A few days ago, we celebrated Mother’s Day. My mind rewinds to our mythology. According to Tantra-Chudamani when Sati jumped into the yajna and Lord Shiva did a tandav with her corpse in his arms, Lord Vishnu sensing doom, flung his sudarshan chakra and fragmented Sati’s body into fifty-one pieces (some say 108 pieces), all manifestations of Goddess Shakti. Indian cinema has reflected these avtaars in our narratives.

The most popular goddess Maa Lakshmi, originated from the sagar manthan seated on a lotus holding precious jewels in her hand and Lord Vishnu immediately proclaimed her as his consort.

In the 1973 film Saudagar Amitabh Bachchan a gur seller, chooses to marry a widow/ Nutan so he can lead a comfortable life. In Sanjog Mala Sinha is depicted as an incarnation of Lakshmi and in Judaai Urmila Matondkar is so prosperous that she buys off Anil Kapoor from his bride/ Sridevi.

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You sound content? “Yes, I believe contentment is a state of mind and you can feel happy without nothing and unhappy with everything served on a platter. This may sound a bit odd to you, but in a strange way I feel like the character of my debut film Antuleeni Katha. The character is a village girl who goes through extra-ordinary experiences to discover herself. I too started as a small-town girl, did innumerable films down South, came to Mumbai did Hindi films, went back to South and got into politics.

“Life is a full circle” she said, “And sorrow and happiness follow each other like success and failure and we must be prepared for both.”

I conducted above interview with Jaya Prada sometime in 2001 when she was shooting with Dharmendra in a faraway studio in Mumbai. It was among her last fling with Bollywood and she knew it. She was aware that the film she was shooting for would probably not release but wanted to honor her commitments before she took off on a new phase. I reproduce our conversation to reflect the time gone by/ cinema and the time to com/ politics. The biggest stars have to fade some day and those who can accept this are the winners.

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This was when legendary star NTR asked you to campaign for him? “Yes, I had known NTR sir for too long to refuse him, so agreeing to campaign was more of an emotional reaction than a career plan and as fate would have it, NTR won the elections and became the chief minister and inadvertently this became a beginning for me in politics. Later, I joined Chandra Babu Naidu and call it my good fortune again because Chandra Babu sir also won the elections and my position became stronger.”

Those days you were traveling to villages, must be quite a different experience from shooting inside studios? “Oh yes, it was exhilarating one day and dramatic the next day. We were travelling the interiors for days and nights at a stretch, often without food, water or even a roof above our heads. I didn’t know where I would be bathing or change, every day, we started early dawn and packed up at midnight”.

Did you ever think of giving it all up and returning to your comfortable life? “Strangely no, even though I was traveling to unfamiliar places with strangers. As stars we are accustomed to having our companion with us everywhere and here, I was surrounded by crowds all the time. I realized that if I can endure this, I can endure anything! Politics like stardom is a great teacher, it taught me self-reliance and patience.” And how does your family react to your changing lifestyle? “My new life has changed their life as well. They don’t have to any longer travel with me everywhere and they are happy that I am now capable of looking after myself”.

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I was watching Jeetendra’s Tohfa the other day and recalled how Sridevi and Jaya Prada had taken Bollywood by a storm in the 80s.  They were the first choice of every filmmaker and both had very quickly signed a dozen films with all the top actors including Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Rajesh Khanna and of course Jeetendra who in traduced the southern heroines to Bollywood.

In the coming decades, while Sridevi married Boney Kapoor and raised babies, Jaya Prada moved from cinema to politics. Her stint with cinema continued but the projects were not as attractive as in the olden days. Jaya Prada was aware of that and when she stopped enjoying the films she was doing, she moved back to Bangalore. Over the years, I often bumped into Jaya Prada both in Mumbai and Delhi and once asked her if she felt she had been reckless about her career? Because had she played her cards right, she would have still been active in movies.

