Southern sirens

cast opposite Ranjan in Nishaan and Mangala. Both films were again made in Tamil as well as Hindi.

M.S. Subbalakshmi also finds a place in this book though she was far more successful as a singer than an actor.

Among others, we have here Anjali Devi ( who holds the record of having 400 films to her credit), Padmini (started off as part of a dancing trio known as the “Travancore Sisters”), B. Saroja Devi (Rajendra Kumar’s leading lady in the 1961 film Sasural), Jamuna, Jayalalithaa, Jaya Prada, Sridevi and, perhaps, the most successful of them all, Vyjayanthimala.

Vyjayanthimala did a few forgettable Tamil films before AVM Studios cast her in Bahar in which she introduced a more sophisticated form of dancing to Hindi films. That was in 1951. Three years later, S.K. Mukherji of Filmistan cast her as a tribal girl in Nagin, a superhit essentially on the basis of the film’s glorious songs and Vyjayanthimala’s dance numbers. After that she more or less said goodbye to Madras and reigned in Bombay. She was instrumental in paving the way for other South Indian women who have left their mark in Hindi films.

Four major South Indian stars are conspicuous by their absence in the book — Hema Malini, Waheeda Rehman, Rekha and Vidya Balan. I suppose they have been left out because they are essentially Bollywood who happen to be of southern parentage.

There was a time, in the 1950s and 1960s, when more traffic flowed towards the South than the North. It was the golden age of Madras-made Hindi films. After Chandralekha, other producers from the South joined the bandwagon. A.V. Meiyappan of AVM and B.N. Reddi of Vahuni Studios, L.V. Prasad of Prasad Studios, made Madras an important centre for production of Hindi films. This took Bollywood by surprise but that was not unexpected. Their studios had technical facilities unmatched anywhere else in India; they were more professionally run and paid actors good money. Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Meena Kumari, Nargis, Madhubala and hordes of others were quite happy taking the flight South whenever the occasion demanded.

Only one actor did not care for Madras. Dev Anand acted only in two films made there. In the second one he was required to wear a dhoti. It made this very suave actor look ridiculous. After that he swore off Madras.

Bhaichand Patel is a former United Nations diplomat and author of four books, including the best-selling novel Mothers, Lovers and

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