ON A HIGH: Raj Ghatak

From Ritwik to Raj

Ritwik Ghatak has a devoted following in England. I am now pleased to report another Ghatak is making his name — Raj Ghatak.

The 33-year-old actor, whose parents are active in Bengali arts circles in north London and whose maternal grandfather used to work for the Amrita Bazar Patrika in Calcutta, impressed as “Sweetie”, a Hijra, in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Bombay Dreams.

At the recent Shabana Azmi-Javed Akhtar play, I bumped into Raj’s father, Sunit, an obstetrician and gynaecologist, who told me his son had landed the lead role of Dick Whittington in a traditional Christmas pantomime at the Oxford Playhouse.

This is the much loved tale of Dick Whittington who journeys with his cool cat, Tommy, to London, believing its “streets are paved with gold”, meets and marries Alice, a rich merchant’s daughter, and eventually ends up as Lord Mayor of London.

Tish Francis, director of the Oxford Playhouse and the pantomime’s producer, recalled: “Just as we were beginning to despair of finding our eponymous hero, Raj came into the audition room: bright eyed, handsome, good energy and connection, a voice which could cope with either the more popular or traditional musical theatre numbers, and good experience behind him.”

The reviews have been kind to Raj, who is making his debut in pantomime, a very English form of theatre which requires serious audience participation from children and their parents and grandparents, who boo, hiss and cheer. The hero, Raj, is always cheered.

“As Dick, the rising actor Raj Ghatak cut an elegant figure,” said the Oxford Times.

The Oxford Mail enthused: “Raj Ghatak makes a smashing romantic lead as the strutting Dick.”

Indians, who like to include Oxford and Cambridge on trips to Britain, should take the late train back to London after seeing Raj in Dick Whittington which runs until January 14.

Picking Raj to play the lead in Dick Whittington is like getting Sean Connery to play Gabbar in Sholay but England, much to its credit, has moved in the direction of colour blind casting.

“I think it was adventurous for the Oxford Playhouse to cast an Asian — I am the only person of colour in the cast,” said Raj, who added the Oxford Playhouse was “a wonderful, wonderful company” and he was “having a wonderful time”.

WATER WOES : Cover of Lucky Disanayake’s bookLINE OF CONTROL: Gulshan Grover with Meera

Torrid time

The cover photograph on the book on climate change Lucky Dissanayake has published of palm trees blowing in the wind reminded me of the picture I had taken of the seafront at Bandra in July. There, I hope, the similarities end.

I would not like to see Bombay, Calcutta or any other coastal city in India disappear under water, which is what is likely to happen unless we act now, according to Lucky’s latest book, Global Warning: The Last Chance for Change.

Just as Lucky was showing me the book, something terrifying and unprecedented in my experience happened in Kensal Rise in north London. A tornado struck for less than a minute but partially or completely destroyed 100 houses. Some had roofs sucked into the sky by the twister.

Describing the trail of destruction left behind on December 8, one news report said that the tornado “blasted through windows, crashed through walls, ripped up trees and left six people in need of medical attention”.

The tornado in London was almost as fierce as the devastating 130mph one in Birmingham in July last year.

Is this global warming? Probably not but it made me treat Lucky’s book — it has been written by Paul Brown, former environment correspondent of the Guardian — with even greater respect.

Lucky’s company, Dakini Books, has previously published books on Bollywood and on cricket but this one, where the photographs graphically tell the story of climate change, deals with survival.

Her foreword has been written by Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, president of the Maldives whose entire archipelago, being in the “frontline”, would be submerged if the sea level rises — as very nearly happened during the 2004 tsunami.

“For countries like the Maldives, global warning could very well become a matter of life and death,” he says.

Lucky has turned a little messianic about climate change but is right to point out: “The waters most people in north India use are reliant on the glaciers in the Himalayas staying around.”

I don’t want to be flippant but it seems Mamata Banerjee would be better employed planting trees, not potatoes.

Serial killings

Despite being the land of Shakespeare and nodding daffodils, there is a darker aspect to England, highlighted by the murder of five prostitutes in Suffolk, who have all probably been victims of one serial killer.

Surprisingly, Britain has quite a tradition of serial killings, dating back to 1888 when the still unidentified “Jack the Ripper” dismembered five prostitutes in the East End of London. In recent decades, Dr Harold Shipman, an apparently respectable family doctor, was convicted in 2000 of murdering 15 of his elderly patients, though a later inquiry revealed he had killed, at least, 215 and possibly up to 457 people over a 25-year period.

Also infamous is Peter William Sutcliffe, the “Yorkshire Ripper” who was convicted in 1981 of the murders of 13 women in the north of England and attacks on another seven.

Ian Brady and his lover, Myra Hindley, who killed five children for pleasure between 1963 and 1965, buried four of them on Saddleworth Moor in Lancashire in what came to be known as the “Moors Murders”.

There was a time when I used to go and see Professor David Canter, a “criminal profiler”, when he was based at Surrey University in Guildford.

Now that the “Suffolk strangler” is on the loose, the opinions of Canter, currently director of the Centre for Investigative Psychology at Liverpool University, are again been sought by the media.

India, too, has its share of serial killers, Canter reminds me, and recalls the “Stoneman” who was held responsible for killing 13 pavement dwellers in Calcutta in 1989 but never caught.

Canter, who has been to India to meet senior Indian police officers about whom he has formed a very high opinion, believes there is an urgent need to teach investigative psychology to the junior ranks. They think beating a suspect is a good way of extracting information. It isn’t.

Ties that bind

Rami Ranger, an Indian businessman in London, is taking the initiative in setting up a worthwhile and long overdue enterprise, the Pakistan India Friendship Forum UK, with a formal launch in the Commons on February 8.

According to Ranger, a Tory supporter, the forum will help Indians and Pakistanis “to celebrate their common heritage, history, language, culture, religion, their common destinies in Britain — and food”.

At a dinner at the home of a Pakistani businessman where prominent Indians and Pakistanis were invited, neither Indian nor Pakistan food was served.

“It was fish & chips,” complained a friend, who was unwise enough to attend.

Will they ever learn? No biryani, no bonding.

Tittle tattle

A good role model for Indo-Pakistani amity is Bollywood “bad boy” Gulshan Grover, who has been in touch with me from the Karachi Film Festival to reveal he has been busy bonding with Pakistani actress Meera.