Narlikar remembered in film by childhood friend Sai Paranjpye
Following Jayant Narlikar's passing on May 20, a film by filmmaker Sai Paranjpye for his 80th birthday stands as a personal tribute from a lifelong friend.
The film was made after a request from Dr Somak Raychaudhuri, then director of the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA). 'He knew about my friendship with Jayant and my work in media and asked me to make something for the occasion. I told him that I don't know anything about astrophysics, so how could I make a film, but he told me to do it my own way.' shared Paranjpye.
Paranjpye and Narlikar have been friends since childhood. 'We've known each other since we were eight years old; I still remember us sitting on a stone elephant as kids,' she said.
Their families were also connected. Narlikar's father, Vishnu Narlikar, was a physicist who admired Paranjpye's grandfather, Raghunath Purushottam Paranjpye, the first Indian Wrangler at Cambridge. This connection led to visits between the families in Banaras, where Vishnu Narlikar worked at Banaras Hindu University.
Paranjpye included a surprise performance by a Marathi Tamasha troupe for the birthday event. Dressed in traditional Marathi attire and accompanied by dholkis, the troupe entered unannounced, briefly confusing the audience. One of the performers addressed the crowd, saying they had come to honour a man who had contributed significantly to science. 'You promote education and expect us to be educated, but when we want to celebrate someone like Dr Narlikar, who's contributed so much to astrophysics, we are stopped. That's not fair,' Paranjpye recalls.
The gesture was well received by the audience, and IUCAA professor and astrophysicist Ajit Kembhavi invited the performers to continue. Their act was a blend of song and dance in traditional dhol-tasha form. It included a 'gurn' song, traditionally sung in praise of Lord Ganesha but adapted for Dr Narlikar. 'Jayant was deeply moved,' Paranjpye shares.
This performance was captured on film. As per Paranjpe, two years ago, the film was then screened at Ashoka University, where Dr Raychaudhuri serves as Vice-Chancellor. 'He insisted we screen the film at the university, and since most of my work is archived there, it felt right to have it shown in that setting.'
Paranjpye described the film as a personal tribute shaped by their shared history. 'It wasn't a documentary; it was a film made in my style, and Jayant truly appreciated it.'
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