Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 21, 2019)

In early 1973, Shyam Benegal, an ad filmmaker, decided it was time to make a movie. He already had a story in mind, and also an actress—Waheeda Rehman, who had worked with his cousin Guru Dutt and whose work he admired to play the central character.

Laxmi, a maid from a lower caste, is married to a deaf-mute drunk. She’s seduced by circumstances and false promises into having an affair with the young landlord, Surya, only to be left high and dry after she discovers she’s pregnant with his child. What made Guide’s Rosie the ideal choice for Ankur’s Laxmi was that being from Telangana where the story was set, Waheeda ji could speak the local dialect Dakhini fluently. “But she was a big star at the time while I was a debutant director. She was not confident I could pull it off, having never made a film before,” Shyam babu reminisces with a laugh.

After Waheeda ji turned him down, he thought of approaching National Award winning actress Sharada who had worked in Telugu films. But he changed his mind when he learnt that not being from Telangana, she couldn’t speak the lingo, a mix of Hindi-Urdu, which was essential to fleshing out the character.

That’s when one of his assistants told him about this girl who, while studying at St. Xavier’s college, had impressed in a couple of stage productions. “Does she have a background in performing arts?” he wondered, and was told that her father, Kaifi Azmi, was a famous poet, while her mother, Shaukat Kaifi, had done a lot of theatre. She, too, was a graduate from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). Instantly interested, he asked for her to come and meet him.

“One look at Shabana (Azmi) and I knew she was perfect for Laxmi. Yes, she was young and looked young too, but I was willing to tweak the role for her. Going with my instincts, I immediately signed her on, after learning that since her mother was from Telangana, she spoke Dakhini. I didn’t even audition her like I had Anant (Nag) who played Surya, surprising even her,” he flashbacks.

Anant Nag had accompanied an actor whose name Shyam babu has since forgotten, for an audition. “He came to offer moral support to his friend and caught my eye. I auditioned Anant as well and finding him perfect, introduced him in Hindi films. He became a big star in Kannada cinema but always made time for a role in my films,” Shyam babu smiles.

And so, Ankur rolled, with a team of newcomers, with the exception of cinematographer, Govind Nihalani, who had some cinematic experience having assisted V K Murthy. Straightaway, Shyam babu, with his two first-time actors, along with Sadhu Meher (he played the deaf-mute husband), dived into a dramatic scene wherein Laxmi rushes to rescue Kishtaya who, accused of stealing toddy, is being mercilessly whipped by Surya.

Shabana Azmi turned out to be a real find. Her performance bagged her many awards, including the National Award for Best Actress. “She’s an incredible actress with a huge range. Give her a role and Shabana owns the part,” raves her mentor, pointing out that the actress who brought in her 69th birthday on Wednesday, has also earned a reputation internationally, on screen and on stage.

Ankur also bagged the Best Actor award for Sadhu Meher and was adjudged Second Best Feature Film at the National Awards. “It made me a filmmaker and I never went back to advertising,” points out Shyam babu, who’s seen as the pioneer of parallel cinema in India.

After Ankur, he signed Shabana ji for Nishant, Junoon, followed by Mandi in which she played the madam of a brothel. “She was a really slim girl then, I pushed her to put on weight because I wanted Rukmini Bai to be a well-endowed woman, who chewed paan, cracked betel nuts and kept the girls in place,” Shyam babu recalls.

The duo went on to do more films but haven’t worked together of late. Has his protégée changed as an actress or a person in the decades since, you wonder, and he quips, “No, except for the weight she’s put on, which, as I have told her innumerable times, I don’t like. I guess Mandi is partly to blame for it and I will always feel guilty for that.”

Two decades after leaving to work in Dubai, “Rambha Ho” girl Kalpana Iyer appealed for decent, substantial roles on the social media
Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 5, 2019)

Back in the eighties she turned “Hari Om Hari” into a disco beat, then, lip-synced to Usha Uthup’s distinctive, husky voice in the Bappi Lahiri-composed “Rambha Ho Ho” for Armaan to book a place in our collective memory as one of Bollywood’s hottest sirens. A former Miss India who went on to represent the country in the Miss World pageant and made it to the semi-finals, Kalpana Iyer featured in many more special appearance chartbusters, from Disco Dancer’s “Koi Yahan Nache Nache” to Raja Hindustani’s “Pardesi Pardesi”. Towards the end of 1999, she moved to Dubai.

