His was the Master’s Voice

Partap Sharma is one of those legends you miss all the time without having met them even once. It is not difficult to infer from the heartfelt tributes by his close friends and well-meaning contemporaries as to why he didn’t receive as much national and international acclaim as he should have.

Yes, he won the ‘Voice of India’ Dada Saheb Phalke Award, a National award as film actor, and the Thespo lifetime achievement award among many other accolades, but the depth of his oeuvre and the potential of his renaissance vision called for proactive response from a broad-based audience, which had a lot to gain in the guiding light of his non-conformism, so also his dream project of incepting the Voice Institute and Theatre Arts Laboratory to help people move up the value chain of communication, including body language and conversation with birds and animals.? Like the protagonist Balbir of his novel Days of the Turban, countless youths in the country are caught in the web of transition and need help in blending legacy with modernity, weeding out the flawed notions of both. His gratitude speech from the hospital bed after winning The Thespo Lifetime Achievement Award is a chershed treasure for theatre lovers. Note how he highlights the need to be affirmative in theatre criticism, and how he cherishes the audience, the supposed cog that plays a vital role in the spinning of the theatrical wheel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIZ570g6i3A .

Partap sir’s accomplishments as a creative person knew no bounds, unlike the recognition from the other side, which is a ruthless market governed by the diktats of the demand-supply dynamic. A dated newspaper report on his Shakespeare audio CD launch carries an evocative headline “Back in the limelight” which hints at the tragedy of market-created shelf lives in a nutshell.

This providence is a given for all mavericks of Pratap sir's clan, unassuming individuals of copious talents and plentiful insights who wear their hearts on their sleeves in lieu of success. In their company, many ‘specialists’ are likely to come face to face with the pretence pervading their barbed zones of authority. The fountain of experiential wisdom unleashed in a gushing torrent leaves them hopelessly drenched, and utterly dazed and confused (way more than the Texan teens of the 70s in the Richard Linklater movie)

These pundits can gleefully accept the global interconnectedness of financial markets without the slightest idea of the intricacies, but they can’t appreciate the holistic connect between the seemingly disparate man-made domains and spheres which Partap Sharma thrived on all his life.

It is impossible to slot Partap sir into clichéd definitions. Yes, he was an accomplished author and playwright, astute filmmaker, competent anchor, actor, and voice-over artist, but he was much more – a raconteur, karate black-belt, equestrian, archer, compulsive travel freak, chess player, zen practitioner, history buff, gems & jewels afficionado and above all, ardent student of life and selfless activist at heart.

Like his name ‘Partap’ retained the authentic flavour of his native Punjab, his effervescent aura, amply evident from the videos and voice clips in the public domain, exudes the next-door neighbour charm of an immensely likeable entertainer and educator, keen to strike a conversation with the observant and the curious, unlike many film artistes, thespians, writers, directors, and ad professionals who are absolutely in love with their distended stardom. They leave no opportunity to philosophise their mundane affairs and mediocre productions like they were some Socratic truths or Einsteinian paradigms.?Being a commoner among commoners is virtually unthinkable for most Lords, whether from SoBo or suburbs.

Beginning his career voyage from the lowest ranks, Partap sir went to carve a niche as the ad world’s top voice over artiste and ace documentary film narrator, led by his passion for the language, so also the discipline to remain an ardent student of his art and craft.?

His never-say-die spirit did not desert him even in the ICU ward while undergoing treatment as an emphysema patient. Urged by a fellow patient to record literary classics, he launched audio CDs of the Bard immediaitely following discharge from the hospital, bringing alive the characters of Julius Caesar, The Merchant of Venice, and Macbeth – male and female – in his wonderfully modulated voice, with the wheelchair and oxygen masks as his constant companions.???

Above all, Partap sir uncovered unpalatable truths through his stories and plays without getting bogged down by the stiff opposition from the powers that be. A case in point was the seven-year long court battle to reverse the thoughtless ban on A Touch of Brightness, a play featuring a woman protagonist from Mumbai’s Red light area which won global acclaim and is now a pivotal subject matter for the academia. (Meera Nair’s ‘Salaam Bombay’ probed the same theme two decades later and her screenplay bears an uncanny resemblance to Partap sir’s script!)

Partap sir clearly didn’t believe in half measures and strove to touch the depth of every sphere he touched. How we wish he had made a sweet exception in one area - his smoking habit - which is likely to have fatally impaired his lung tissues, depriving the world of the miracles that were yet brewing in his larynx, the magical voice box of the man known as The Voice!

Do savour its magic at? https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAig-5_IWzigzBClIH2QXwS9e7nGrh75x&si=v47SGtt1eNhajIIC and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMEqprO7ixg on the YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/tarasharmashow of his daughter Tara Sharma Saluja , well known 'Page 3' actress and social entrepreneur, with promise and potential that should ideally traverse across all pages of the tabloid in celluloid form. We wish her every success on the way forward.

Beyond the slightest doubt, Partap sir's civil engineer father’s consulting stints at places as geographically spread out as Ceylon, Tanganyika, and Libya would have given him the most conducive environs to hone his natural abilities and affinities, so would have his formative education at Kandy-based Trinity College, Bishop Cotton School, Shimla and St. Xavier’s College, Bombay.?We hope Tara's channel puts up more capsules on her father’s work and thoughts in the time to come – whether travel diaries, fond memories of formative years, vintage ad and Son et lumière voice overs, film clips, book excerpts, and even the songs he recorded for the family.

We hope at least a few of his novels are adapted for the stage and screen in the time to come. We also hope his pet project 'Voice Institute and Theatre Arts Laboratory' is steered in whichever form possible. Hearty congrats if it is already up and running!

?------------------------

Nipper, the HMV logo dog inquisitively staring at the phonograph, is a cherished motif for music lovers across the globe, the surreal creation of English painter Francis Barraud?in memory of his brother Mark and his pet Nipper (who used to run over to the empyrean device each time his master’s voice was heard from within, hence ?tilted “His Master’s Voice”.)

Well, Partap sir had a pet called Ranjha, the real-life hero of the book Dog Detective Ranjha,?who did more than solve mysteries and sniff out crime. Ranjha made many a astute observation on the flawed, over-glorified species known as homo sapiens.

We can very well imagine Ranjha peeping into the metaphorical phonograph playing His Master’s Voice, the eternal voice of conscience and cognizance!

The Voice of Partap Sharma!

?

?

?

?