Mr Subash Bhowmik And Mr Vijay Anand - The " CANNON " and the " HOUDINI " Of " F " - Film And Football

 

Pic - :: A Mix Of Houdini And The Cannon From A News Clipping Of American Dailies . 

At times , what you wish to do at the appropriate time, never happens. That is why they say that MAN PRPOSES, GOD DISPOSES.

It was Jauary 22^nd when I heard that Subash Bhowmik, the dashing and the cannon ball firing striker, a well known footballer of the yesteryears and a well known successful coach in Indian football has passed.  I wanted to immediately pay my homage to this brilliant footballer who played in the outside right, in the inside right  for his club East Bengal and Mohun bagan as well as in the Centre forward position for India in football , and who has a HAYTTRICK in Football for India while playing for them in the Pesta-Sukan International football tourney way back in 1971 as well as in the Merdeka Cup , missing it in the Asian games in 1970 against Thailand.

It was my tootache surgery that took me from hitting the target and the bull-eye on the dot and it again was the pain in the tooth which removed my sense from writing that piece on Garrincha, the GREATEST EVER DRIBBLER in the WORLD of football for Coranthias, and Brazil. He single-handedly won that World Cup for Brazil in 1962 when they defeated the mighty Czechoslovakia by 3-1 in the finals of the 1962 World Cup Football.  

His Early Days as A Footballer - :: Bhowmik Was a Cannon Ball Firer

Subash Bhowmik took football when he was hardly five years of age and by the age of ten he had made his mark as a footballer playing all over in the mini- tournaments that were held in the lanes and the bye-lanes of Kolkatta, playing for the sub-junior tourneys well within the city.

In was in 1966 when the Madhyamgram School, which was the EAST-BENGAL of the scholl team to be considered as, inducted him in their rolls, to participate in the Subroto Cup to be played at Nerw Delhi.Though Subash Bhowmik, popularly known as BHOMBOLDA  was never the student of that school.

His first foray into the tough competition of the School football in the Subroto Cup played at New Delhi caught the eye of amany a pundits, and when the team returned back to Kolkatta, he was inducted in the east Bengal team to play for them in the Rovers Cup which was to be played at Mumbai( Bombay Then ) in 1967.

Subash Bhowmik, showed his true class when he scored two goals in the finals out of the three to beat Mohun Bagan by 3-0 in the finals. That and there it was where his football career started . From then to 1975 at the camp at Merdeka where he was dropped from the Indian team to participate in the Merdeka, and then his last game against Mohun Bagan in the Kolkatta I.F.A League where East-Bengal were held to a 1-1 draw , which ended his career at the age of 29 saw the last of him as a footballer.

Pic - :: Subash Bhowmik- Was A Terrific Striker And A Massacring  successful Coach 

He represented east Bengal in the season 1966-67, 1968-69, 1973-1976, and again in the 1979-80 and played for Mohun bagan in the 1967-68,1969-1972, 1976-79, before he turned to East Bengal in 1979 to 1980 to bid and say adieu to football.

He played at the Outside right and inside right for his team, ie, the club teams whenever and whichever position he was asked to play for, but donning the Indian jersey, he always turned out as a Central striker for them, and his gallant display was when he helped India to win that Pesta Sukan tourney in Singapore in 1971 beside that bronze, TWICE, in 1970 in the Asian Cup football and that BRONZE in the Asian Games Football at Bangkok in 1970.

 “ THAT WAS THE LAST BRONZE THAT INDIA HAD WON IN TERMS OF AN INTERNATIONAL MEDAL  IN FOOTBALL SOME 52 YEARS AGO AND SUBASH BHOWMIK CONTRIBUTED SCORING FOUR GOALS FOR INDIA IN THAT ASIAN GAMES ” .

Those were FOUR Goals scored By Subash Bhowmik In The Bronze Medal Effort in 1970 Asian Games-::

Pic - :; The " BRONZE-MEDALLION " Indian Soccer Team Of 1970 Asian Games With President V.V.Giri. 

Many have put the statistics wrong as a result this man also never got the lines of appreciation that he RICHLY deserved by all the wrong prints that have been depicted and that is a WRONG theory to say .