For almost two decades, Kalpana disappeared from the public eye, surprising everyone on Saturday when she resurfaced on Instagram with a post, asking for work. It was not a desperate plea, rather it was a respectful appeal to friends to come through for her. “I have worked for almost my entire life and most of you know me so a CV, I believe, is not really needed for I feel that it would be self-glorification on my part,” she pointed out, proceeding to state in simple terms that she was looking for a job as she wishes to continue working for as long as she can. “I am eager and willing and sincere so please consider this as an appeal to lead my life with dignity,” she reiterated.

When Mirror reached out to her in Dubai, the veteran actress was her usual upbeat, feisty self, pointing out that she had voluntarily left India and Bollywood at the turn of the century even though the offers were still coming in , mostly for TV. “It is not as if I only wanted to do films. But after shows like Banegi Apni Baat, Junoon and Dillagi, the work that was coming my way was not exciting in terms of screen time and substance. Mazaa nahin aa raha tha,” rues Kalpana, who started her career with Rajshri Films’ Manokaamnaa in 1980, a love triangle featuring Shail Chaturvedi, Urmila Bhatt and her as the glamorous London-based fiancée of the hero. Incidentally, her last film before the hiatus was also a Rajshri production—Sooraj Barjatya’s star-studded family drama, Hum Saath Saath Hain, which she describes as a “sweet, decent role” and even though it wasn’t too long, she admits she had a lot of fun on the sets with co-stars Kunika and Jayshree T.

Soon after, a dear friend who was in the hospitality business, invited her to work in his restaurant as a manager and Kalpana migrated to Dubai “I hadn’t expected to stay away for so long. But I liked it there, and though I had a strict boss, I enjoyed the work. Since my family was with me, 19 years passed by in a flash. Around four years ago, the friend closed down his business, but I managed to land a job at another restaurant. Unfortunately, I lost that one too in June. Now, even though I am done with all my responsibilities and have no majboori, I don’t want to take it easy yet. I want to work for as long as I can, I want to stay young at heart,” asserts the sixty-plus lady.

She acknowledges that she’s been away for almost 20 years and since she was not desperate enough to issue any denials and clarifications, many of her former producers were led to believe that she was no longer open to acting and would never return to Mumbai. “There is no reason for me to quit showbiz. I am who I am today thanks to Bollywood and Mumbai. My doors have always been open, so has my heart, but kaam toh hona chahiye, na?” she reasons.

Urged by friends who have been telling her for a while now that it’s time to return home, Kalpana put out the Instagram post and is encouraged by the overwhelming response it has received. “Since I don’t live in Mumbai, this was the best way to catch the public eye,” she says.

In 2017, National Award-winning actress Neena Gupta, then 62, had shared a beautiful picture of hers on the social media with the caption, “I live in Mumbai and working as a good actor looking for good parts to play.” She was rewarded with a strong role in Badhaai Ho as a woman on the wrong side of 40s with two sons in their 20s, who suddenly discovers that she is pregnant again. It bagged her the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress. “I want roles like that, roles that are decent in terms of footage and have substance. The budget is not important, nor the platform. Apart from films, there’s a lot happening in television and on the digital media too, I am open to any kind of work. Things are far more professional today, a system is in place, the younger lot is enthusiastic. These are good times for actresses, for women, even those who are over 60. It’s a truly good space to be in so I thought, why not give it a try. Working is my passion, I feel alive and happy when I am busy. After all these years, it’s hard to sit at home with my feet up,” she asserts.

In April 2018, Kalpana had been invited to the launch of Filmfare Middle-East. The editor, Manju Ramanan, had promised that they had a surprise in store for the actress. She did turn up but had hurt her knee badly and was on her way out early when she was persuaded to return to her seat. “Usha (Uthup) invited me to the stage and greeted me with so much grace and warmth, showered me with so much love,” she flashbacks to that evening. You remind her that she had gone “Bang Bang” too with Usha didi and she laughs, “I’ve sung and danced at stage shows before too but that act was not planned. It just happened.”

