He bopped into stardom with dollops of slapstick and lipstick in the ‘90s, and then become a parliamentarian. At 57, his swagger and smile are firmly in place. The dance moves may have slowed a bit. Govinda is back in the reckoning with Indian Pro Music League, a TV reality show. He has much to tell…excerpts from an interview to Eshita Bhargava.
Act One, Scene One: We are from Gujranwala and my father, Arun, was a successful actor. Mehboob Khan Sahab launched him as a hero in Aurat in 1940. We had a bungalow on Carter Road in Mumbai. But my dad suffered heavy losses after producing a film. We sold the property and the family [Govinda has four sisters and an elder brother] moved to Virar. The loss took a toll on my dad’s health. When my mother was expecting me, she began living a sadhu’s life. That alienated me from my father and he wouldn’t take me in his lap for a year after I was born as he thought it was because of me that his wife became a sadhu. Over time, he accepted...