When India was celebrating her GOLDEN JUBILEE of the last International medal that she won at football on December 19^th, 2020, many went on to write and many went on to form a programme on the U-Tube flashing all about and talking all about the deeds of that VICTORY in football that India did credit herself with UNDOUBTEDLY- it was something which definitely accredited praise for the some.

However the most to face the tarnish of the same was Subash Bhowmik, who was NEVER and NOT spoken at all about the FOUR goals that he scored in that tourney. He equalized twice for India in their  opening encounter against Thailand after India had slipped down to 0-2 in the first 21 minutes.  He scored both the goal for them to equalize and MISSED a GOLDEN chance for the HATTRICK as he played it to the gallery doing that- a chance rued for which he rued it all through his life.Had that been scored, India would have had a better outings in the tournament instead of facing the Burmese in the semis. Also he would have become one of the Indian footballer to have scored a HATTRICK in the Asian games.

His Two Goals Against the Vietnamese Team Has Never Been Counted-::

In the same tourney, at the Asian games in 1970, in the second match India had trounced the North Vietnamese team by 4-2 in which he had scored two goals. That recored always has been put saying that India won it by 2-0 but actually it was 4-2, and not 2-0. Subash Bhomik had scored two goals out of the four in that match .  In all he ended that tourney with FOUR goals and a BRONZE, that was on December 19^th 1970 and that was the LAST of the INTERNATIONAL MEDAL that was won by India in football.

 THAT WAS HIS CONTRIBUTION TO INDIAN FOOTBALL.

End Of His Glittering Career-:

His career in football came to and end in 1975 when he was dropped from the Indian contigent which was to play at the Merdeka Football. It was the Chief selector, then, Mr Chuni Goswami who dropped him. He was actually  a strong-bull-head by attitude and behavior and he would damn give any hoot to the useless. That cost his selection for that tourney and at the age of 25 he decided that HE WOULD NEVER AGAIN PLAY FOR INDIA.  It was because of this attitude and his growing indifference with Chuni Goswami during the camp which led to the incident and when his football career was soaring to the height of the sky- he took that decision. That was a huge big loss to India, or else he would have easily led India in the 1978 Asian Games at Bangkok if he had continued to play for India.

His last club appearance was in 1979 against Mohun Bagan where East Bengal were held to a 1-1 draw by Mohun Bagan in that tie and after the season he hanged his boot when he was only 30 years of age.

He Started Young And Left when He Was Young-::

Subash Bhowmik started when he was only 16 and a half years of age to represent the GIANT, East Bengal in football.

 HE , BESIDE BAICHUNG BHUTIA ARE THE ONLY TWO FOOTBALLERS IN THE ANNALS OF EAST FOOTBALL FOOTBALL CLUB, TO HAVE STARTED PLAYING FOOTBALL FOR THEM, WHEN THEY WERE HARDLY IN THE FIRST PART OF THEIR TEENS. SECONDLY TO SAY , BOTH WITHOUT PLAYING, EITHER FOR THEIR UNIVERSITY, OR EVEN ANY SMALLER CLUBS OF KOLKATTA, MADE A DIRECT ENTRY TO THAT LEVEL OF PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL AND PROVED THEM DOT-AND-CORRECT AT EVERY STAGE OF THEIR GLITTERING CAREER.

“ BOTH IN THE LONG RUN PROVED THEMSELVES AS THE-  DOTING-FOOTBALLERS-  ” OF INDIAN FOOTBALL . 

Subash Bhowmik As The Coach - ::

He took to coaching and he was the Coach of the Bengal Football team for the Santosh trophy in 1987 .Bengal won that championship by defeating Indian railways by 2-0 at Kolkatta. That was his FIRST success as a Coach.

He did not taste any success from 1987 to 2002 in coaching but after he took over as the East Bengal coach again at the end of th season in 2002, he guided them to TWO CONSECUTIVE Indian national League titles in 2002-2003 and 2003-2004.

Crowning Glory :: Bhowmik Beats The Coach Of The Quarter-Finalist Coach In Asean Cup

His CROWNING GLORY was the title that East Bengal won in the ASEAN FOOTBALL CLUB COMPETITION in 2003 when they defeated the B.E.C Seso Torena, team of Thailand by 3-1 in the finals wih Mike Okoro, Alvito De Cunha and Baichung Bhutia scoring those goals..