Any calls from Bappi Lahiri after that impromptu performance? “No, but he knows if he has something for me, I am waiting,” she avers. So, in this age of remixes and remakes can we hope to see her grooving to “Rambha Ho” again? “These days the girls are so slim and trim. If the audience is okay with a plumper Kalpana doing a 'Rambha Ho' I’m game,” she quips.

Quiz her on career highpoints, and she says every single film was an enjoyable experience. “I knew no one, I had no godfather, yet the film industry was good to me, and I am not being diplomatic here. I truly have no complaints,” she asserts.

Kalpana has always been around for her family. But doesn’t she wish she had got married and had a family of her own? “I live with my younger sister. Her son is my son too. My other sister has two kids and they are my own. I have no regrets. It’s been a beautiful life,” she concludes on a high.


Kalpana Iyer in Pyaara Dushman’s ‘Hari Om Hari’; In Raja Hindustani’s ‘Pardesi’

After eight months of battle with cancer, Nafisa Ali Sodhi has emerged victorious with a new zest for life, hunger to play meaningful roles in films and a deep-rooted desire to be part of Indian politics and serve the country
Sonil Dedhia (MID-DAY; July 7, 2019)

In 2017, Neena Gupta put out a post on Instagram seeking work. And just last week, veteran actor Nafisa Ali Sodhi, in an announcement that she has beaten cancer published a similar post. However, Ali says that she is not looking for work, just an outlet to celebrate life after eight months of battle. In conversation with mid-day, she talks about trying her hand at comedy, joining politics, and the scary state of affairs in India.

Excerpts from the interview.

You published a post on Instagram expressing a desire to get back to films.
I am not looking for work per say and neither am I seeking roles for monetary purposes. When I wrote that I am looking for a perfect script, I meant I wanted to celebrate my health and let the world know that I have won the battle against Cancer. I want to be part of films just for the joy of acting. It's liberating to work and being busy is a great healer too. It's always good to be surrounded by positive energy and like-minded people. At the same time, I don't want to be burdened with too much work. I want to work at my own pace. I don't have much hair on my head, so I may not wear wigs. Maybe, I could get the role of a patient or a monk (laughs). I have not worked in a comedy and it is definitely something I'd like to explore.

Earlier, Neena Gupta used social media to seek work, so did Amitabh Bachchan.
They are serious actors, who have achieved so much with their craft, yet they have no qualms in asking for work. It is the greatness of Mr Bachchan who isn't afraid to ask for a great role. I feel senior actors should be given credible work. Our culture asks us to respect elders; the same thing should apply irrespective of an actor's screen time.

Did you get any response to your post from filmmakers?
It's not even a week since I published the post. It is going to take the required time. A post cannot convert into work immediately. I remember Nikkhil Advani had called me a few months back [for a project], but I was still recovering. I was too frail and didn't want to make any commitments. But things have changed now.

You came out in support of Zaira Wasim who has decided to quit the film industry.
At her age, I went through the same thing she is facing. I felt for her. My message was that work is a choice. It is your freedom and independent right. Young people are surrounded by too many pressures, but if you have a choice, make sure you think and take the right decision. Till date, I look back and regret, 'Why did I give in? Why did I listen to my father instead of listening to myself?'

No one questioned her decision. However, people have chided her for bringing religion into the mix.
I had a similar issue. I was born into a Muslim family and my father told me 'girls in our family don't work in cinema'. I gave in to that pressure. I won the title of Miss India in 1976. Around the same time, Rishi Kapoor saw my photo in a magazine and his father Raj Kapoor approached my father expressing a desire to cast me in a film opposite his son. My father wasn't comfortable with the idea and turned it [offer] down. A few years later, I met Shashi Kapoor and Shyam Benegal at Rajji's birthday in Mumbai, where I was offered the lead role in Junoon (1979). Because I had turned 21, he told me to make my own decision. So, I took the chance and moved to Mumbai. My father didn't speak to me for two months. During the shoot, Benegal asked me to go home and show my father a few stills. I was going to feature in Zamaane Ko Dikhana Hai with Rishi, but my father objected to a few clauses in the contract. I respected his wishes and moved back to Kolkata. And I regret that decision. In retrospect, I feel I should have stood my ground. Cinema is so empowering and stimulating; it lets you transform into anyone that is the greatness of it.

