I used to read a lot of Hindi paperbacks during my childhood. Gulshan Nanda was one of my favorite novelists. His Kati Patang fascinated me because the main character was named after me – Kamal Sinha.
A few years later I went to see the movie Kati Patang – with my family. One of the first scene had the Gyanam Paremaya Dyayam (Knowledge is supreme goal) posted high. I have seen it somewhere, I couldn’t recall where.
Soon it became clear to me that it was the IIT Bombay’s gate, which I have seen many times. More scenes and he was shown in a hostel. He was good in studies, which I was not, he had a beautiful girlfriend, which I didn’t have. Apart from some differences, we could say we were the same – Kamal Sinha in real and Kamal Sinha (which Rajesh Khanna tried to enact as) Many famous people are enacted on screen by famous actors. Mostly they are dead when his happens. Only once, when I was still very much alive, somebody as famous as Rajesh Khanna, tried to play my role. Good attempt!
And both studied in IIT Bombay. And perhaps in electrical engineering. That made my day.
The movie was not bad.