Golden girl

  Madhubala has been described as the most bewitching beauty to grace the silver screen and someone whose legend lives on even today, 42 years after her untimely death in 1969 at the age
of 36. She was an actress whose subtle sensuality and dazzling personality not only charmed her co-stars but also prompted her huge fan following to call her Venus, the greek goddess of beauty and love.

Khatija Akbar, based on painstaking research work and meetings with those who knew Madhubala, has produced an excellent account of the late actress which should be a part of every cinema lover’s collection.

The book captures the personality of this vivacious, versatile and talented actress and narrates how she floored her co-stars like Shammi Kapoor and Dilip Kumar. Her break up with the latter and the circumstances leading to it have been captured with immense sensitivity. On page 127, there is a mention of the only time Kumar spoke about his former co-star in a Filmfare feature on ‘Unforgettable Faces’.

According to Kumar, “Madhubala’s beauty was so overpowering that in paying homage to it people have missed out on a lot of her other attributes. Of course she was beautiful, though I don’t think hers was a perfectly chiseled face. She had an accentuated nose, though it didn’t take away from the totality of her beauty… As an actress, her greatest asset was her spontaneity. She’d appear casual, totally unassuming until the moment she’d suddenly come alive… Mughal-e-Azam immortalised the Madhubala visage’’.

The book also talks about Madhubala’s “only one friend” Sarla, actor Bharat Bhushan’s wife with whom the late actress shared a close relationship. The two would meet often and go out together.

The author also brings out well how a young Shammi Kapoor was totally smitten by the Diva and was unable to focus on his work. It is mentioned that he was so lovelorn that in a besotted condition, he would weep in front of his mother, hoping she would find a way to get him married to this paragon of beauty, only to be reminded that such a union was out of the question since Madhubala was a Muslim, With Dev Anand, she acted in the maximum number of films and they were the “Adonis and Venus of the Indian screen’’. The imaginatively picturised ‘Achaji mein haari chalo maan jao na’ from Kalapani showed Madhubala at her best in terms of expressing different emotions.

Of course, audiences also saw her portray different roles opposite many lead actors. But some of her shots from Chalti ka Naam Gaadi, Barsaat ki Raat and Mughal-e-Azam will always remain etched in the minds of cine lovers.

Dev Anand once told me that Madhubala’s sensuality and presence could overawe anyone and that many actors used to forget what they had to say in her presence. Her laughter brought enormous joy and her mischievous look was most seductive.

The book is a must read for cinegoers and all fans of this actress whose “aura has not dimmed with the passage of time”.

Disco Dancer – Book released

 

US-based author Anuvab Pal feels Mithun Chakrabarty-starrer Disco Dancer is the worst film of the 1980s. Yet, he chose to write a book on this very film, with the screenplay, trivia, and interviews from the hero Mithun, music composer Bappi Lahiri and director B Subhash.

Pal, incidentally, has also written films like Loins Of Punjab Presents and The President Is Coming.

Here's an excerpt from the book Disco Dancer: A Comedy In Five Acts -- an interview of Bappi Lahiri, who owes his career to this film:

