BILLBOARD
MAKING WAVES
SHORT TAKES
ROUGH CUTS
MEMORIES
ARCHIVES

Sharmila Taliculam

When one hears the name Jugal Hansraj, the film that immediately comes to mind is Masoom..

In that film, his innocent and vulnerable face stole the hearts of millions of viewers across the country, as he portrayed to perfection, an illegitimate child forced to confront the fact that his future will be without his father.

So much so that a couple of decades after the film, he is still known as the Masoom boy.

In the interim between that film and now, Jugal did a few advertisements but otherwise, remained pretty much out of the public eye. Even his first film in an adult leading role Aa Gale Lag Jaa did not do much for his career. Ironically, his Masoom co-star Urmila Matondkar, who also starred with him in Aa Gale is now Bollywood's hottest property.

Papa Kehte Hain, the Plus Channel-produced film slated for a Friday, May 17, release, could well be the turning point for Jugal. And interestingly, while Masoom gave him enormous appeal among the mamas and papas in the audience, Papa Kehte Hain has already made him something of a hit with the teenybop set.

For his pre-release popularity, Jugal will have to thank the music, which is now being hummed by everyone on the streets and has reached number one status on the popular charts. "People are dying to see the movie because its songs are doing well," feels Jugal.

Why, the question has always remained, didn't he do more films? ";Oh, I did about six movies as a child star," he assures you. "Only thing being, I didn't take films too seriously, it was more like a hobby and I only shot during the summer vacations. I had many offers after Masoom, but was never interested in leaving my studies. Also, I only wanted to work with people I knew well."

As far as Aa Gale goes, Jugal feels that again, the music of the film was much appreciated. "Maybe people didn't like the storyline, which was a murder mystery wrapped up in a love story." He is quite positive that his face, which still retains its innocent, vulnerable look, was right for the role. "The role was of a young boy, I was playing myself. So it shouldn't have mattered."

Going back in time, Jugal recalls how easy it was to get the Masoom role - "Shekhar Kapur (the film's director) saw me in an advertisement and offered me the film. It wasn't too difficult for me to perform the complex role, for I had a good director and it was fun working with Shekhar. In fact, I would like to work with him again - I loved Bandit Queen."

As for Urmila, Jugal hopes that he will one day work again with her, despite her pole position in the industry today. "Maybe they did not like the film," he says, referring to the flop of their pairing in Aa Gale "I think that a film runs if it has a good subject. There's nothing like accepting a pair. If we get a good film, I am sure that we will be accepted."

But will his 'about to be released' film give him the same kind of popularity that Urmila got with Rangeela? "Let's wait and see," he says.

Between Masoom and Aa Gale, he was happy doing what most teenagers do at that age. - "I stopped acting when I was in the eighth standard, finished schooling and graduated from college, after which Aa Gale came up."

Though he has signed some more films, Jugal feels it is too early to go into details. "The films will go on the floors only after August," he says, "and we can talk about them then." Meanwhile, he is doing a guest appearance in the Basu Chatterjee film Gudgudee for Plus Channel.

While Jugal believes the industry is more positive towards him after Papa Kehte Haingot him all this pre-release publicity, he refuses to think of what could happen if the film flops. "I am not looking at that aspect now," he shrugs.

Unlike other newcomers, Jugal hasn't made it to the gossip columns before he makes it to the marquee - and that could affect his career, considering that the Bollywood ethos seems to be that any publicity is better than no publicity. But Jugal shrugs, "Manipulations and competitions are there everywhere, but here it is highlighted because we are constantly in the public eye. You can't escape that."

Girlfriend(s)? A blush, and a quick negative nod.

And for now, that's where he's at - a teenybop heart-throb, waiting for the release of a film that, he hopes, will give him the kind of success he enjoyed when he was a little cherub.