You have contested elections in the past. Now that you have regained your health, would you consider joining politics again?
I would love to be a politician. If someone asks me to come to the Parliament and work for India, it would be a dream come true. I cannot rant or debate, but I can ensure I'll work towards the betterment of the country. I would like to take up any opportunity in any capacity.

Sonia Gandhi met you during your treatment. Did you consider speaking to her about your political ambitions?
A common friend informed her about my health when I was diagnosed with cancer. We met and had a nice chat. It's nice when friends reach out during testing times. She has a heart of an angel and a mind of a saint because she genuinely cares about people. Unfortunately, you see so much bad press against her; it's like a dirty political game. When I meet her again, which will happen soon, I'll ask her if I can join the party in any capacity.

What is your take on the current governance of the country?
The xenophobic and dictatorship approach is just too harmful. The media is being manipulated and it is happening in the name of democracy. We have movies being made with a political agenda that receive funding from political parties. Imagine history is being altered through school textbooks. History is to record and remember things that have benefited the community and country. It should not be changed to suit someone's convenience. It's a dangerous time that we are living in. The youth should not be blinded by hero worship, which is the case with Narendra Modi and Amit Shah and that is because they feel they are going to bring about a change. However, the harsh reality is that there is no change. The common man continues to suffer.

What would be that one question you would ask if you meet Narendra Modi?
I congratulated him when he became the PM and after that I have sent him two letters, but he is the first PM who has never replied to me. I believe he is biased against me considering all my other friends have received a reply. I am aware where I stand for him so, I don't think I would want to ask him anything.

Eight months after her diagnosis, Nafisa Ali has beaten the big C and is looking forward to facing the camera again
Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 4, 2019)

Naifisa Ali Sodhi’s Instagram post on Monday, seeking an “elegant role to portray in Indian cinema… a perfect script for a senior actress” has touched many hearts. She is quick to say that there is no “need to earn money” but if there is a small role which is exciting and motivating, she’d be happy to do it. “I want people to know that I’m doing better and not going downhill,” says the 62-year-old actress, alluding to her cancer diagnosis which came through in September last year. Her latest PET scan has declared her “cancer free” and she describes it as a “miracle”. “I still have to go for check-ups every three months and it will be five years before it can be said that the cancer is in remission, but it was still a good reason to reach for the champagne,” she exults.

In her first CA 125-test, which measures the cancer antigen 125 in the blood, the reading was an alarming 6,500 as against the normal under-30. “Today, it is down to eight after three rounds of chemotherapy that was carried out in two cycles and a big surgery,” Nafisa says, insisting that every woman undergo this test which can detect any kind of cancer.

She had been suffering constant and intense abdominal pain for months despite an all-clear CT Scan and Ultra Sound. Her tears prompted her radiologist friend, Dr R K Mathur, to persevere and some fatty tissues were detected in her colon and abdomen which were pushing her organs together. It wasn’t appendicitis as she’d imagined, laparoscopy, biopsy and other tests revealed cancer cells and acetes in the liquid bloating her stomach were responsible for those frequent, embarrassing burps. Flashbacking to the moment when she was told it was cancer, Nafisa says, “I told myself, chalo at least now I know I’m not a hypochondriac.”

A diagnosis by surgical oncologist Dr Harit Chaturvedi and British specialist Dr Peter Harper revealed it was Stage 3 of primary peritoneal cancer which had spread. Fortunately, her kidneys, pancreas and liver are safe, but all the other organs have been removed, leaving a scar from near the ribcage all the way down south. “I could only wear a kaftan for weeks before moving to yoga pants. It took a while to walk with help to the park in Defence Colony (Delhi). I had to keep telling myself, ‘I’ve got to do this’ and take each day at a time. Today, when I see people with fear writ large on their faces in the hospital, I hold their hand and tell them to believe in themselves and not give up. The spirit must be strong,” she asserts with a sunny smile which has been flashing bright all through her battle. “I’m a simple soul, I thrive on small joys, it pains me to see people troubled. I realised that through my smile I can reach people faster and if I can change some lives, there is nothing better.”