People talk a lot about this tourney, but here again they do not talk about Bhowemik’s achievement as a Coach. True, that victory made East Bengal the FIRST, ever club to win an international tourney, of the club level abroad, but what one FORGETS is while doing it and achieving that feat, Bhowmik BEAT the Coach of the B.E.C Seso Torena, who had guided the Ghana team to their first ever quarter-finals in the 2002 World Cup Football, that was held jointly by South Korea, and Japan.

As a Coach he won as many as 13 titles for East Bengal beside that National honour for Bengal in 1987, and he guided Churchill Brothers for their I-League title way back in the perion between 2004 to 2010 . That was his success as a Coach for the club. He did not get a chance to coach India at all as he never

Pic-:: Subash Bhowmik Giving Strategical Tips To Brazilain Gilmar Da Silva Of Brazil. 

was interested for the same.

His Health- Still He Was Engaged With Football-::

Twenty three years ago, he had to undergo a bye-pass surgery at Kolkatta . That was in 1999 . Thereafter in the year 2000 or maybe in 2019, he had to undergo a cataract operation . But his kidney dialysis which kept in hospitalized for about three-and-a-half months was too heavy for him to bear and he breathed his last of Januray 22^nd 2022 at the age of 71 years and 3 months.

For his appearance as a footballer he was often termed as the European footballer playing for East Bengal, for that was his physique and for his shots at the goal, which were even more powerful that the shots fired by cannon, he was termed as the CANNON-SHOT-FIRER of Indian football. 

REST IN PEACE BHOMBOLDA 

Why Is That Mr Vijay Anand Remains So Unforgettable-::

Pic - :: Mr Vijay Anand - Was Ebullient In The Front And Exuberant At The Back Of Camera

This man is one who is never spoken about. Sometimes it happens that inspite you being the one who constructed the Tj Mahal, the credit goes to an invader,  and then the award is that YOUR HANDS ARE CHOPPED, because there should  be nobody again here on the earth to build an tomd- the EDIFICE OF SUPREME LOVE, here again on the earth.

It was true, and it is a fact.For the maximum number of thimes, it was his eldest brother Chetan Anand, and then his other brother, the EVER-GREEN, Devanand took away that credit from him, as he was more often that not, seen promoting his CREATIVE BEST and contributing it in a profound manner to the films those were created by the two infamous brothers that he possessed.

His golden days started from the mid of the sixties and the proof of that was the Jewel thief where he put all his brain into directing that film, staying behind the camera and that lasted till the end of the seventies where he gave a BOMBSHELL performance in MAIN TULSI TERE AANGAN KI, and in between in 1975 at KORA-KAGAZ and those who did not get to see his acting talent in these two movies would never would be able to really explain what a kind of a marvel was he when it really came to acting, the SERIOUS WAY.

 January 22^nd was his 88^th birthday. It was a TIME to pay the HIGHEST TRIBUTE to a man who in no manner wa any less then an PEAR of the OYSTER which still is laid at the depth of the sea of the film industry of Bombay.

He assisted Chetan Anand for his movie AANDHIYAAN in 1952 , and thereafter he developed a desire for film making. He started it by experimenting a bit for the movie TAXI-DRIVER for his illuistrating brother Devanand, and the dialogues he wrote for that movie was something very heart piercing. Thereafter it was that NAU-DOH-GYARA was born in 1957. The result was mare MAGNETIC and HEART-TOUCHING with him, doing that DOUBLE by penning those immemorial dialouges and again doing that job behind the camera for the film. The RESULT was that the FILM was a MEGA-HIT and from then in 1957 till the moment Devanad was alive HE DID NOT LOOK BACK.

