Patna, Aug 28 The world lives on hope...
At a time when stand-up comedy and stand-up mimicry have assumed a centerstage, a rickshaw-puller in Bihar, who can mimic more than 50 stars and VIPs, still awaits the much-deserved recognition.
Though admirers of his art vary from Assembly to streets, Deepak who has been a rickshaw-puller since childhood hopes that someday he will get "due appreciation".
Deepak told that he had bagged an award at an event held in the Bihar Assembly. State Tourism minister Narayan Prasad and others were present at that time who appreciated him a lot.
Hailing from Topchanchi in Jharkhand's Dhanbad district, the artiste has been working as rickshaw-puller in Patna for the past 15 years to eke out a living.
He got a stage when he was 20-25 year old but with that he could not support his family and took rickshaw-pulling as a profession.
Deepak who can immaculately mimic Bollywood stars Dev Anand, Amitabh Bachchan, Shatrughan Sinha, Amrish Puri, Ajit, Prithviraj Kapoor, Mithun Chakraborty, Raaj Kumar, among others.
When he mimics former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad, it takes people by surprise.
As a five-six year old, he attempted to imitate Raaj Kumar for the first time and succeeded to an extent.
Though he was taken to villages and towns for stage programmes, he used to get nominal remuneration for it.
Deepak, who is still single, comes from a humble background and is the breadwinner of the family.
He said though mimicry has been his passion, he did not know that it would not prove fruitful for him.
A disappointed Deepak claimed that Bihar and Jharkahnd do not value art.
"In 1990, I thought of going to Mumbai but could not do so due to family's responsibility."
He said that mimicry is not so easy as it requires practice. "Though I can mimic all the heroes easily but faced difficulty in copying Amrish Puri."
His family is everything for Deepak. Though he is a rickshaw-puller in Patna, but with his earnings he is making his younger brother study M.Sc. in Delhi.
Deepak has full faith that better days will come for him too.
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