Bhojpuri star and former BJP MP Dinesh Lal Yadav ‘Nirahua’ said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the best in today’s politics. Earlier he used to be a fan of RJD founder Lalu Prasad Yadav, and then followed Mulayam Singh and Akhilesh Yadav. Nirahua also revealed many secrets about his personal life in Rajat Sharma’s ‘Aap Ki Adalat’ show.
Asked about his relationship with his co-star Amrapali Dubey with whom he has done 35 movies, Nirahua said: “Our fans created all this ‘chakkar’ (affairs). Earlier when I used to co-star with Pakhi Ji (Pakhi Hegde with whom Nirahua co-starred in his earlier movies), and I used to go on stage, the audience used to ask me to bring Bhauji (my wife)… and after I co-starred with Amrapali Ji in movies and went for election campaigning in Azamgarh, people used to chant slogans ‘Dinesh Lal Yadav Zindabad, Amrapali Bhauji Zindabad’. I used to tell people, ‘arre yaar’, why are you spoiling somebody’s life. I am married, I have two children. She is such a beautiful actor, if she marries, she will choose a person of her choice. Why do you make her ‘Bhauji’ (my wife)? Now, what can we do?….”
When Rajat Sharma pointed out that it was Amrapali, who when asked about her relationship, had commented, ‘what better thing can happen than an affair with Nirahua..marrying means having a dip in the Holy Ganga’?
Nirahua replied: “Today we are sitting in Adalat, and our Judge (Malini Awasthi) is here. You make a law that a man with two kids can marry, I am ready for it.”
When Rajat Sharma pointed out that he had prayed at Ram Lala temple in Ayodhya with Amrapali by his side, Nirahua replied: “Look, when we do some show, or visit some shrine, and the heroine says, I will go with you for darshan, what should I say? That I will do the darshan alone and I won’t take you with me? That’s why we went together”.
Rajat Sharma: You are not that innocent. When both of you met Swami Rambhadracharya, he asked whether she is your sister, and you replied, she is my Ardhangini (wife).
Nirahua replied: “Let me explain the reason. We went and touched the feet of Baba. He joked with me asking whether your sister is with you. Then I too joked with Baba and said, she is my Ardhangini. He is a great guru and he knows everything. The baba has claimed that he has seen Bhagwan Ram. When he has seen so much, she has played the role of my wife in 35 movies, she never played the role of sister in a single movie, and the Baba was asking, is she your sister?”
KARISMA KAPOOR
The Bhojpuri star revealed his crush on Bollywood actor Karisma Kapoor when he was an adolescent. When Rajat Sharma asked him why he used to put posters of Karisma Kapoor on the walls of his home, Nirahua replied: “Mujhe Lagta Hai, Woh Jawani Jawani Nahin, Jishi Koi Kahani Nahin’ (Adolescene is worthless if there are no happenings). We have all got a life. Nobody knows whether one will get another life. We don’t want to go to Heaven and God tellin you that you were offered everything in life. So I don’t lose any opportunity.”
Nirahua disclosed: “I am a big fan of Karisma Kapoor. I never missed the first day, first show of her movie. I bunked classes to watch her first show. Once I even sneaked out of an Army NCC camp to watch the first Friday show. I did not want my record to be broken. I was so crazy that I used to pin Karisma’s posters on the walls of our home. When my father used to do pooja, some of the smoke from incense sticks used to go towards those posters. My dad used to scold and thrash me for these posters.”
Rajat Sharma: Do you still remember those thrashings?
Nirahua: Now when I go to sleep, my dad appears in my dreams and thrashes me.
Rajat Sharma: You haven’t stopped doing mischief?
Nirahua: “A monkey, even when old, never stops doing somersaults.”
MUMBAI FILM INDUSTRY
The Bhojpuri star lashed out at the Mumbai film industry alleging that it was trying to “degrade” Bhojpuri movies by labelling them as “vulgar”. He said: “It is a big conspiracy to defame Bhojpuri movies. We make our movies at a cost of nearly Rs 1 crore, while their movies cost Rs 10 crore, 20 crore, 50 crore to Rs 100 crore. When they try to screen their movies in our cinema halls, the owners say, Nirahua’s movie is being screened, we won’t screen yours. Industry people start thinking how dare these owners don’t screen movies of big Bollywood superstars. Then they find methods to ‘degrade’ Bhojpuri movies. In every interview, on every platform, Bhojpuri movies are described as vulgar and obscene. Let the nation decide. If our songs have vulgar lyrics, Hindi movies also have vulgar lyrics. In our movie, if we show a wife asking her husband to fix the hook of her bra, who can do that except the husband? And what do they show, ‘Choli Ke Peechey Kya Hai’?
Nirahua said: “I want to make one thing clear. Movies made for entertainment, in whichever industry, are made like this. It is for the audience to choose what to see. Pawan Singh (Bhojpuri actor) Ji once said, I sang more than 500 bhajans for gods and goddesses, why don’t people watch them? Why do they watch ‘lollypop’ song? Whereve we go across the world, they play similar songs. So, it is the audience who should decide what they would like to watch.”
ON BHOJPURI STARS
Nirahua frankly described the manners of other top Bhojpuri movie stars like Manoj Tiwari, Ravi Kishen, Pawan Singh and Khesari Lal.
Asked whom he considers as No.1 in the Bhojpuri film industry, given the present competition for the top slot between Pawan Singh and Khesari Lal, Nirahua replied jokingly: “I have told both these brothers that the top three slots are reserved for Nirahua, and they should fight for the fourth and fifth slots.”
Rajat Sharma: Whom do you consider the most mischievous among these?
Nirahua: “Pawan Singh is the power star. He is the most mischievous. During the 2019 elections, we decided to go for filing nominations – Pawan Singh, Khesari Lal and me. A helicopter was booked. I and Pawan Singh sat. Pawan Singh wanted the helicopter to take off. I said, Khesari is coming. He became crazy. He said, why did you call him? I said, let him come too. He challenged me saying, show me if all three can go. Before the chopper was to take off, Pawan Singh stood up and asked the pilot to come to the back. He said he would himself fly the chopper. He said, I am the power star, I will fly the chopper. Khesari was scared. He said, I am not going, and he went away. Then Pawan Singh asked the pilot to take off. So, nobody can match him in the matter of pranks. People used to say, he is Hanuman. He is still like that.”
Rajat Sharma: I heard Ravi Kishen is the one who gives ‘gyaan’ to all? Tells all of you, how to handle producers?
Nirahua: Actually, he is the guru among all of us. Whenever we meet, he says, ‘Zindagi Zhand Baa, Phir Bhi Ghamand Baa’.
On politics, Nirahua described how he first became a fan of RJD founder Lalu Prasad Yadav, and then followed Mulayam Singh and Akhilesh Yadav, and now he considers Narendra Modi as the best among all.