Befitting award in the centenary year

A stage dancer agreed to do a folk number in a Telugu film. That was a monumental decision indeed. The song and the dancer were instant hits leading to Guru Dutt discovering Waheeda Rehman, who went on to act in several path breaking roles and ruled the tinsel town with her looks, dance and acting. She takes us down the memory lane…

This year at the 44th International Film Festival India in Goa there are two nostalgic highlights. Veteran actor Pran is being felicitated with a Retrospective featuring three films ‘Madhumati’, ‘Jis desh Mein Ganga Behti Hain’ and ‘Zanjeer’ and star of several decades Waheeda Rehman is being conferred the Centenary Award.

I spend time with the beautiful actor of ‘Kaagaz ke Phool’ and ‘Guide’ and go back into memory lane.

The country had become a free nation but it was still not considered respectable for women from good families to join films. Those who did were guided by destiny. Waheeda Rehman’s foray in to South and later Hindi films is an intriguing story much like her reel scripts.

Waheeda was a trained classical dancer who performed on stage with her sister in Chennai. One day a producer came to their home to offer her a dance number in a Telugu film. The only reason the duo agreed to the assignment was because it was an expertly choreographed folk dance. As luck would have it the dance in ‘Rojulu Marayi’ became the highlight of the film and at the end of every show the public demanded an encore. The exhibitors were forced to rewind the specific reel and replay it after the credit titles.

In those days it was customary for lead actors to travel for the promotion of a new release to the surrounding cities. On one such trip when the producer of ‘Rojulu Marayi’ arrived on stage with his lead stars Nageswara Rao and Janaki Devi the audience was disappointed to not find the young dancer with them. The producer realised that he had to get Waheeda with them on the next trip.

It was the summer of 1955 in Andhra Pradesh and the unit was travelling in a big caravan hopping from theatre to theatre and show to show creating traffic jams everywhere. On one such street, as the stars were rushing into a theatre and the crowds on the street went hysterical, Guru Dutt, who happened to be sitting at his Hyderabad distributor’s office, wondered what was going on outside. His distributor casually mentioned that a new dancer in a film had become a phenomenon. “What is extraordinary is that the girl is not a Telugu girl, but a Muslim,” he informed. “Then she must speak Urdu, find out more about her,” said Guru Dutt.

“The distributor met Waheeda’s family and persuaded them to come to Bombay for a screen test. They had never heard of Guru Dutt and were apprehensive but followed the drum of destiny.

An elaborate photo test comprising mostly mid shots was conducted at Famous Studio, Mahalakshmi where Waheeda was dressed in a saree and salwar kurta alternately; her hair braided and tied up in ribbons. The results must have been satisfactory because the next day the mother and daughter were summoned to the office to sign the contract.

“Those days all artistes worked on contract with either the Studio or the Production Company,” explains Waheeda.

Listen to her experiences in her own words:

“We were informed that we had to sign a three film contract with them after which I was free to do films outside the company. We agreed. Then Raj Khosla, my debut director, said that my name will have to be changed because Muslim names were not acceptable by an audience which explains why Yusuf Khan had agreed to become Dilip Kumar.

Besides, he said Waheeda Rehman is an insipid name for a heroine. I disagreed. I said it was a name given by my parents and I liked it.

My Hindi debut as a vamp in CID was not impressive and my stubborn behaviour had added to my image. I expected them to disqualify the contract after the first film and was surprised when I was signed as Gulabo in my second film with the company, ‘Pyaasa’. We began the film with the song picturisation of ‘Jaane kya tune kahi’… in Kolkota. I was seventeen at that time and didn’t know what a street walker meant.

Guru Duttji asked my mother to explain it to me but she felt awkward and didn’t. So Guru Duttji finally led me through the character without getting into the sub text. He showed me what he wanted but warned me not to copy him; he said I must do it my way like a woman. He said take a few steps…look back and smile…. I did exactly what he said and everybody was happy.

The third film mentioned in the contract with them happened much later. Contrary to the autocratic image of the studios those days, Guru Duttji was a very fair producer. When he realised that I was getting a lot of offers after ‘Pyaasa’, he let me sign outside films on condition that whenever he was ready to shoot his film he would get priority dates. I was set free to sign outside assignments. Looking back I feel that it was extremely generous of him.

When I did ‘Kaagaz Ke Phool’ I was nineteen and unaware of the kind of impact the film was going to generate in decades to come. My generation of actors was fortunate to be exposed to different genres of cinema. I began as a dancer down South, played a princess in Jayasimha opposite NTR followed by a fantasy ‘Alibabavum Narpathu Thirudargalum’ (1956). In Hindi I made a debut as a vamp and over the decades did roles that suited my age and face.

I would say in the second phase ‘Phagun’, ‘Trishul’, ‘Namkeen’ and ‘Lamhe’ were turning points. Then after a long break came ‘Om Jai Jagdish’. I have enjoyed every role and every phase and consider it an honour to receive a centenary award from the government in centenary year.

As an actor I would say that to cry effectively on screen is an important part of acting but to be able to laugh in perfect timing is perhaps the most difficult. I find raising my voice extremely difficult because it involves straining your vocal chords and later matching that in the dubbing.

My biggest paranoia as an actress though is getting my lines right. You can always tell an actor who is taking an emotional pause from one who is trying to recall his lines. I would hate to be caught on the wrong foot. Emoting has a lot to do with trust and while some writers don’t mind minor alterations from actors in dialogues, some are obstinate about the slightest change. This puts a lot of pressure on the performer.

Gender discrimination always existed but nobody talked about it. It was an accepted norm that heroes got bigger money and higher billing than the heroine.

Show business has always been a man’s world quite like our society. If at any public gathering, the heroine draws more attention than the hero, the hero feels insulted. The irony, however, is that despite all the male domination on screen, behind the scenes it’s us women who calls the shots. The biggest and the best filmmakers had to come and negotiate terms our mothers and this continues to this date.

Shootings were more personalised those days and film units were like a family. Our relations with our colleagues were cordial but not over friendly. We did not visit each other’s homes or chat on phone but if we discovered that a senior was shooting in the same studio we dropped by to pay our respects. Similarly, it was customary to exchange congratulatory telegrams if any one of us won an award.

Our generation was not exposed to advanced technology and we relied on our instincts. We worked at a slower pace and prided in spontaneity. For instance it was unthinkable for a director to start a new scene on the same day. It was always a new mood and a new scene on the following day.

Today so many disconnected scenes are shot on the same day and competently so. The post-production happens simultaneously at different places in different stages but this hasn't diffused the magic. I feel we are making great films and have terrific actors and technicians.

I feel proud to be a part of Indian cinema that has completed 100 years and wish it another 100 successful years. It has been a privilege to be born as an artiste and lived such an enriching life as an actor.”

- Bhawana Somaaya/ @ bhawanasomaaya