On 02 October is Mahatma Gandhi, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Hindi cinema’s hit- girl Asha Parekh’s birthday. She was referred to as the Hit Girl because all the films she featured in were super hits and it was said that purchase of territories concluded as soon as a new project featuring her was announced. She started her career as a child star in the fifties, made her debut as a lead in the sixties and despite her superstardom continued to perform dance ballets on stage. She is the only heroine trained in both Bharatnatyam and Kathak classical dance forms.

She is also the only heroine to turn distributor and become actively associated with social service in hospital. In the nineties she was appointed President, Cine Artistes Association/ CINTA and also Chairperson, Censor Board by the then I& B Minister Sushma Swaraj. Unlike other actors who sit on their laurels Asha Parekh has accepted new challenges over the decades. She launched her production house and turned director on television with Baje Payal then Dal Mein Kala Hai, Kora Kagaz and finally, Kangan.

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It is only later I discovered that Dev Anand has the same effect on everyone who came into contact with him. It is said that Shabana Azmi already launched as a leading lady had no intention of doing a small part in Dev Anand’s new film but five minutes of entering his office and Azmi was so carried away that had agreed to Ishq Ishq Ishq. Says Azmi, Dev saab was so charming that she was swept off her feet and could not refuse the veteran actor.

Neetu Singh, another star of the seventies revealed that her boyfriend Rishi Kapoor in those days was obsessed with Dev Anand that he looked for opportunities to meet him. It is because Dev Anand made every-one he met feel special. His actors loved him and his heroines felt safe with him.

Unlike other filmmakers, Dev Anand did not expose his heroines on screen, on the contrary he always said that the more covered the heroine, the more sensuous she looked. In later years however, after turning director, Dev Anand often presented his heroines like Zeenat Aman and Tina Munim in glamorous costumes but they were always sensual never vulgar. I asked him about the shift in image and he accepted that it was an effect of changing times, said, “Filmmaking is a collective process and dependent on multiple pressures and sometimes it is easier to give into these pressures rather than waste energy in converting opinions”.

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Dev Anand rose from his chair the minute he saw me and offered me a firm handshake. Then pushing aside all the files to a corner of the desk, his eyes sparkling said, “Don’t mind this mess on my desk, chaos is part of creativity and which is why I have never believed in clearing my desk or my cupboards. They are going to get messy again and, in my opinion, it is all a crucial waste of creative energy, don’t you agree with me?”

I was stumped and stared at De Anand blankly. So far, no professional of merit had sought my opinion on anything, also, so far, nobody had shared such an original thought with me earlier. I was drawn to his energy, his thought process. He sat on his chair and began searching for the pictures he had promised my office. And as he did that, we conducted the interview. Dev Anand locks his eyes when he talks to you, speaks passionately and his zest for life is infectious. Unlike other celebrities who are frequently interrupted, Dev Anand gives you undivided attention as long as you are in his presence so naturally, I came home thoroughly impressed by the actor.

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On 26 September 1923 Dev Anand born in Gurdaspur, Punjab. If he were alive, he would turn 99 this year. In my long career, I met Dev Anand a number of times and I still remember my first encounter with him sometime in 1978at his old office in Khira Nagar, Santacruz. Khira Nagar was a hot spot in the suburbs because Dev Anand held his production office in that area. I was a rank newcomer in the late 70s and to just keep me busy I think, my editor sent me to collect some pictures from Dev Anand’s office.  

A red, creaky iron staircase from the main road landed you directly inside the Navketan lobby. and as I waited on a worn-out sofa rested against a discolored wall, I wondered if all-star offices were so ordinary. The only unusual thing about the office so far was that it had an exclusive entrance but besides the red staircase there was nothing attractive about the place. A few minutes later, I was ushered inside the mega star’s cabin and there he was, the superstar

So is this how superstars look in their environment, I wondered.

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My parents split when my brother and I were kids but growing up was far from traumatic. My parents remain friends and there’s no hostility amongst all the children. Shaheen, Soni Razdan’s older daughter shares the most unusual bond with my mom. My baby sister Aalya played my childhood in Tamanna, she was only three-year-old at that time but delivered a perfect take. When the unit applauded her, she was unaffected, she turned to dad and said, ‘Its pack up for me’.

Travelling is the best way to know people, I traveled with my baby brother Sunny when he was an adolescent on my shooting and he was totally in charge of me and the trip. I am not demonstrative to either my mother or brother but they know that I love them dearly. With dad I’m vocal and as I grow older, respect him as a professional and not just my hero! I can tell him anything and he will take it. There is no one like dad in this entire world and I don’t need a special day to say I love him.”

After dropping Kiran Bhatt to the hospital, Mahesh Bhatt with little Pooja in his arms, parked at his friend UG Krishnamurthy’s home, which was a stone throw from the hospital. Pooja remembers sleeping on the couch in the living room of Krishnamurthy while the two men kept awake chatting all night.

“In the morning” recalls Pooja, “Dad carried me to the hospital to meet me my baby brother and I suddenly felt grown up. In the coming years I felt Sunny grew up faster than me and was the first to warn my parents when I was up to mischief.  When I started smoking, it was Sunny who complained to dad. He was furious and to make matters worse, we were shooting together the next day.

We were driving for the shooting of Sir to Mukesh Mills and I could sense dad was upset with me. On arriving at the location, he fired all his assistants and actors; and blamed them for my smoking. I was embarrassed by his outburst and escaped to my make-up room. Chachu Mukesh Bhatt entered my room, spotted an ash-tray and screamed like he had spotted a snake! It was a crazy day and phase, but the best thing about close relationships is that the worst phases pass and loved ones continue to care.

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Dad said it was the beginning of a new phase for me and he was right. I turned calmer, more self-reliant now. Earlier, I was frightened of being alone, now I enjoyed my company. Dad said it was because I was cooked with pain, he is always right because he reads me the best”.

Pooja Bhatt always sounded like her father and now has become a replica of Mahesh Bhatt. “That’s true, the older I get, the more I feel like him. Dad got irritated when people did not measure up to his intensity, now I feel exasperated when people don’t measure up to my intensity. Sometimes, I feel that children are the best company because they don’t ask questions. I remember the day my little brother Sunny was born. Mom and dad were talking in whispers, and then Dad woke me up, said, ‘Pooja wake up, the time has come’.

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Mahesh Bhatt turns seventy-three on 20 September 2021 and he hates celebrating his birthday, so I pick on his daughter Pooja Bhatt to reminisce about Bhatt and their family. Pooja told me she turned producer because her father told her that the only way to make films you believe in is to launch your own production, so the day Pooja found a script she felt passionately about, she announced her banner. 

The first lesson she learnt as a producer was to approve of the best script. The second lesson was to believe in the script till the end. “I chose Tamanna as my debut production fully aware that it will not be a commercial grosser but I’d rather begin artistic than ambitious and my father supported me. To shoot the film in Seychelles was chachu Mukesh Bhatt’s idea and we could do this because we shot four films Dastak, Papa Kahte Hain, Fareb and Tamanna together at the island…

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