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A friend indeed

V S Srinivasan

Returning a favour: Govinda Click for bigger pic!

No charge, Govinda told an old acquaintance. And without more ado, went on to do a whole film, Kaun Rokega Mujhe, for him. The lucky pal is Coca Cola aka Inder Raj Bhasin. Govinda was only returning a favour, though he doesn't like to talk about it.

"When you help someone, it is help; it's not something to be publicised," he says testily. "Even people who donate money for charity should not brag about it. The whole goodness loses value," he tells you.

On a little further prodding, he thaws a good deal. "I helped Bhasin out because at one point in my life when I was desperately trying to get into the industry, he very sincerely tried to help me out," he says. Bhasin had recommended him to a few producers in his struggling days, a fact Govinda did not forget.

Coca Cola aka Inder Raj Bhasin. Click for bigger pic!

Bhasin, who used to arrange stars shows in India and abroad, had fallen on bad times. He launched a film starring Chunkey Pandey and Mandakini, but the lady disappeared one day, allegedly into the camp of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim. Bhasin found a replacement in Nagma, but then Noora Kaskar, the film's lyricist and Ibrahim's brother, went underground.

Cash-strapped, Bhasin was forced to sell his bungalow at Pali Hill. He could not recover some money he had loaned out to a friend, an actor turned producer-director. When the friend died, Bhasin even loaned out some more money to the man's widow. Later, he says, the lady claimed she had never borrowed money, even lodging a complaint at the Bandra police station claiming that Bhasin had tried to molest her.

So Bhasin collected what little he had and borrowed some more to shoot for his dream project. By then, his lead pair was no longer hot. Finally he turned to Govinda for help. The actor quickly agreed to do a 25-day stint for his old friend.

Left when the going got hot: Noora Kaskar

"He did not even charge me for that. He even refused to take a penny as conveyance for coming to the shoot. He also danced in two songs, and I changed the script considerably to accommodate him in the major role of a police officer. Govinda even came for rehearsals," he says.

Thanks to Chi-Chi, the film is shaping up nicely and Bhasin is looking forward to a decent run.

"I live in a rented flat. But the moment my film is sold, I shall be able to buy a house and provide my children with a roof over their heads,' sobs Bhasin. "I can never forget the help he gave me. I shall be forever indebted to him... Some people whom I had helped refused to acknowledge it and here was Govinda, coming like Moses to guide me out of trouble."

This isn't the first time Govinda has helped out his friends. Recently, he did guest appearances in two songs, in Loha and Chote Sarkar respectively. Again, free of cost. And such behaviour is nothing new for Govinda.

And they say nice guys are hard to come by in Bollywood... Chi-chi.