Mehboob made several attempts to make it as a hero between 1931 and 1935 but luck kept eluding him. The pragmatist that he was, he was quick to see the writing on the all. He realised that his childhood dream of making it as a hero might remain a dream forever. His foray into acting, which had begun in anonymity inside a closed cask, might not go beyond playing character roles! Without wasting any more time, he decided to move behind the camera. With the help and guidance of two of his closest friends — cameraman Faredoon Irani and a laboratory assistant, Gangadhar Nagwekar — Mehboob worked on a script and, when it was ready, he sought an appointment from the Sagar boss, Dr Ambalal Patel, for a narration. But the crucial rendezvous didn’t happen easily. After cancelling several appointments, Patel finally listened to Mehboob’s script. He was impressed by the concept but was not convinced by Mehboob’s desire to direct the film himself. He thought the prospect of entrusting the direction of big-budget feature film to an extra, who had no previous experience in filmmaking and who had never assisted any established director, preposterous.

That’s when Faredoon Irani, who had helped Mehboob shape the script, stuck to his point. Irani believed in Mehboob’s potential. He was convinced beyond doubt that he had it in him to do full justice to the script he had written. He pleaded with Dr Patel to give his friend a chance on the assurance that he would take all responsibility for the outcome. “I will shoot with Mehboob for three days,” Irani assured Dr Patel, “and if you don’t like what we do, we will scrap the footage and I will make good the losses.” Nobody could doubt Irani’s credentials as a cameraman or his knowledge of cinema. So the Sagar Movietone bosses had no option but to give in to his request.

Mehboob got into the act with Irani backing him all the way. Three days later, when the top brass at Sagar saw what Mehboob had shot, they were highly impressed. Mehboob had bowled them over. There was no stopping the boy from Sarar after that.

Mehboob made his debut as a director in 1935. The film vas Al Hilal (The Judgement of Allah), a costume drama set against the backdrop of the Ottaman empire, where the Roman army led by Caesar (played by Pande) take on the fiefdom of Muslim rulers. Ziyad (Kumar), the son of the Sultan (Asooji), is captured by the Romans. Rahil (Indira), a Roman princess, falls in love with him and asks a Muslim woman, Leila (Sitara Devi), to guard him. Leila smuggles a message written in her blood to the Sultan, and Ziyad escapes following an elaborate chase scene. The film was apparently inspired by Mehboob Khan’s Hollywood idol Cecil B. DeMille’s film The Sign of the Cross (1932). Sitara Devi, an emerging Kathak dancer, was the heroine of the film. She faced the camera for the mahurat shot at the Imperial Studio. The film also had big names of the time, like Kumar, Indira and Yakub. Sitara, who went on to become one of the highest paid actresses of the forties, married K.Asif in 1944 – Rauf Ahmed

When Ardeshir Irani launched a new production company in 1931 called Sagar Movietone in partnership with two other stalwarts, Chimanlal B. Desai and Dr Ambalal Patel, as a subsidiary of Imperial Film Company, Mehboob was transferred to the new set-up as head of production. The same year came Sagar’s first talkie (in the wake of Ardeshir Irani’s Alam Ara, the first ever talkie in India, produced under the banner of the Imperial Film Company). Entitled Romantic Prince, the film had Master Vithal and Zubeida in the lead. (Incidentally Zubeida had played the lead in Alam Ara as well.) Directed by Prafulla Ghosh, Romantic Prince gave Mehboob his first ‘speaking’ role. Though, as the heroine Zubeida’s younger brother, his destiny was to be constantly flogged by the villain, Yakub! However, it was in Sagar Movietone’s Vengeance is Mine that Mehboob first made a real impression as an actor. His effective performance as the father of the heroine, Sabita Devi, got him another raise of Rs 10. The role had come his way accidentally when a theatre actor, who had been originally chosen to play the role, proved inadequate. His performance in Nautchwali, where he co-starred with Jaddanbai and Yakub, took him another step further. But his long-cherished dream of being a ‘hero’ was still far away!

Once again, touched by Mehboob’s persistence, Ismail Jeeva decided to lend a helping hand. One afternoon, he told to ‘crazy dreamer’ that he would take him to the boss of Imperial Film Company, Ardeshir Irani, whom he happened know. Mehboob was ecstatic. That was the opportunity the self-assured young man needed.

Irani, a big man with a prominent paunch, sized up the starry-eyed youngster and tried to scare him away. “Go back to your village and do something sensible. Work with your father in the farm. Don’t waste your time here; it’s not easy to survive here,” he told him sternly. Before Mehboob could collect his wits to answer the big man, he heard the azaan’s (muezzin) call to prayer from a nearby mosque. The youngster abruptly excused himself with, “I’ll be back after my namaz,” and walked away to the guard’s cabin to say his prayers. Rather than getting affronted, Irani was impressed by the young man’s attitude, and his commitment to duty. He at once asked him to be enrolled among the ‘extras’ in his company.

That was the beginning. Mehboob had finally found his way into the film city through the imposing gates of Imperial Film Company! He was put on the rolls of the film company on a monthly salary of Rs 30. It didn’t really matter to Mehboob that as an ‘extra’ he would be just another obscure face in the crowd!

Mehboob’s maiden assignment was in a film titled Ali Baba aur Chalis Chor, directed by B.P Mishra for Imperial Film Company. He was one of the 40 thieves. But, ironically, it was to be an ‘invisible’ debut! The poor boy was shoved into a huge cask and asked to remain hidden in it throughout the ‘take’! As Mehboob remarked jocularly, years later in an interview, he never understood why he was kept in a cask if the camera was not to capture a glimpse of him. Interestingly, Ali Baba aur Chalis Chor became a significant part of movie-lore because it launched two future stars — Sulochana and Jilloo. Mehboob was also part of another film called Morye Patan in which a night scene was attempted for the first time in an Indian film.

Mehboob continued to be invisible in his early films! To Id insult to injury, no one thought of paying him his salary for the first few months either! Apparently, by oversight, there was no employee card made in his name at the time of his enrolment. Insecure as he was, Mehboob didn’t venture to ask for his salary for fear of being chucked out. After struggling to keep his body and soul together for a while, Mehboob mentioned his predicament to friend Ismail Jeeva, who, once again, approached Ardeshir Irani with a plea to rectify the situation.

As soon as he got his first pay packet, Mehboob sent Rs 10 his father. He then hired a small room in a chawl in the Bombay Central area along with a friend of his from Sarar. Until then he had been sleeping on a bench at the Grant Road railway station, ‘arranged’ for him by another railway employee from his hometown. Interestingly, Mehboob’s fellow-’extras’ those days were the Billimoria brothers, Eddie and Dinshaw, and Prithviraj Kapoor — all of whom were to become major stars later – Rauf Ahmed