Portrait of a lady : Waheeda Rehman

Tina Ambani in conversation with Waheeda Rehman

I have to admit that I've always been in awe of Waheeda Rehman's beauty and grace. When I first entered the film industry, my secretary organised a screening of all her films. Most of them were classic Guru Dutt movies. I was astounded by her luminosity on screen, her sheer presence. Over the years, she has acted in over 70 films and in each one, whether her role was pivotal or a walk-on, she left an indelible impression. Through time, I also came to admire her innate dignity, the way she shielded her life and her emotions from the public eye, which thrives on speculation and innuendo about celebrities. I heard about her breakfast cereal business and her fundraising for Pratham, an NGO, and bumped into her many times socially but I hadn't met her for many years. As I stepped into her bungalow in suburban Bandra in Mumbai after two decades on a recent Saturday afternoon, I was really nostalgic, and nervous.

I needn't have been. Resplendent in burnt orange, her hair retro-coiffed and a bulky keychain jangling at her waist, she greeted me with a warm hug, instantly putting me at ease. At 65, she is as lovely as ever. And her living room, dominated by an exquisite portrait of her by M R Achrekar, the perfect foil for her muted elegance, with its casually strewn Persian carpets, low coffee tables and comfy sofas, opening out to a leafy patio overlooking the Arabian Sea. For over two hours, we talked, laughed, ate, caught up. It was a charmed afternoon.



Excerpts from our conversation:

Waheedaji, it's been quite a journey for you, from screen goddess to the goodwill ambassador for an NGO that works towards literacy. Tell us how you came to be involved with Pratham.

I have been working with the Spastics Society for many years. I have also been involved with SOS Villages, where orphans are provided trained 'mothers'. I've always felt that for a country to be truly developed, it needs to be literate. I couldn't devote too much time to my own education either; I still feel that is my weak point. So in late 2000, when Madhav Chauhan, the founder of Pratham, approached me and asked me to be their goodwill ambassador, I decided to do it.



What do your tasks include?

Pratham provides education to slum children, starting with three-year-olds. We pick teachers from the same area so that comfort levels are high. The teachers are often destitute girls who find a new meaning to life through their teaching. It is an empowering experience for everyone concerned. I often go to the slums and talk to the teacher and the parents. The concept has been a great success. I travel overseas a great deal to generate awareness and raise funds from NRIs.



Your cereal business in Bangalore, Good Earth Foods, is also very successful. How did that come about?

Once my children went off to boarding school, I wanted to do something worthwhile with my time. It was about 1987, even Kellogg's hadn't come to India yet, and I realised there was no wholesome breakfast cereal available on the Indian market. So I decided to make muesli. First, we supplied it in simple, plastic jars. Then, on a trip to the US, I saw actor Paul Newman's range of salad dressings with his face on all the bottles! Although I was a little shy about it at first, I decided to put my photo and signature on all the cartons. We packaged the line and it became very successful. Now, after my husband passed away a few years ago, I spend more time in Mumbai and may well sell off the business.



You also continue to act. Tell us about Brides Wanted, a recent 'crossover' English film you did. How was the experience?

I did it for the heck of it, because it was shot in Bangalore. I was there at the time and the work was only for eight to 10 days. It was like a picnic! I play a grandmother and Girish Karnad plays my husband. Our grandson comes from the US in search of a girl and we help him look for one. In the process, we find out how India has changed, how modern the girls have become. It was a fun role.



Don't you think the movie-making business has changed a lot, from your time to mine, and now?

We have advanced a lot, the technology is great and actors are much smarter. They won't be taken for a ride. When I did Om Jai Jagdish for Anupam Kher a few years ago, I realised how different things were. In the old days, after the shot was over, we would all sit and chat, but now everyone is on their mobiles. I wonder how much they talk, and to whom! Don't they get tired? I am sorry; I am old-fashioned. I carry a mobile too but I got mine only when my husband was in hospital. In the studio, I put it off and keep it in my make-up room. When I first came to the sets, I would sometimes find two phones ringing during the shot. I told Anupam I can't work if this carries on, it's so distracting.

I also feel the present generation of actors is very insecure. The way newcomers are arriving; they don't know whether they will still be around tomorrow. Another thing I find irritating is that all the actors have their own costume designers. When they come on the set, there is a clash of colours and designs. Now, how will a costume designer know what kind of scene is being shot, what is the look required? There should be some harmony on the set; the costumes should be approved by the director or cameraman. I feel professionalism among today's actors is often for themselves, not for the movie. It's something one has to get used to if you're working in the industry today.



It's great that you still continue to act, though. Do you have any new films coming up?

