As hours went by, Nutan became refreshingly candid and discussed other journalists with me. ‘Most of them come with a set of prepared questions and never check their facts. They want controversies, make allegations and misquote you without a care in the world. “I don’t need to explain my work, my films to them’. I told her I watched her interview on Bimal Roy on Doordarshan the previous evening and loved the way she described the crucial scene in Bandini. She smiled, ‘Bimalda was a master craftsman and a great story teller. What Kalyani is going through before poisoning the patient is portrayed through a welding scene in the background’.
Nutan discussed Sujata and untouchability too but I’m not sure if I fully understood what she meant at that time, but the conversation and her melodious voice stayed with me for a long, long time and yet we never crossed paths. We met again, almost decade later, at a grand party organized by Subhash Ghai for Meri Jung and Nutan was there accompanied by her husband Rajneesh Bahl but they did not mingle with anyone, sat in a corner all by themselves and left early.
To be continued