Saare Sheher Mein World Loin Day

Yesterday was World Lion Day. So, there is no reason why today can’t be celebrated as World Loin Day. By which one means raising a glass — or, as is wont these days, banging a pot — to Hamid Ali Khan a.k.a. Ajit, or, more precisely, the role of Seth Deen Dayal the actor plays in Subhash Ghai’s 1976 film, Kalicharan. The dialogue itself has taken on a life of its own: ‘Saara sheher mujhe Loin ke naam se jaanta hai’ — Everyone in town knows me as Loin. The subtle switch of position by the two vowels — what dusty grammarians would note as a change of diphthong — may elicit chuckles, but in the context of the scene, it still creates a frisson.

The scene has the sethji turning from a stuffed tiger (not lion) to confront DSP Prabhakar played by Shatrughan Sinha. The policeman has come to let the black marketeer, smuggler and citizens’ terror known by his nom de guerre ‘Lion’ know that he has seen through the crooked Seth’s machinations and will bring him to justice. After not batting an eyelid to his threats and smashing an aquarium — to tell the cop what happens to fish that are taken out of water — the immortal Loin/Lion lines are uttered. Ajit may have become the subject of a thousand memes thanks to this dialogue. But whether it be in the forests of Gir or in cinema, we, as a nation — nay, civilisation — have since girded our lions.