After spending years trying to crack an acting role, Rajendra Kumar was about to give up when he received an unexpected note. A new biography documents his arduous journey to success
MID-DAY (March 1, 2020)

Devendra Goel had promised him a break in films. He'd said he would sign Rajendra as the hero of his film. But two years had gone by since… So H S Rawail Sir had been proved right, yet again. Acting is not for me, Rajendra told himself in despair. I must approach producers to direct films. But will they trust me to carry an entire film on my shoulders?

Insecurities and fears weighed him down as he went about his daily tasks, unaware that the universe was conspiring to bestow upon him what was meant to be his.

It happened a week later. One evening, as he sat smoking in his room at Marina Guest House, a peon came up with a note sent by none other than Devendra Goel.

'Meet me in my office tomorrow morning,' was the message written in the note.

Although Rajendra had to report for Rawail's Mastana early the next day, he followed his instinct and landed up at Famous Studios. Rajendra was sure that Goel would offer him a film. But there could be many a slip between the cup and the lip, he reminded himself, as he sat across the producer in his office.

Thankfully, Goel came straight to the point.

'We'd met in 1952 and I'd said that I'd give you a chance,' the producer began. 'The time has come to fulfil my promise.' With that, he placed an agreement on the table in front of Rajendra. 'You are working in my next film, along with Balraj Sahni and Geeta Bali,' he elaborated.

Rajendra looked from Goel to the agreement and back in wonder.

'Go ahead. Read it!' the producer prompted.

Rajendra read through the contract, but among the lines of typed words that his eyes went over, what stood out starkly against the white paper was a number: 1,500.

One thousand five hundred rupees! A fortune! Rajendra couldn't believe his luck. He did tell himself, though, that however lucrative the payment he had been promised might seem, what was invaluable was the full-fledged role he had been offered in a film.

Without further ado, he signed on the dotted line.

'Congratulations, my boy! You are on your way to stardom,' Goel said with a smile, handing Rajendra Rs 101 as the signing amount.

A jubilant Rajendra Kumar almost floated out of Famous Studios, reaching the sets of Mastana far later than when he had been expected to report for duty.

A furious Rawail confronted him. 'You, a mere assistant director, have the audacity to keep the great Motilal waiting?' he yelled.

'I am sorry, Rawail Sir. But please hear me out first,' Rajendra said, unable to contain his joy. 'Today, I have become an actor in the true sense of the term.'

'What are you talking about? What actor?'

'I have signed a film with the famous Devendra Goel.'

'Who is he, anyway? And you can't call every second film "a film"!' Rawail said disparagingly.

'Rawail Saab,' Rajendra told him firmly, 'film or no film, Goel ji has offered me a chance of a lifetime today and that too with a signing amount. Today, I gave nothing and lost nothing, but my gain is immeasurable. Today is special for me.'

With a look of disdain, Rawail turned away from his assistant director. 'Silence on set!' he shouted, calling his crew to attention.

Goel's Vachan, starring Geeta Bali and Rajendra Kumar in the roles of siblings, released in early 1955 and was a huge box-office success. In the film, Rajendra Kumar sailed through his first major role, a lock of hair falling on his brow, his fingers splayed across his face in a gesture adopted from 'tragedy king' Dilip Kumar's characteristic technique, or his arms crossed behind his back. But he did seem cockier and more confident in the romantic scenes.

Excerpted with permission from Jubilee Kumar: The Life and Times of a Superstar by Seema Sonik Alimchand, published by Hachette India


With Dilip Kumar, Raaj Kumar and director C V Sridhar

Makeup artist Vidyadhar Bhatte and costume designer Subarna Ray Chaudhuri reveal what it took for the actress to slip into character for a Marathi biopic on Bhagwan Dada
Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 12, 2016)


Mirror (September 10, 2015) was the first to report that Vidya Balan plays yesteryear actress Geeta Bali in Ekk Albela, a Marathi biopic on the late actor-director Bhagwan Dada. Veteran make-up artiste, Vidyadhar Bhatte who had recommended Vidya for the role in the Shekhar Sartandel-directed film, reveals that the team spent only a day experimenting on the look.

"I took six-seven wigs along and tried out 10 hairstyles before zeroing down on a middle parting that enhanced the likeness between the two," says Vidyadhar, adding that the National Award-winning actress has been wanting to do a Marathi film for a long time. "She was in Cochin when I called her. She heard the script upon her return and immediately agreed to be a part of the film."

And even though yesteryear actresses wore heavy make-up on screen, Vidyadhar wanted to keep the look as natural as possible. "Geeta Bali had a thin upper lip so I used foundation to make Vidya's lip appear thinner. Ditto for her eyebrows which I coloured," he explains, happy that Vidya didn't take much time to get dressed and would never interfere in his work. "We would take an hour-and-a-half max to be ready for the camera."

Meanwhile, costume designer Subarna Ray Chaudhuri was armed with an entire wardrobe for the actress when she arrived for the look test and designed the costumes in just six days. "We had a clear brief that Vidya had to look exactly like Geeta Bali, especially in the songs, "Shola Jo Bhadke" and "Bholi Surat Dil Ke Khote". I have worked with Vidya on Parineeta earlier so I am familiar with her taste. We used a lot of pista green, maroon and yellow because the colours complement her," she says.

The designer would send pictures of sample fabrics to the director who would convert them in black and white to see if they had the desired effect. Even the jewellery was customised. "Designs from the time aren't readily available. We've used a lot of gold, silver, emeralds, rubies and pearls. Hoop earrings which were in vogue, as also voluminous georgettes, silk and prints. We wanted to stay true to the theme and the period so saris were draped in a certain way, the skirts were high-waisted and the blouses had cowl necks," the designer concludes.

