Known as India’s national comedian, Mehmood Ali, an Indian actor, singer, director and producer, best known for playing comic roles in Hindi films, brought recognition to the comedy genre before even the awards were started for comedy. He worked right from the 1950s to the 1990s in over 300 Hindi films, many times overshadowing the lead actor.
For 27 years, Kutumb Social and Culture Association has been entertaining Goans with different musical and cultural shows. Throughout the year, they organise 2-3 events in different parts of Goa. This Sunday, they will be paying special tribute to the legendary actor Mehmood Ali on September 1 at 6.30 pm at Kala Academy A/C Auditorium, Panjim, through their show, ‘Souls of Indian cinema Season-5’ with ‘Mehmood Ali: little more humour and a lot more heart’.
Conceptualised by Nilesh Faterpekar and event coordinator Abhilash Aasha Velingkar, the show will feature music and songs led by Vishnu Shirodkar and team. The noted singers will be Gautami Hede Bambolkar, Archana Khandeparkar, Rajesh Madgaokar, Samrudhha Chodankar, Sagar Naik, Sudhakar Shanbagh and Samir Karpe. Tiatrist and Konkani actor, John D’Silva will play the role of Mehmood and will also dance to a few songs with the talented dancers.
Mehmood received 25 nominations for film awards, 19 for ‘Best Performance in a Comic Role’. The film awards for Indian cinema began in 1954 while the awards for best comedian category was started much later in 1967. Mehmood was the first comedian to win the award for his role in ‘Pyar Kiye Jaa’.
Nilesh Faterpekar says, “The objective of this tribute is to honour Mehmood’s significant contributions to Indian cinema, bring together fans and industry professionals, and showcase his performances. We are always trying to do unique musicals evenings dedicated not just to singers but also actors and directors. This will be the first tribute show to Mehmood in Goa. Prior to this, we had shows on V Shantaram, Kapoors Night, Guru Dutt and Geeta Dutt, Amit Kumar, Usha Uthup etc.”
Also known as Goan Mehmood, John D’Silva is a household name throughout the world amongst Konkani speaking community, as people enjoy his comedic timing. He is an actor who has showcased his acting skills in tiatrs, short films and even feature films. For the first time, he will be acting as a Bollywood actor and dancing to Mehmood’s iconic songs. “Mehmood was the topmost comedian in Bollywood during the era of superstars. He has acted in so many great Bollywood films like ‘Love in Tokyo’, ‘Meri Bhabhi’ ‘Humjoli’, ‘Bombay to Goa’, ‘Kunwara Baap’ ‘Sabse Bada Rupaiya’ and ‘Khud-Daar’ to name a few. All his roles were very good and always different from the other characters that he played. He danced at least one song with his actresses. All that actors of yesteryears like Dilip Kumar, Sunil Dutt, Rajesh Kumar and Dharmendra, their acting was a class above. I am excited to play his characters and dance along with the dancers on three of his songs,” says John.