I have recently done one film, Jiya Na Jaye, directed by Parvathi Balagopalan, with Gul Panag and Milind Soman. I have an interesting role, small but different. I play a 60-plus woman, who travels alone, snorkels, hikes in the Himalayas. I do films now only when I really feel like it, not that I am making a comeback. Is umar me kya comeback?





Do you still watch Hindi films? And do you have any favourites?

I still go to the theatre and watch films. I liked Maqbool a lot. I like Tabu, Kajol, Aamir and Shah Rukh Khan. I thought Abhishek [Bachchan] did very well in Yuva.



But films aren't what they used to be. Does the vulgarity today bother you?

I think it isn't necessary. When I go abroad, I see that even Americans want to wear Indian outfits. We have such lovely, sensuous saris and garments but they have been completely forgotten at home. These remixes are so bizarre. Ghazal baj raha hai aur yeh log chaddi mein naach rahen hain! (A ghazal is playing and these people are dancing in their underwear.)



Your own background is very conservative.

Being a Muslim from Tamil Nadu, one would expect it to be. Since my first movie was in Telugu and I speak Urdu, everyone thought I was from Hyderabad. My father was an IAS officer, and both my sister Sayeeda and I learnt Bharatanatyam. In those days, it was a big thing. My father was very broadminded; he used to say dance is an art. If we can go and watch people dance, why can't we let our children learn? When C Rajagopalachari, the first Viceroy of India, came to Visakhapatnam for a visit, my father was the district commissioner. They had to put on a show for him and they were told to use only local talent. Finally, my sister and I performed! The Viceroy was very impressed that two young Muslim girls could do justice to Bharatanatyam. We made it to the newspapers and the South Indian film industry made a note of it.



So, that's how it began for you

Yes, after my father passed away, I got an offer to do a film but my mother refused. She was waiting to get me married. Then, I got another offer just to do a dance sequence in a Telugu film called Rojulu Marayi. The director persuaded my mother, assuring her that girls from decent families do work in the film industry. I was 15 and begged my mother to say yes. The movie became a super hit, especially the dance.



And Guru Duttji offered you a role in CID when you were 16...

That was a funny thing. He was sitting with a distributor in Hyderabad and heard about this hit Telugu movie that was celebrating its silver jubilee. The distributor told him about this Muslim girl called Waheeda Rehman who has become so popular with just one dance. He asked the distributor if the girl spoke Urdu, and the man said yes. He was in search of new faces and tried to set up a meeting through the producer of the movie, who then contacted my mother. Down South, we had never heard of Guru Dutt but we decided to meet him. He hardly spoke to me and my mother felt nothing would come of it. Six months later, when I was working opposite N T Rama Rao in a Telugu film, he sent for me to take a screen test. We found everything seedha sadha, completely above board. He signed me on a monthly salary basis for CID directed by Raj Khosla, then Pyaasa.



How was the move to Bombay?

It was hard in the beginning. Halfway through CID, Pyaasa started. Raj Khosla and the unit of CID were unhappy, so was I. I knew I was not doing a good job. Raj Khosla would say, "Yeh ladki main kuch baat nahin hai, bahut thandi hai." (There's nothing special about this girl, she's too cold.) When he saw Jane kyaa tune kahi [a song from Pyaasa] shot in Calcutta, he told Guru Duttji, "She didn't do well in my film. How come she did so well in this one?"



Guru Duttji certainly brought out the best in you.

I was a newcomer, with no acting experience. But being a dancer, my facial expressions were good. Guru Duttji had learnt dance from Uday Shankar. He would tell me to sit down, keep my chin down and look flirtatiously into the camera. I had no idea how it would translate onto screen, but he knew what the effect would be. Also, he would shoot the songs first. And then when I was relaxed, he would come to the scenes. He was very clever.



He was a great director...

He did not know it; that was the best part of it. He operated on instinct. He was totally passionate about his films. He brought out the best in all his actors. Take Rehman, for instance. He could not start a sentence with the letter 'k'; he would always fumble. So in Pyaasa, he changed the dialogue around to accommodate this. In that film, when my character gets the news that Vijay, her lover, is killed under the train tracks, I was supposed to scream. But I just couldn't. Guru Duttji was amazed. He said it was the first time that he'd seen a heroine who couldn't scream! But he worked out an alternative. I just crunched up the newspaper in my hand, closed my eyes and slid down. It was even more powerful than if I had actually screamed. On the other hand, there was Mala Sinha. He used to tell me that he had to control her since she used to go overboard. He used to balance between both of us. He knew you didn't have to be blatant to convey emotion on screen. That you could do wonders with your eyes.