Jaya Prada agreed she had signed films indiscriminately “I didn’t need to do those films; I didn’t need the money. I did them because I was just going through a lowly phase and taking wrong decisions so I have no one to blame but myself. When these films didn’t work, I turned restless and left the city”. And you never missed Mumbai and Hindi films? “Sometimes, I did when I watched an old film of mine on TV but the urge subsided just as quickly and around this time due to personal reasons, I shifted base from Bangalore to Hyderabad and that was a turning point”.

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Is Mira Nair a demanding director?
I have known her for little more than five years now and she has always surprised me. I will say that Mira is a thoughtful director and I think it was a good idea to begin shooting in Kolkata at Howrah Bridge followed by Taj Mahal at Agra. It was when we got comfortable with our characters that we traveled to New York.

What is her USP?

She has fascinating observations about people and life. I would say her personality is evident in her relationships with her actors and her technicians. She is not at all hard on her actors. On the contrary, she makes light of even the most dramatic scene and which is why I call her the David Dhawan of America because her motto is to be happy at all times.

That’s unusual?
Absolutely, for her image and position it is so easy to get carried away but Mira is grounded and values human beings. She makes everyone around her feel special and is highly appreciative of the slightest good work you deliver. It’s the first sign of a competent director and so reassuring for the actor.  When I finished my work in the film, I extended my stay in America, something I have never done in all these years. I think I needed that much time to off load Ashma Ganguly before I got back home.

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How different was the experience of shooting?

I quite enjoyed shooting with an international unit on a foreign location. This was the first time I was travelling without the entourage of my make-up man, spot-boy and hairdresser and felt entirely baggage free, quite liberating frankly.

You didn’t feel lonely at the end of the day?
I did, particularly when the days were very cold and I wanted to eat hot Indian food but I enjoyed my space too. I always carry my books and music with me wherever I travel and I made friends with the unit too so all of us went out together on a couple of occasions. The hotel where we were staying was in the heart of Manhattan city so it was very easy to just stroll into a theatre, restaurant or to a Broadway show whenever one felt like.

How do you prepare for a role?
It depends from role to role. Mira didn’t want me to over prepare for the character, besides I’m familiar with the Bengali culture and customs because all my friends are Bengalis and live in Kolkata.   My look for the character and the backdrop was the least of my problem because I knew Mira would work out the details. I also knew that she has extensive workshops and would guide us on the journey.

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It did not bother you that you were not her first choice?
Not at all because at this phase of my career, these issues seem too trivial, on the contrary, I viewed the offer as an opportunity. How does it matter whether I am the first or the last choice of the filmmaker? The role can travel to as many artistes but the character is remembered by the actor who plays it! I believe that whatever happened, happened for a reason and I did the film because I was destined to play the part. I had read the book and identified with Ashma Ganguly and maybe now the character herself was seeking me out as an actor.

What attracts you to Ashma Ganguly?
Her honesty, her complexity and her survival instinct.  It is the story of ab immigrant couple, Irrfan Khan and me trying to make a home in New York city. The couple tries their best to fit into the foreign land but in their hearts and head, they are all the time living in Kolkata, thinking about all their loved ones, the relatives they have left behind.

To be continued

Mira Nair’s Namesake was released in India in 2007. The shooting of the film began sometime in April 2005 initially in Kolkatta and later in New York. It is fifteen years since the film released and is still a big draw at film festivals looking at Indians in foreign space. The film is especially relevant in present times when people have not been able to travel to meet family residing overseas. I remember meeting Tabu during the shooting of this film and she had said that the story of Namesake will always touch a raw nerve as long as we have families living away from us. Excerpts:

You had been in talks with dire4ctor Mira Nair for a different film if I remember right?
That’s right, Mira and I had been meeting on and off over the last few years and bounced a couple of ideas. Both of us were keen to work together but nothing concrete ever came out of these meetings or conversations. At one point, it seemed like one of the ideas both of us liked, was going to work out, but even that fizzled out at the last minute. So, for a while we stopped meeting, assuming that our time to work together had not come as yet. Then one day, while I was shooting in Hyderabad for a South film, I get a call from Mira and she says that the Namesake casting had fallen out and would I play the main part?

To be continued