in guttural grunts. He was possibly (I need to confirm this) the first homo sapiens.

And he looked absolutely the same in that era as well. With his seemingly infinite glamour and charisma, Hangal was definitely a phenomenal hit among the hominids as well.

The Earth should have stopped moving, mournful and cheerful (since the average human age has come down by 1% or so) at the same time. It has not. Crows are cawing, the late monsoon breeze is still blowing, cricket is still happening and Fardeen Khan still exists.

Sigh.

And then, I come across Wikipedia, which says this.

RAHIM CHACHA.

They have messed up Rahim Chacha and Imaam Sa'ab. As if Sholay and Deewaar are the same. Worse, as if Yunus Parvez was even a small fraction of what Our Legend was. As if convincing a son to leave town and go to Jabalpur to work in a beedi factory is as easy as explaining the significance of the number 786 to a colleague.

I had to edit the page, of course. Immediately.

I had expected a lot of protest regarding this, but none rose to the occasion. The typical human response to the Wikipedia error was the thing that had perplexed (and possibly infuriated) him to no ends.

Sannata.

Let this go down as my contribution to mankind.