‘The Hit Girl’, ‘Lucky Mascot’, ‘Sweetheart of the Swinging 60s’, the chirpy actress represented an India breaking away from the Gandhian guilt and embracing fun and froth like never before. At 74, as Asha Parekh opens the chapters of her eventful life in a much-awaited autobiography with Khalid Mohamed (Om Books International), she carries the same bouncy attitude. “Everything is good as long as they are praising me,” she giggles as one asks her about her favourite monikers. “There was a time when the directors would sign me first and then go to the hero. There was a time when on my name a film used to be sold. I am bragging a little bit...” She can, for in the ‘60s and early 70s, signing Asha Parekh meant box office success. However, the success came after rejection. “Well, I was rejected by Vijay Bhatt for Goonj Uthi Shehnai. It was a big jolt for me but within a week Shashadhar Mukherjee called me and advised me to attend the classes in his acting school.” As Parekh had already worked as a child actress in a few films, she didn’t find the idea helpful. “I joined but I was not very interested. So I would bunk classes. Eventually, he took my screen test and Nasir Husain saw that test. They already had Shammi Kapoor’s dates. The choice had to be between me and Sadhana. As Sadhana didn’t turn up I got into Dil Deke Dekho .” Audience accepted the offer, and a star was born. The full story is R. K. Nayar, who eventually married Sadhana, wanted to cast her for Love in Shimla and hence requested Mukherjee and Husain not to cast her in Dil Deke Dekho.
Parekh was 17 when she emerged on the scene and took some time to understand the nuances of acting. During the shooting of Ghunghat, Ramanand Sagar had a tough time making her understand the character. “I was not getting emotional and he was crying (Sagar used to get emotional during the shoot of such scenes). So I was laughing away,” recalls Parekh. “For a long time, the industry saw me as the glamour girl. It was Do Badan, which changed the perception. People finally realised that I could do different kinds of roles.” Apart from Nasir Husain, she says, Vijay Anand, Raj Khosla, Pramod Chakraborty and S.S. Wasan made her realise her potential. “These were the people who shaped my career.” A free-willed girl, Parekh says she used to speak her mind. “That generation was like that. Saira Bano and Sadhana were no different.” She remembers how during the shoot of a serious scene of Samadhi, she could not concentrate. “The Income Tax officials had raided my house. I could not close my eyes. They would flutter because there was so much tension around,” she laughs. Similarly, during the shoot of L.V. Prasad’s Udhar Ka Sindoor, where she played a blind girl, the director asked her to flutter her eyes. “I felt that blind people don’t behave like that. I had already played a blind person in Chirag . Being a senior director, I could not avoid doing what he wanted me to do. So I put my point across and then did what he wanted me to.”
Conscious about representation of female characters on screen, Parekh says, “I didn’t like the way the song “Parde Mein Rehne Do” ( Shikar ) was picturised. i was not happy doing it.” She had reservations of about “Kanta Laga” ( Samadhi ) number as well. Interestingly, while Lata Mangeshkar refused to sing the former, she rendered the Samadhi song. Parekh feels the remix version has done further harm to the song.
A trained Kathak and Bharatanatyam, Parekh says basically she is dancer who acts. “With my dance troupe, I covered the whole world . I did 500 shows of Chaula Devi and 700 shows of Anarkali. I never mixed the filmy style with classical arts and kept my stage performances pure and it was appreciated.”
A style icon, Parekh gives it to Mukherjee for presenting her as a stylish actress. “He introduced me to Bhanu Athaiya and Slyvia who used to design my dresses.” However, she doesn’t want to discuss her orange lipsticks!
Among the co-stars, Parekh gives credit to Shammi Kapoor for teaching her how to be lively and spontaneous on screen. Few know that Kapoor’s wife Geeta Bali wanted her to call him chacha and her chachi. “She had adopted me but how could I call my hero chacha,” laughs Parekh. “But I did call her chachi and I call Neelaji (Kapoor’s second wife) chachi as well.” Talking of senior actors and their acting style, Parekh remembers how she would laugh at Bharat Bhushan’s staple expression while facing the camera. “He was a well-read man. He taught me the importance of reading in an actor’s life.” Rehman, she says, used to ask for many takes. “Not everybody was a method actor. Raj Kapoor was very spontaneous.” Manoj Kumar, she maintains, used to keep a distance. “Even in romantic scenes, he would keep away.” In contrast, she says, Dharmendra had a flair for such scenes. “Jeetendra always had an understanding of the business side of cinema.” Talking about Vinod Khanna, Parekh remembers her as friend who always met with a smile on his face. “He was absolutely dashing, the macho man but also someone with whom you could converse on a variety of topics.”
Parekh has her share of regrets as well. “I could not do Satyajit Ray’s Kanchenjunga because I had already committed the daters he wanted to shoot on to other producers. He came to meet me to Bombay and we had a long conversation. Similarly, the film with Uttam Kumar could not be completed. I signed Zabaradast opposite Dilip Kumar but Nasir Sahib postponed the project and later shot it with a different star cast. When I look back, I feel somehow I should have completed these projects.” Then there are misunderstandings which is common in an industry run on ego and gossips. “Lot of them are created by the media.” Her dislike for Navin Nischol’s long nose created a flutter. She was the first choice for the role played by Sharmila Tagore in B.R. Chopra’s Waqt . Her refusal meant that she was not considered again by Chopra. She shared cold vibes with Shatrughan Sinha before he broke the ice and recommended her name as the CBFC chief.
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An important phase of her career was as the head of Central Board of Film Certification, where she had to face criticism for censoring Fire , Zakhm and Elizabeth . “It was a tough time that I went through because the moment I entered the CBFC, I had to sort out Fire controversy and I feel we tackled it quite well. There were problems with other films as well but CBFC chief is such a post that it always comes under criticism. We do our duty. There is a guideline and we have to follow it and have no authority to change that guideline.”
Parkeh underlines that she is against use of cuss words. “It is something children pick up quickly and use them on their parents. It undermines the anctity the family system. My point is censorship has to happen at home as well. Now the directors say children can see everything on the internet but the parents have to see what their kids are watching on the internet.”
While going through the book, one realises that two personalities: her mother Salma and her mentor Nasir Husain were strong influences in her life. “My mother was like a backbone for me in my life. She would always push me ahead. She also kept me grounded. She never made me feel like a star. Even after a superhit or a great performance, she would say, okay okay. That’s the reason, I never behaved like a superstar.”
But perhaps, it is also resulted in that she could not find a life partner. “It was not destined. My mother believed in astrology and somebody had told her that this girl will not get married. Still my parents were very caring and they showed me boys also. You have to find the right man and as I said it was not destined. Now,. I am very happy, the way I am. I am seeing so many marriages breaking,” muses Parekh. She has mentioned that Husain was the only man she ever loved. Did the challenges of an inter-religious marriage which she experienced through her parents, stop her in declaring her true feeling to her mother? “No, it was not like that,” says Parekh, adding that she didn’t want to become the ‘other’ woman in his life.
Still very active, Parkeh is for the Film Industry Welfare Trust and her hospital. “I love to travel. I am in touch with Waheedaji (Rehman), Saira ji (Bano) and Helen. We go for lunch, watch movies and travel together. I have enjoyed my life fully. if here is a rebirth, I would like to be born as Asha Parekh again and correct whatever few mistakes I made. ”