BOMBAY TIMES (November 20, 2015)

Vidya Balan's first look as Geeta Bali in the Marathi film Ek Albela based on legend Bhagwan Dada in which she is doing a cameo

Geeta Bali’s son Aditya Raj Kapoor on Bhagwan Dada biopic which has Vidya Balan playing her
Subhash K Jha (DNA; October 13, 2015)


Aditya’s mother Geeta Bali will be played by Vidya Balan. He says, “No one has approached me about information on my mother on this film. We know nothing about it except what has appeared in the public domain. Which is fine. I am sure the makers are capable of doing justice to the film. But I could have told them so much about Geeetaji. No one knew her the way I do. I was only 9 when she died. But she left an indelible impression on me and my sister.”

He wonders which aspect of his mom’s life the film will touch on. “Is it just the film Albela? There are so many undisclosed aspects to my mom’s personality.”

Aditya is now in the process of writing a biography on his mother Geeta Bali. “It will be out by next year. It will go into areas of her personality that no one knows about. Do you know she was responsible for my father Shammi Kapoor’s ‘Yahoo’ image? She pulled him out of his obsession with socialist cinema and gave him this new, wild, sexy image. My father’s dance moves were actually my mother’s steps. If you see her dancing in Kidar Sharma’s Jabse Tumhe Dekha Hai she moves the way my dad became famous for.”

Aditya shows full faith in Vidya’s ability to play his mother. “She is very capable. And I am sure she will play my mother with dignity, grace and conviction.”

Vidya on getting into character to play yesteryear actress Geeta
Upala KBR (DNA; September 26, 2015)


Wanna play Geeta?
She says she got the role through make-up artiste Vidyadhar Bhatte, who she has worked with in the past (on Parineeta, Munnabhai and Bobby Jasoos), “During Bobby Jasoos, I told him that I wanted to act in a Marathi film. So he called me and said there’s a Marathi film on the life of Bhagwan Dada and it’s a special appearance and they wanted to know if I would like to play Geeta Bali. The moment he said Geeta Bali, I was interested and said, ‘Okay, let me meet them’. I liked what I heard in the director’s 15-minute narration. It’s fun even if you’re doing a special appearance!”

Dressing concerns
“Subarna Ray Chaudhuri is the costume designer of the film, though I did have my own inputs, like I do for every character. I got involved with the styling because firstly, you are recreating a film that people are familiar with and secondly playing a star who is very loved. I loved the period film per se, the way women dressed in the past, and each one had an individual style statement, identity and personality.”

Doing it all!
The actress sizzles as Geeta in Shola Jo Bhadke for the Marathi film. Vidya laughs “We have tried to recreate the flavour of that era. Choreographer Stanley D’Costa, with whom I did the Marathi song Mala Jau De (from Ferrari Ki Sawari) and his wife appreciated my performance. I find Geeta Bali extremely charming, the effervescence in her is so arresting… I loved her song Shaam Dhale Khidki Tale. They had told me that I would be dancing Shola Jo Bhadke and Bholi Soorat, so I said what about Shaam Dhale? They told me that if I wanted to do it, I could do a bit of it. And they shot a part of the song for me because I wanted it, for my sake! I love that song!”

The larger picture
Vidya was happy with the outcome. “For the songs, we had references, but none for scenes. It was nice to recreate the ambience of that era. We had to refer to Geeta Bali’s song videos to get in to the character. These are little things but all add up to the larger picture. This was Bhagwan Dada’s big film, he invested all he had in Albela, so this is the highlight of his career. Unfortunately, this is the only film of his that we can watch because his other films got burnt at the archives I think.”

Happy connection
Vidya feels she was destined to act in Ek Albela. “I don’t know whether Geeta Bali is as known amongst the younger generation now. I have watched Albela and have the poster in my Juhu home. Siddharth had 60-70 film posters in his house before we got married and when we got married and were doing up the house Albela was the only film poster that I picked up and said, ‘Let’s put it up as it’s a happy poster.’ And what a coincidence that today I am doing the Marathi Albela! I really think I was meant to do it.”

Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 10, 2015)

Vidya Balan will play yesteryear actress Geeta Bali in a Marathi film. Ek Albela is a biopic on late actor-director Bhagwan Dada, and Vidya will have a special appearance in it.

The film traces Bhagwan Dada's life from the age of 28 and the difficulties he faced while making his evergreen musical, Albela, which featured Geeta Bali, a top star of the time. "I wanted someone with a very Indian face to play Geetaji and Vidya suits the part perfectly," says director Shekhar Sartandel, who has earlier assisted Mahesh Manjrekar during Vaastav: The Reality.

Senior make-up artist, Vidyadhar Bhatte, who had worked with Vidya in Bobby Jasoos, suggested Vidya's name. Shekhar narrated the script to her and she immediately agreed. "She'll look like Geetaji from the original '50s film and since Geetaji was a Hindi film star, Vidya won't need to speak Marathi. We did a look test with her earlier, and Bhatte Saab did a great job making her look the part. She is a fabulous actress and it's a treat to work with her. I don't feel like I'm working with her for the first time," says Shekhar, who had written 13 drafts of the screenplay and began shooting with the actress on Tuesday. "I need another four days with Vidya."

Vidya is excited about the role, "It's an honour to be playing the effervescent Geeta Bali even if it is just a special appearance, and to be recreating Albela for a Marathi biopic on Bhagwan Dada."