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Those cheeks that Laloo loves
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Bihar's roads may never be like Hema Malini's cheeks, as Laloo Yadav once promised. But the Dream Girl herself is in great shape, looks better than ever, and has lost none of her star quality, writes SUGANDHI RAVINDRANATHAN.
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Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy.
It's motherhood and dance that are her priority now.
WHEN ONE asks Hema Malini what it felt like for a woman to boost the sagging careers of men like Dev Anand and Rajesh Khanna with superhits like Johnny Mera Naam and Prem Nagar, she wrinkles her perfect nose. Clearly, she doesn't see it that way. Just as she doesn't question the present relevance of the dance drama Savitri, for whose performance she was in town.
But why Savitri? Because it is not a very popular theme for a ballet and she wants people to appreciate it better. The production, incidentally, was a collaboration between Hema's dance school, Natyavihar Kalakendra, and the local Rasika Academy of Performing Arts run by the dancer couple Sandhya Kiran and Kiran Subramanyam.
Like Savitri who made her choice, stumping Yama himself in the process, Hema too has made her choices. Now it is dance and motherhood that occupy her, she says, describing herself as a happy person at this stage of life. Today, she is in a better shape than she was three decades ago, when she ignited a million male fantasies as a Bollywood star, breaking the hearts of at least two of her heroes. Eventually, it was Dharmendra's lot to be her Satyavan, and it is to due to her touch-me-not public persona she emerged relatively unscathed by the bigamous marriage.
"Everything had its own time," as she puts it. Such stoic acceptance of what life doles out is perhaps what keeps her looking gorgeous at 55, never letting herself be swayed by success or failure. She started out as a failure, when Tamil director Sridhar rejected her in 1964, on the incredible ground that she did not have star quality. Four years later, Raj Kapoor turned her into the Dream Girl. She was no great actress, and her Hindi diction often drew more mirth than empathy. Though she shone in breezy comedies like Seeta aur Geeta and Satté pé Satta, it took Gulzar to inspire her to deliver the goods in films like Khushboo, Kinara, and Meera.
Perhaps no other Bollywood actress has handled the trappings of stardom with such equanimity as she has. She turned up at glitzy parties in resplendent Kanjeevarams, yards of jasmine and jewellery, and a regal demeanour. Did her reticence and that air of being in complete control of herself have to do with her Iyengar upbringing? Of course. "I had very strict parents."
Post-motherhood, apart from a couple of TV serials, she gamely did a role as Kamalahasan's mother-in-law in Hé Ram a couple of years ago. She was in her element in the film, completely at ease, speaking in her native Tamil. (At least one viewer was heard loudly wondering why Kamalahasan chose to look at Vasundhara Das instead of her mother!)
She confesses she is more passionate about dancing than acting because it is more immediate. The connection with her audience is instant and palpable. "It is more satisfying," she says, adding she has a lot of free time now to concentrate on it. "There are so many interesting characters to depict in dance."
Does it make her anxious that her first-born, Esha, is in Bollywood? "Yes. There is so much of competition now and pressure to deliver hit films." What does the kid's father have to say? "Dharamji supports her decision. She doesn't really need to work, but having made her choice, he told her she should do her best." As for Ahana, the younger one, she has just finished her 12th Standard. "She does not want to be an actress because she does not want anyone to recognise her," laughs the proud mother. Both girls, incidentally, are Odissi dancers. As for the inevitable question about what it was like then and now, she says: "In our time, there were just a few of us. Stars were stars then." Now, even the people next door can be stars, she says, hastily adding that this is not meant to denigrate those with the next-door looks. "But it is all very funny now. Those who don't make it in films move to TV serials. And when they don't make it there, they move to music videos. I was watching them on TV. They do the same things as we did, imitating us all the time, but without any feeling."
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