When prodded on her other Insta post, which addressed Zaira Wasim’s decision to quit acting, saying, “work is something which is your choice, it is your freedom, your independent right. There are many pressures young people are surrounded by... but if you have a choice, make sure you think and make the right choice”. Nafisa had added that when she looks back, she wishes she listened to herself and not her father. She says Zaira’s post transported her back to when she was 20 and flooded with offers after her National Award-winning debut film, Junoon. “This girl’s journey seems similar and I wanted to impress upon her that this is her journey and so the decision must be hers and no one else’s,” she reasons.

She returned to the screen with films like Life… In A Metro for which old friend Dharmendra recommended her strongly to Anurag Basu. “Post its release, a young lady lawyer at the airport told me that her siblings and she had initially opposed their mother’s wish to live her life the way she wanted to but after seeing the film, they had arranged her second marriage with her childhood friend. And I knew my reason for doing the film had been achieved,” she beams.

Nafisa also featured in a Malayalam crime thriller, Big B, with Mammootty in 2007, after director Amal Neerad overrode her reluctance saying he’d written the role with her in mind. “It got me awards and acclaim and last year, Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster 3 was a great holiday,” she laughs, looking spiffy in the new haircut that daughter Armana’s children Aamair and Aariana have given her. All that hair cascading to her waist is gone after chemotherapy, as have her eyebrows and eye-lashes, but she is unfazed.

She’d earlier told Mirror (Nov 21, 2018) that she had to get well by June to welcome her third grandchild. “Ayaan was born early because Pia’s BP shot up in the eighth month. I was in Australia then with my mother and brother and saw him only after a week, but it was amazing holding him in my arms. My family has surrounded me with so much positivity, my son Ajit left Mumbai for six months to be by my side. When there’s so much of love, you must fight back,” she signs off with another sunny smile.

Deepali Singh (DNA; April 8, 2018)

There was a time, many years ago, when Naseeruddin Shah was fed up of acting in movies. “That was when actors did double shifts,” he recalls. “I had to do that on several occasions, and incidentally, the films I was doing back then were total crap. It was a period of five or six years, when I was really miserable. Theatre saved my sanity. We would even rehearse for the plays in the make-up room.”

It’s been over four decades now, but his love affair with the stage refuses to lose steam. “Theatre is a living medium and that’s the joy of doing it,” he states simply. And that’s the reason the actor has consistently delivered the goods on stage. Till just a few months ago, he had been busy staging his play, The Father, one of his most ambitious projects, which had a month-long run at the NCPA Experimental Theatre. And here we are again, sitting inside the hallowed interiors of Prithvi Theatre, as he watches his troop of actors getting ready for the technical rehearsals of his next play. Aurat! Aurat!! Aurat!!! is the third part of his tribute to Ismat Chughtai, the celebrated Urdu writer, after Ismat Apa Ke Naam and Kambhakt Bilkul Aurat.

Unlike the past monologues, this time, he has multiple actors on stage — all women — and Naseer has chosen to only direct the play. “Just like the earlier ones, I hope this play too strikes a chord with the audience. It’s funny and talks about women asserting themselves. Though there are some things in it,  which people might think don’t happen now (as this was written in the ’40s), the fact remains that they are not all that different. Even if some of them are not true anymore, they are worth reiterating to remind the audience of the courage it took to write this stuff in the ’30s and ’40s for a Muslim woman, coming from an orthodox family. Today, she would have been probably murdered by some mad fundamentalist for saying these things!” he exclaims.

In director mode now, he watches, as his wife Ratna Pathak Shah discusses the costumes with the actors, the technicians adjust the lights and the props are put in place, before facing us for a chat...

You keep going back to Ismat Chughtai. What is it about her writings that inspires you?
I can see the stories because they seem to reflect my extended family. My kin is from a place near Meerut, from exactly the kind of milieu she writes about — the fading aristocracy, clinging on to the so-called glory of the past, indulging in a lot of peccadilloes and some serious things also, including pulling guns and threatening each other.

My mom had 19 siblings out of whom 11 survived, but that means for almost close to four decades, her mom only bore one child after another! The eldest had children who were older than the youngest sibling! There were old men marrying young women, brothers insisting on asserting their right on their widowed sisters-in-law and s*** like that. She writes about all this and I have witnessed it at close quarters, so it just has a tremendous resonance.

