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“My dear friend Arvind Trivedi is no more”; Jyothi Venkatesh remembers the actor who played Ravan in the epic show Ramayan

JYOTHI VENKATESH remembers how the late actor Arvind Trivedi who essayed the role of Ravan in the serial Ramayan

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Arun Govil and Arvind Trivedi from Ramayan

JYOTHI VENKATESH remembers how the late actor Arvind Trivedi who essayed the role of Ravan in the serial Ramayan had managed to procure a gas connection for him way back three decades ago.

My dear friend, actor and former MP Arvind Trivedi passed away in Mumbai late yesterday night.  The 82-year-old veteran actor had been unwell for some time. Arvind became a household name with his performance as Lord Ravan in Ramanand Sagar’s legendary mythological series, Ramayan. He has acted in about 300 Hindi and Gujarati films. He was an MP from 1991 to 1996. The veteran actor’s last rites took place in Mumbai today.

Arvind Trivedi was born in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, on November 8, 1938. He started his career with Gujarati theatre. Apart from playing Ravan in Ramayan, he also played a key role in the cult TV show by Ramanand Sagar called Vikram Aur Betaal. The actor’s brother, Upendra Trivedi, was also a well-known name in Gujarati cinema. Arvind gained recognition among Gujarati audiences through religious and social films, where he contributed for 40 years. He won seven awards for acting in Gujarati films, awarded by the Government of Gujarat. In 2002, he was named as the working chairman of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). Arvind Trivedi served as CBFC chief from July 20, 2002, to October 16, 2003. In 1991, the late actor was elected as a Member of the Parliament from the Sabarkatha constituency. He was a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and held the position till 1996.

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Remembering Arvind Trivedi, Arun Govil told India Todayd, “He was a very, very good friend, a fine gentleman and a good actor, as everybody knows. He had many qualities. He didn’t have an ego, and never competed with anyone. He was a very positive man. We were in different camps. But, we used to live in the same place in UmbI have lost a dear friend and suddenly, there’s emptiness. In Ramayan, we had limited scenergaon. I have fond memories of him. I will miss him. Whenever we met, he used to fold his hands, bow his head and call me ‘Prabhu’. He was a devotee of Shiva as Ravan was. ”

I just cannot afford to be ungrateful to Arvindbhai for what he did to me in my life. I remember way back in 1988 when I had shifted bag and baggage all the way from my earlier house at Worli in Mumbai to the far flung Kandivali, I was constantly worried because I could not get the gas connection at my house and had to wait for my turn for over a year when my wife had no other alternative but to cook on the good old strove which I had taken from my earlier residence.

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Precisely around that time, I used to bump into Arvindbhai who had also become an M.P but I did not at all broach the topic of procuring a gas connection at my place by using his connections. Once when Arvindbhai saw me with a gloomy face at a party, he came up to me and asked me why I was looking very crest-fallen, I told him that after making me go to his office a few times, M.P. Murli Deora had let me down by telling me that he could not fetch me a gas connection to me  since he had already used his quota  and I had to wait for yet another year to get my gas connection. Sweetly, Arvindbhai volunteered to get me my gas connection and asked me to take my ration card to his house at Kandivali itself the next morning and promised to do the needful to me.

My wife obviously felt that like Murli Deora ,Arvind Trivedi also could not be an exception to the rule as he was also a politician but I went to his apartment near Kandivali Station with all the necessary documents like my address proof, telephone bill and my ration card. Arvindbhai immediately faxed all the documents to Centre and told me that since it was a Sunday that day, the next day I would get a call from my gas agency guy in Kandivali and asked me if two cylinders would be enough for my requirement when I told him that I would be more than happy if I could get even one cylinder. Though I did not wish to wait at his house any longer, Arvindbhai insisted that I have breakfast with him since I had gone to his house by 9 am. I did and returned to my house immediately.

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The next day I could not believe my eyes when my gas agency guy called me up and asked me to come to his shop cum office to sign some documents since I had got my gas connection. In fact, the guy even asked me why I had complained to the M.P. about him. I told him that though I had waited for over a year, he could not get me even ne gas connection, when Arvindbhai used his clout as an M.P to get me not just one but two gas connections and assured him that I did not complain about him at all to him but just told him that I was suffering because I did not have a gas connection at my house.

I wish I had bothered to go and visit Arvindbhai with whom I had spoken last year when Ramayan was on air and told him that for the first time I had watched all the episodes though I had even covered the shooting of the serial Ramayan for Jee magazine way back in 1988 when the serial was being shot in Umbergaon and even met Arvindbhai for the first time when Arun Govil who was my friend introduced me to him on location. Arvind and I could instantly connect with each other because at first he thought I was a Gujarati journalist since I was writing for Jee, a Gujarati fortnightly then. My heartfelt condolences to his three daughters who he has left behind him.  My friend Aravindbhai Trivedi has left a void which cannot be filled by any other actor. Om Shanti!

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