Bodybuilder Balsara

Boman Balsara, credited with being the first bodybuilder to win the title of Mr Bombay expired recently at the age of 88. A bodybuilding pioneer in the late 1940s, he was a household name in the community, admired by young aspirants of physical culture, including myself.

It was a privilege to have trained at Pestonji D. Marker’s Physical Culture Home at Mazgaon where I was fortunate to have two dedicated people present daily to guide, supervise and inspire those who sought their professional assistance.

Framroze Charna, the overall instructor and administrator, was a strict disciplinarian with an authoritative firmness of tone which demanded obedience. One long, stern look from him was all that was required. Few people know that actor Raj Kapoor’s father Prithviraj, a well built newcomer during the post-partition period, sought permission to train at Marker’s gym under Charna’s watchful eye. After Prithviraj’s demise I saw a magazine photograph in which he was standing in the center of a group of physical culturists displaying his well sculpted body. I noticed Charna sitting with the group and asked how he came to be there. Charna responded in his matter of fact manner: "He trained with me, and we permitted him to join an all-Zoroastrian gym because he was very well built.”

Coming back to Balsara, many benefited from his presence. He trained with dedication way beyond middle age, his last appearance being in a competition in 1964-65 at the age of about 45 years when the Mr Maharashtra Shree was held in Poona, a rare feat indeed.

Boman Balsara posing

In the 1960s and 1970s many newcomers surfaced on the Zoroastrian bodybuilding scene such as Kersi Kasad, Maneck Deboo, Pesi Patrawala, Bomi Irani, Adi Irani, Jehangir Patwa and the one and only Zoroastrian winner of the Mr India title, Tehemton Govadia.

With the passing of Balsara, the bodybuilding world has lost an iconic personality from an era when the sport was at a developing stage.

RASHID S. KHOSRAVI