Mala Sinha started her career as a child artist in Bengali films – Jai Vaishno Devi. Noted Bengali director Ardhendu Bose saw her acting in a school play and cast her as a heroine in his Bengali film Roshanara (1952), her cinematic debut. Director Kidar Sharma launched her in Rangeen Raatein and in 1957 Guru Dutt cast her as Rehman’s wife in Pyaasa, a turning point in Sinha’s career.

Her next turning point came with Yash Chopra’s directorial debut Dhool Ka Phool that elevated her star position.  There was no looking back ever since and a decade later, call it destiny that she went to shoot for a Nepali film Maitighar when the Nepali film and married  the hero, an estate owner called Chidambar Prasad Lohani. It was a long-distance marriage and while Lohani was based in Kathmandu, Mala Sinha continued to pursue her career in Mumbai that slowed down post motherhood. Post 80’s Mala Sinha quit movies completely and now spends her time between Nepal and India.

My favourite Mala Sinha memory stems from a song ‘Aap ki nazrone samjha’ so my favourite film of hers will be film Anpadh.

Ashutosh Ram Narayan Neekhra or Ashutosh Rana dons many hats and feathers as an artiste. He is an actor, producer, author and has worked in Marathi, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, and of course Hindi in both television and movies.  While most know him as a competent performer and as a master of Hindi language, few are aware that he is a professional writer who has penned many books and is a regular at literature festivals.

Some of the books authored by him include Maun Muskaan Ki Maar and Ramrajya. Rana rose in popularity with his portrayal of Gokul Pandit in Dushman, where he played a cold blooded psychopathic killer. He has played all kinds of roles in all genres of films and shared screen space with superstars, especially Vishnuvardhan, in five different languages.  On his birthday, I choose Mahesh Bhatt’s Dushman as my favourite film of Ashutosh Rana. He was so convincing as the antagonist that I continued to hate him for a long time.

Raima Sen father hails from a royal family and her mother, Moon Moon Sen is the daughter of the legendary actor Suchitra Sen. Raima made her debut as Shabana Azmi’s daughter in Vinay Shukla’s Godmother and later as Raveena Tandon’s daughter in Daman. Her breakthrough role came when she starred in the Rituparno Ghosh‘s film Chokher Bali where she played the compassionate friend of the widow, Aishwarya.  Her film Manorama Six Feet Under with Abhay Deol was critically acclaimed and won many awards at many festivals. Over the years she has done several films in both Hindi and Bengali  

In 2016, Sen was seen in Bollywood Diaries directed by K.D. Satyam on Amazon Prime and later in The Last Hourwith Sanjay Kapoor. A few days ago, was her birthday and my favourite memory of Raima Sen will forever be her debut lead that got her into the spotlight, Chokher Bali.

Yesterday was Nandita Das’s birthday.  More than three decades ago, she came from Delhi and won the hearts of many. Deepa Mehta was the first to launch her in Fire and she went on to do her sequel in Earth.  The parallel or the art cinema looked upon her as a replacement for Smita Patil and Jamohan Mundra signed her for Bawandar and Govind Nihalani for Hazar Chaurasi Ki Maa. They were all memorable films but Nandita Das kept saying she was ill at ease with showbusiness. It is not as if she didn’t enjoy acting. She had always been an artiste- street plays, theatre, television, documentaries, she had done it all and craved for more but the mainstream cinema didn’t make her feel at home.

She continued with her pursuit, wrote screenplays, directed films, authored books, rather did everything connected to performing arts that brought her joy and matched her sense and sensibility.  Nandita Das has a classic face; she is made for the camera. Das knows she is photogenic but not obsessed with it, in herself and others, Nandita Das looks for substance and stability. On her birthday if I have to pick my one favorite film of hers it would be Earth: 1947 telling the story of partition and is based on the famous book Ice Candy Man

Kamal Haasan has been working in films ever since he was a little child. Very early in his career, the camera fell in love with him and he with the camera. Decades passed by; generations changed but the love affair remains constant. He has worked in multiple languages, flirted with scripting, direction, music, choreography, makeup and more.  There were highs and there were lows in his personal life and career, there were accolades and there were controversies and often it appeared as if the storm would not subside but they did and he emerged stronger and more successful.

As a performer he made us laugh, made us cry, he bowled us over with his action and pathbreaking choices. Everyone who has grown up on his films has a Kamal favorite and on his 67^th birthday I pick that one film I can watch over and over again is Thevar Magan remade into Hindi as Virasat with Anil Kapoor. The film and the character exhibit all the nav rassas and the music and the co-stars added to the magic in both the original and the adaptation.

Anil Kapoor chose the poem he did because it is about detachment and expressed that it is important for all artists, individuals to at some point, detach themselves from worldly attachments and find a path. Excerpts from the poem…

Demolish the forts

Destroy the cage

Break free

From velvet dreams

Wandering night

Wastrel night

Blabbering night

Lonely night

The beginning of every event is usually stressful because everyone is worried if all will go well, if the chief guest will come on time, the house will be full and the systems in place – be it the microphones, audio- visual or the performers will all deliver as planned.  For the book launch of Letters to Self in Mumbai, we were all going through the same emotions at The Club Mumbai, Juhu when our chief guest Anil Kapoor strolled into the room, hands folded into a namaskar and smiling at all. The audience was instantly captivated and after that whatever he did, the audience loved him more and more.

We began the evening with the reading of the poetry, first the original by actor Ojas Rawal and then the translation by me. Anil was moved by the words even though he does not understand Gujarati and was motivated to read the translation of one of Prime Minister’s poems that impacted him deeply titled Chhodo in Gujarati and Release in English. More about the poem in tomorrow’s blog…

It is that time of the year again, when Prithvi Theatre dresses up like a bride and theatre lovers rush to watch the latest on rangmanch. They have been doing it for decades now and the enthusiasm has not diminished. For a long time, I attended the opening to meet my favorite Shashi Kapoor, later to bond with Sanjna Kapoor and now to support Kunal Kapoor.

This year is going to be special because there were no celebrations during covid and the artistes are restless to get back on stage. The opening performance is by Pooja Gaitonde followed by some regular names like Manoj Shah, Naseerudin Shah and Makrand Deshpande. There are some surprises too, dancer Bijayini Satpthy performing Abhipsaa– A Seeking, Dhrupad by a solo Indian vocalist and Jazz by Louis Banks. As always, one looks forward to a mix of music and theatre performances that will rejuvenate our experience.