Bappi Lahiri
Music Composer
Padma Bhushan Winner
Composed music for over a 1,000 Bollywood and regional films, including Disco Dancer
A Guinness World Record Holder
No other introduction required
The only direction I had to the legendary Mr Bappi Lahiri's house was that it was near yesteryear star Jeetendra's house in the Juhu suburb of Mumbai. A particular oddity of Juhu landmarks is that they usually centre around forgotten movie star homes, rather than street signs or house numbers or real landmarks like an important intersection or a massive hotel (both of which exist prominently).
So with Mr Lahiri, I was told to take a left from a piano repair shop, follow an arrow leading to a pizza delivery place, ask about Jeetendra's bungalow and then ask again from there. Of course, had Mr Jeetendra (which wasn't even his real name) known the important role he would play in city navigation in the winter of his life, he would have perhaps taken his acting career in B-grade classics like Mawaali (Ruffian) and Justice Choudhury (self-explanatory) far more seriously.
So there I was in front of an imposing bungalow which didn't have a plaque saying 'Jeetendra's Bungalow' but said 'Prem Milan' ('Lovers Unite') instead. A cluster of people who do nothing on every Indian street corner confirmed this was indeed the residence of the star (a home pseudonym, how original I wondered) and then pointed vaguely to some parallel road that led to Mr Lahiri's mansion.
After following their often contradictory and meaningless directions, I found myself outside a bungalow which read 'Lahiri House'. It looked a lot like the bungalows movie people built in the '70s, and often used for shooting in the '80s (as the villain or rich man's house). Two storeyed, art-deco. It was of an India when bungalows rather than luxury apartments with pools and gyms, symbolized wealth.
Inside, I was asked who I was. I told them. The little security room didn't have security guard, it had a man and a woman seemingly terrified. So terrified that after I had mentioned 'Anuvab Pal' about fifteen times and they did manage to connect to the great man himself (who seemed to be sleeping, it was 2 pm, quite natural), they forgot the name out of nervousness. And dropped the phone. Incapable of further language and fearful, they made some sort of head gesture suggesting I should pick up the phone with the subtext being, 'You play with fire'.

'Anuvab Pal,' I said again, still somewhat certain that that my name (although I was beginning to have second thoughts). Instructions were given, I was led to a garden-facing living room on the ground floor.

Excerpted from Disco Dancer: A Comedy in Five Acts, by Anuvab Pal, HarperCollins India, with the publisher's permission, Rs 250.

Nandita Das talks about her child

 

Award-winning actor-filmmaker Nandita Das believes in bringing strong, powerful subjects on screen. She says her next acting venture "I AM" fits the bill as it highlights how society is intolerant towards others.

"I had signed this film a long time back. Onir, the director, is a very sensitive and wonderful person. I have always liked to work with good people and those who have the courage to bring out good strong stories. There are four stories in it, all of them are very powerful," said Nandita, who was in the capital to receive the French honour.

She has acted in over 30 films in 10 different languages. The actress, who has an eight-month-old son, is not in a hurry to take up projects and is more keen on directing films.

"For now, I am not doing any films. But on the direction front I have directed a film earlier and I am really looking forward to directing more and more films. I want to bring strong, powerful subjects on screen," Nandita, 41, told.

"It is challenging to tell your own story but it is the most satisfying experience. But, as of now, I am thoroughly enjoying the motherhood phase - taking care of my eight-month-old son," she said.

Explaining the concept of Onir's "I AM", a film with four stories with Nandita playing the lead character in one, she said: "Mine is about a woman who wants to be a mother and I was five months pregnant when I was shooting, which was very strange.

"The film is about personal choices and how we as a society are intolerant to others. Whether it is religion, sex, identity, etc. Can we as a society be more tolerant? I explored the concept earlier in 'Fire' and in my directorial venture 'Firaaq'."

Nandita, who had a tough time finding financiers for her directorial debut "Firaaq", praises Onir for democratising film production by arranging funds through the social networking site Facebook for his forthcoming release "I AM".

"I am impressed with the way director Onir funded 'I AM' through Facebook. It is a triumph of 400-odd people who have pooled in money to bring out this film. He raised more than Rs.10 million (Rs.1 crore) by writing about the stories of his film on the social networking site," said Nandita.

"I could relate to Onir and his difficulties because I too struggled as a director. It is amazing that not only financing, he even managed to find actors through the site. It democratises the whole process of producing a film."

Her "Firaaq" was a political thriller set in the aftermath of the 2002 Gujarat communal violence and was lauded in the global circuit. It got two national awards and a Filmfare Award.

As an actress Nandita proved her mettle with complex roles in "Fire", " Earth" and " Bawandar". In fact she bagged the best actress award at the Santa Monica Festival in 2001 for "Bawandar", bagged best actress award next year for "Amaar Bhuvan" at the Cairo Film Fest and also served as a Cannes jury member in 2005.

However, she has stayed away from commercial cinema and one wonders why.

"People ask me why I don't feature in commercial films, but my reason is very simple. I am fortunate that I am able to do the kind of films, the kind of work that I love doing. I feel strongly for them and find a direct connect with them," she said.