I can visualise these stories and she's so funny and so wicked, I just love it! (Laughs) She doesn’t claim to be very meaningful. She says I write about the people I know. And there is this amazing compassion she has for everyone she writes about. It’s a treasure I have stumbled upon. I feel privileged and I just can’t stop. This is the third part of it but in between I staged Lihaaf. And there’re so many more I want to do.

Most people here would know her only for Lihaaf...
(Cuts in) And it’s a real tragedy! That’s something we talk about in one of the plays, in a commentary by Urdu fiction writer Balraj Menra, who said that people just considered her an obscene writer of sexual stories. But there are hundreds of stories, 10 full-length novels, that nobody talks about. Most people have read the translation of Lihaaf. I wonder whether the richness of the language gets across in translation, but at least people are familiar with it. I wish that people would read her. She’s a great writer.

Not many people are aware that you acted with her in the 1978 film, Junoon?
Yes, and we were all very condescending towards her. ‘Poor Ismat Apa, she has never acted before, we have to take care of her’ — hers is the best bloody performance in the film (laughs)! When I see it today, it's Shabana Azmi's performance and Ismat Apa’s performance. Everybody else is showing off to high heaven, most of all, yours truly!

There were some really acclaimed actors in that movie...
Yes, all hamming it up, like crazy! (Laughs)

How did you find her, as a person?
She was a sweetheart. I never took her to be anything but this cute, cuddly, gossipy grandma. She was always like, ‘batao batao, woh Nafisa (Ali) achchi lagti hai tumhe?’ and things like that (smiles). She was always full of zest and fun. She would ask me a lot about myself, never asked if I read her work, and I loved talking to her. She was a great listener. That is the real sign of greatness. Otherwise, you see celebrated people, they never ask you questions, they are always waiting to be questioned.

You had never read her writings before that?
No! It was only a couple of years after her death, that I walked into a bookstore and came across a book of hers and decided to buy it, out of affection for Ismat Apa. It was an English translation, a bad one at that and still, I was blown away! I thought if in English they are so amazing, they must be magic in the original. I kick myself now, thinking I had access to her, but I never bothered to meet her. I wish she could have seen our work.

You don’t adapt her works to modern times...
There’s no need. Adapting it to modern times would ruin the beauty of it. These are things she wrote in the ’40s and they still stand true. Great writing transcends its time. The text to me is sacred.

The earlier parts were monologues. You have multiple actors on stage this time. Why the change in format?
The ones we have done earlier were stories that one person can tell and hold an audience. These are not stories, but essays. Here, the first one is out of her autobiography. Since we have these lovely actors, I just thought it would be great to stage those scenes — her childhood, how she rebelled against getting married when she was 13 and insisted on studying, what made her the rebel that she was. So we are staging all that. Only the last one is sort of a story being done by Seema Pahwa, which will be a monologue.

The play will premiere on April 10 at 9 pm at Prithvi Theatre.

Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 16, 2017)

Rishi Kapoor began filming Anubhav Sinha’s social thriller, Mulk, in Malihabad last week. Taapsee Pannu who plays his daughter-in-law joined Rishi on Sunday. Speaking from the UP town, Anubhav revealed that a day earlier Rishi had canned a confrontational scene in an erstwhile palace, where Shyam Benegal’s Junoon with Shashi Kapoor and Naseerudin Shah, Muzaffar Ali’s Umrao Jaan with Rekha and Anil Sharma’s Gadar with Sunny Deol, had been shot earlier.

“I had no idea. I had simply liked the place when I was on a recce there. It was the locals who recently told me about these iconic films being shot there. I must have been 12-13 when Shyam Babu was shooting Junoon there with Naseer bhai. This place houses the history of cinema,” exults Anubhav who flagged off the film on his son’s birthday. He’s all praise for the mango belt of North India and its gracious inhabitants. “The mango orchards spread over miles and the locals actually adhere to the Lucknavi tehzeeb of ‘pehle aap, pehle aap’. Recently I complained about the unit tea and within 15 minutes, 30 cups of tea came from someone’s home and served,” laughs Anubhav.