Many Memorable Hits-: The “ SIX-POINTS ” Of The “ JEWS ” Belief In God

There at the play back, arose that infamous pair of Mohammed rafi and lata mangeshkar. There again at the forefront were the two brothers, Devanad and Vijay Anand. The QUATRET became a PHEONIX in the annals of Indian cinema from then, and when Kishore Kumar joined them with S.D.Burman it was the SIX POINTS that is so well spoken in the belief of the GODS by the Jews, when they talk about their deities as we talk about Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

The duo of Devanad and Vijay Anand gave smashing and hits-to-the-grinds, and the creditable of them were “ KALABAZAR ” , “ HUMDONO ” ,and “ TERE GHAR KE SAMNE ” , When that classic “ GUIDE ” came , it was like VINI, VIDI, VINCI as we term it that way which means, THEY CAME , THEY SAW, THEY CONQUERED . In between in 1965 had come “ JEWEL-THIEF ” and that was that , an experiment that carved and made the “ APPOLLO ” 65 that we might call it, that landed at the moon- paving the way to teach the others about HOW TO MAKE A FILM WITH SUPER STARS as there were Devanad, Vyajanthimala, Tanuja, Ashok Kumar,  Nazir Hussein, and clusters of the shining gold of the Indian cinema’s then who had a kind of a brilliant places for them in the Indian cinema industry at or during that time.

Peak Of His Career-::

“ Teesri Manzil ” , “ Jewel Thief ” and “ JOHHNY MERA NAAM “  placed him at the PEAK of his career. With “ TERE MERAY SAPNE ”  he was placed to do a producer beside acting in the film as a doctor, this additional responsibility somewhat came in as an hindrance, which, or else, would have made that film turned into a GOLDEN JUBILEE and what a direction was that in the film. One who did not see that would RUE about not seeing the medical advancement that had entered into the field of medics and the manner in which he portrayed in in that film .

 

MASTERY ::

He was a CLASS and a MASTER for the art of scripting a film, writing it with CHALLANT,  directing them to the GOLD , and editing it with that a class of EFFERVESCENE.

His handling of the comedy, emotions and the suspense were class apart. Every herione’s of that era who worked with him, PRAISED him to the HILT for his SKILL. “ RAAT AKELI HAI, BUJH GAYE DIYE ”  completely gave Asha Bhosle and Tanuja a class that was,  say, from a different planet, and those picturisation of Waheeda Rehman in guide for those song and the one “"Piya Tose Naina Laage Re “" was simply GREGARIOUS so to say.

Every heroine who worked with him from Waheeda Rehman, Tanuja, Nanda, Sadhana, Nutan, and Mumtaz went on to touch a kind of a height that it is not very easy to pick up ujtr right ADJECTIVES to describe him.

His personal tragedies and his personal life at the later stage starting the eighties took away the concentration from him or else that would have been another glorious decade for the NAVKETANS.

The Best Censor Board Chairman-::

According to what the film industry says  and according to what one could believe, he was the BEST Censor Board Chairman .  He was the FIRST to alter the  1953 CINEMATOGRAPH-ACT, with the best inputs that he managed to get it from the central guidelines board from the USA and the UK as well as Germany.

He also came out with a different censorship acts and rules for the TV industry and those were far different from that which took care of the Indian Film industry.

His pep talks on GUIDE and TEESRI MANZIL are the COURSE OUTLINES of the FTII of Pune

Complete Your Century The “ MAESTRO ” and hereby wishing you the PINK of your health

That is it 

Regards and Thanks

Pics

Shyamal Bhattacharjee 

Mr Shyamal Bhattacharjee, the author was born at West Chirimiri Colliery at District Surguja, Chattisgarh on July 6th 1959 He received his early education at Carmel Convent School Bishrampur and later at Christ Church Boys' Higher Secondary School at Jabalpur. He later joined Hislop College at Nagpur and completed his graduation in Science and he also added a degree in  B A thereafter. He joined the HITAVADA, a leading dailies of Central India at Nagpur as a      Sub-Editor ( Sports ) but gave up to complete his MBA in 1984 He thereafter added a Diploma In Export Management. He has authored THREE books namely Notable Quotes and Noble Thought published by Pustak Mahal in 2001 Indian Cricket : Faces That Changed It  published by Manas Publications in 2009 and Essential Of Office Management published by NBCA, Kolkatta  in 2012. He has a experience of about 35 years in Marketing .

Signature Of Shyamal Bhattacharjee 

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