Among all the roles you played, which was your favourite?

Rosie in Guide. It was a mature, different subject. It was not a love story, yet there was romance. Rosie is married to an old man, she commits adultery. People thought I was crazy to do the role, that I was jeopardising my career. I insisted on doing it, and Vijay Anand, the director, did a great job. The film also allowed me the opportunity to show off my dancing skills for the first time. Till that time, nobody believed that I could dance. They said, you don't walk or talk like a dancer, like Padminiji.



Is there any role you missed out on?

Shyam Benegal had offered me Ankur. Before that I had done a small budget 'art film' in Malayalam and Hindi called Trisandhya that never got released. So I was disheartened with the whole art film genre and refused Ankur. Then I saw the movie with Shabana Azmi and said to myself, 'You made a mistake.'



Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan both call you their favourite actress. How do you describe this appeal that transcends time, generations?

It's very flattering, of course. What else can I say?



I've heard that your beauty inspired poet Shakeel Badayuni to pen the lyrics of Chaudvin ka chand. Is it true?

I've heard it too, but I have no idea if it's true



You decided to get married at 34. How did you meet your husband Shashi Rekhi?

I first met my husband when we worked together in a film called Shagun. He was known by his screen name Kamaljeet then. Later, he became disheartened with the film industry and migrated to Canada, where he started a garment-export business. He used to collaborate with [late producer] Yash Johar who was also into garment exports. I met him in 1974 at Yash and his wife Hiroo's home. Slowly, we became reacquainted and one day, out of the blue, he asked me to marry him. I was initially hesitant but Yash and Hiroo persuaded me.



Did you leave the industry after you got married?

I had already signed on Kabhi Kabhi and Adalat. I told Yashji [Chopra] that I was getting married but he insisted I complete the film. I got married in 1974 and moved to Bangalore about seven years later. But I continued to act. I did films like Coolie and Namak Halal, I started doing character roles. Increasingly, the children began to take up my time.



Tell us something about them.

My son, Sohail, is studying animation and special effects. He's 29. And my daughter Kashvi is 27; she did her film studies in Toronto. Both of them studied in Toronto because my husband had taken Canadian citizenship but now they are both here in Mumbai. Kashvi is now a script supervisor on Ketan Mehta's The Rising. She keeps raving about the English actor Toby Williams, saying, "Mummy, sometimes Aamir Khan forgets his Hindi dialogue, but he never does!"


Apart from spending time with your children, what is your daily routine?

I get up quite early and do my yoga, my prayers. I have my coffee, read the papers and then the housework starts. I run my own errands like going to the bank. I have a lot of stamina.



I believe you suffered from spondylitis.

I've had to learn to live with it. Yoga, of course, has helped tremendously. When I went to Bangalore, I would get up with severe pain. Painkillers didn't help. Then, I started going to a branch of the Bihar School of Yoga and it improved the quality of my life completely. In fact, when my son was in Toronto, he got a slip disc by over-exercising. He couldn't walk straight, couldn't even carry a book. When he came back to India, I got him started on yoga and he's recovered now. Once, right after my husband had a stroke and we brought him home from the hospital, my mother-in-law broke her hipbone. I was on the run from home to hospital. But I would take 20 minutes out for yoga and it kept me centred.



You seem to take everything in life in your stride.

Tina, I accept everything. Problems come knocking at everybody's door, health, finances, whatever. When we have problems, we feel time stands still. But think about it. The clock is going at the same speed, tick tick tick...You just need patience to get through it. The hands have to move, it's the law of nature.



Tell us something about the real Waheeda. Something people might not know about you. I've heard that you tend to be absent-minded.

Where did you hear that? [Giggles.] Yes, sometimes. I sometimes go and sit in the wrong car in a parking lot. And I've often given my driver the wrong instructions. Once I asked my driver to go to Khandala when actually I needed to go to the studio in Kandivali. Other things people may not know...I learnt how to cook after I got married and if I was making anything special, like dessert, I wouldn't let anyone disturb me in the kitchen. My kids would say, "Mummy is screaming so she must be making dessert!" I am better now. Also, most people wouldn't know how adventurous I am. I love to swim. I have gone on a hot air balloon safari. Now, I am waiting to go to Mansarovar. I still don't feel I am 65. I am always ready to learn new things, see new places.



Looking back, is there anything in life you wish you could have done differently?

I used to learn music and then I left it. I may start again. I could have been more careful about the movies I chose, I missed out on so many opportunities. Essentially, I was never in love with myself. I never really felt the need to indulge myself. I have no regrets about my life though. That's the kind of person I am.

Featured in Harmony Magazine
February 2005