Amid much fanfare, Shatrughan Sinha promoted his book, Anything But Khamosh: The Shatrughan Sinha Biography on the last day of the Jaipur Literature Festival. On the panel of the session were Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, writer Bharathi S Pradhan, and adman Suhel Seth.
Everyone, including Tharoor, hoped to hear Sinha’s real views on the BJP leadership. Instead, the smooth Sinha kept the crowd entertained with his quick witted comments on his own adventures, sexual and otherwise.
Sinha said his book was an honest narration and had been written for a young readership. Sinha had smart answers to every question that Suhel Seth posed about his marriage, his love interests, and the casting couch. Asked if he had ever wanted to marry any specific Bollywood colleague, he replied: “Problem yeh nahi thi ki kisse shadi karun; meri problem yeh thi ki kisse na karun. (My problem wasn’t about whom to marry, but whom not to marry.”
The discussion turned serious when he spoke about the time he contemplated quitting politics. Apparently, he decided to stay on the suggestion of ‘his guru’ LK Advani.
A member of the audience asked the famous Shotgun his views on the poor attendance of people like Sachin Tendulkar and Rekha in the Rajya Sabha. Never known to be a great diplomat, he replied, “Aise logon ko laake yeh time pass ka kya matlab hai. (What is the point of selecting such people?) This is not the first time this has happened. The great MF Hussain and many others too were brought in just to raise the dignity of the parliament,” he said with heavy irony.
Of course, the crowd cheered.
