Zinia Sen (BOMBAY TIMES; November 12, 2018)

Veteran actress Waheeda Rehman, who recently attended the 24th Kolkata International Film Festival, talked about the cinema that she has been a part of, her highs and lows and the on-going #MeToo movement. Excerpts:

You visited Kolkata on invite from filmmaker-restorer-archivist Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, who is holding a film restoration workshop. Are there films of yours that you don’t get to see anymore?
Honestly, main apni filmein zyada dekhti nahin hoon. Whenever they air on TV, I’m only correcting myself. There’s no end to improving yourself. Having said that, if the prints of Pyaasa and Guide (below) get damaged, I’ll be disappointed. Yeh do mere favourite films rahe hain. Hala ki, Pyaasa was not about my character. I was a beginner, I was just there. I had a couple of songs, but it was Guru Dutt’s movie. Then in Guide, my dancing was exploited. People came to know that I could dance, too. I was told, ‘All South heroines say they can dance. You don’t give the feeling that you are a dancer’. I was like, ‘Why is that? If you are a dancer, should you be dancing all the time?’ Pyaasa gave the impression that I was very serious. When Guide happened, I told Dev Anand, ‘I am doing so many movies, serious movies… but this justifies my dancing’. I played a dancer.

You made it to IFFI, Goa, not so long ago as a recipient of the Centenary Award for Indian Film Personality and though this is your first visit to KIFF, films fests are not unknown territory for you. At a time when film festivals around the world are either pulling the plug or changing format, do you feel fests are becoming redundant?
Personally, I think it’s good to have international film fests. That way, we can come closer to cinema in different countries. Emotions all over the world are the same… pyaar, mohabbat, gussa, nafrat… but how each country deals with it is interesting.

You’d already made a name for yourself in the Hindi film industry when you came on board for Satyajit Ray’s Bengali film Abhijan (1962). What made you choose the film?
Jab Abhijan ka offer aya, Mr Ray was already on the world map. I had seen Pather Panchali and loved his work. I was thrilled to get the offer. I immediately said yes. I didn’t know the story and I was like, ‘Unhone bulaya toh kuchh toh hoga hi’. I went to Kolkata though I said I don’t know Bengali. Mr Ray told me that the character could speak Bihari, Bhojpuri, Hindi and Bengali and offered to record the dialogues.

After Lamhe, you took a 12-year break. Was it because of the lack of good roles?
I used to live in Bengaluru with my husband. My children went to a boarding school in Kodaikanal. Kaam karne wale hamesha kuchh na kuchh karna chahte hai, so I started a line of breakfast cereal. I was content and happy. Yash Chopra ji ke saath maine paanch filmein ki. He used to call me with a lot of affection, I would often think, okay let me do one with him. I gave a gap as nothing interesting was coming. Then, I shifted back to Mumbai as my husband was not well. That’s when the offer of Om Jai Jagdish (2002) came my way. I wasn’t too keen, but my husband died suddenly. Everyone around me said I should be working.

After that, you did 15 Park Avenue with Aparna Sen…
Aparna ne phone kiya. Shabana (Azmi) is close to me and if I remember correctly, she called up to say, ‘Waheeda ji kar lo’. I had met Aparna through Shabana. I saw Mr & Mrs Iyer and Chowringhee and admire her work.

A lot of women-oriented films, that are close to real life, are dominating Bollywood. Do you see a change?
I feel very good to see the diverse subjects today. There are simple, small films. Not many are thinking of making films on a grand scale like Manmohan Desai. If a star joins the cast, that becomes an add-on. Mulk, Badhaai Ho, Andhadhun and Raazi did so well. I am so happy. Earlier, the notion was that the lead cast had to be shown as lovers, bhai, behen, miyan-biwi, woh sab kuchh nahin. Down South, the audience is very liberal. I see that coming to Bollywood now.

What do you feel about the ongoing #MeToo movement?
Back in our days, women would only work in two departments — hair and costumes. When I made a comeback in 2002, I suddenly saw a lot of girls. There were women ADs, editors, sound recordists and art designers on set... they started talking about their problems. Mere waqt ke jo log the woh bahut sharif the. That time a change was happening and the industry was giving out the message that people from respectable families could work here. #MeToo is happening everywhere. But people like to read about celebs and that’s a problem.