On Sunday, they were shooting at a local college, which they have converted into a government office. “Taapsee and Rishi ji have earlier worked in Chashme Baddoor and share a great rapport. Rishi ji is a chilled out person, doesn’t carry the aura of Rishi Kapoor and is very friendly with everyone. We are on a start-to-finish schedule and mid-November mein khatam karke hi lautunga main,” Anubhav signs off.

Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 12, 2015)

Nafisa Ali who made her acting debut in 1979 with Shashi Kapoor's first production, Junoon, insists that she was destined to be launched by the Kapoors. Rishi Kapoor spotted the 16-year-old national swimming champ on the cover of a magazine and showed it to his father. Raj Kapoor was keen to cast them in his next film. But Nafisa's dad didn't want his school-going daughter getting into the movies.

"When Bobby premiered in Kolkata, Rishi invited my parents and me over and introduced us to his family," reminisces Nafisa, who on her next trip to Mumbai for a modelling assignment met Shashi Kapoor and his son Kunal at Raj Kapoor's birthday party. Soon, she was swimming with Shashi, his wife Jennifer Kendal and their children, Kunal and Karan, at the Breach Candy Club and she was admiring his long eyelashes which knotted when he swam.

"The day before I was to return to Kolkata, Kunal told me that Shyam Benegal who was directing a film for his dad, was looking for a new girl. He coaxed me to leave my photographs behind and showed them to him," she says.

Back in Kolkata, Nafisa got a call from Benegal and since it was her 21st birthday the next day— January 18—her dad told her to make her own decision. An interest in fashion and cinema brought her back to Mumbai where Shashi put her up at the Taj and the next day, she met Benegal over breakfast.

"I was the only one eating and chattering. He just kept looking at me till I told him it would give me a stomach ache," she laughs, recalling how the director invited her to his studio where she was given the famous white dress and told to turn left, then right. "That was my screen test. If he'd made me enact a scene, I'd have been a nervous wreck because I was an athlete, not an actress. Shyam understood that," she reasons.

Soon after, she was cast in Junoon, an adapation of Ruskin Bond's A Flight of the Pigeons, set against the background of the Mutiny of 1857. Shashi played Javed Khan, a feudal chieftain, who falls desperately in love with an English girl, Ruth Labadoor, played by Nafisa. "When I met Raj Kapoor he complained that I hadn't done his film. I pointed out that I was working with his brother, so my first film was still with the Kapoors," she laughs.

It wasn't easy working with several National Award winners but she found two acting gurus in Jennifer and Naseeruddin Shah. She recalls one scene where Jennifer, who played her mother, wakes up to see an Indian sepoy creeping up on her and stabs him. "When I wake up to see the dead man I turn hysterical and start screaming I had never screamed in my life and when I told Jennifer this she just opened her mouth and let out blood-curling cries, telling me it was as easy as that. I recalled those screams when filming and got a pat on the back from Shyam," she says, remembering how she'd jokingly dubbed herself a "one-take actress' because all Shyam wanted from her was to be herself.

Quiz her on Shashi, the producer, and she says he was wonderful, ensuring that his unit stayed in the same hotel, travelled in the same cars and ate together. "He and Jennifer appointed a cousin, Tiger Kapoor, who'd take me sightseeing or to a movie when we were not shooting, so I wasn't lonely," she says.

But she was still homesick for her dad who'd refused to speak to her after she'd signed the film. So they sent her home to Kolkata with some film stills to show him and convince him it'd be a movie to be proud of.

In Mumbai, when she was dubbing for the film, Nasir Husain signed her for a film opposite Rishi. But to their dismay she dropped out and went back to Kolkata because she didn't want to be lonely in Mumbai.

She wasn't alone for long. The battle scenes of Junoon had been shot in Jaipur and the officers had become good friends. In December, she met them at a polo match in Kolkata, along with R S Sodhi, the only bachelor who'd been posted in Delhi during the shoot. He accompanied her to Delhi in January for the premiere of Junoon. Love blossomed during earning morning rides and the couple married and raised three children-Armana, Pia and Ajit.

Today, Ajit is in Mumbai gearing up for a Bollywood debut opposite J P Dutta's daughter, Nidhi, in Jee Bhar Ke Jee Le. His doting mother insists that she will give him all the support he needs to live out the dreams his 'darpok little girl' mum gave up all those years ago.