‘She created a benchmark with progressive roles’
FEW people know Hema Malini better than Ram Kamal Mukherjee. He is not only friends with the legendary actress, but also wrote a beautiful book on her life titled Beyond The Dream Girl.
The acclaimed writer and filmmaker told Eastern Eye why he thinks the cinema icon is such a special talent.
In the beginning, many industry critics thought that Malini was just a pretty face and a great dancer, but she proved them all wrong by taking on diverse acting challenges. These special roles started very early on in films like 1971 classic Lal Patthar, where she competed with co-stars Rakhee and Raaj Kumar with elan.
While some felt she was a glamour quotient for heroes, Malini proved them wrong with author backed roles in films across her career like Khushboo, Kinara and Ek Chaadar Maili Si. Her performance in Aruna Raje’s Rihayee dealt with women’s freedom of choice in a relationship.
Even in films like Tere Mere Sapne, Sunhera Sansar and Dharmatma,
which were headlined by major stars, and she wasn’t the lead, the amazing actress left her mark.
Malini demanded equal and at times double roles with established mega stars like Rajesh Khanna, Dharmendra, Manoj Kumar, and Dev Anand. With undivided attention and a massive fan following, I truly feel she was the first female superstar who played the maximum title roles.
Yes, she was often nominated at the Filmfare Awards, but won only once for her stellar role in Seeta Aur Geeta.
From playing an unwed mother in Andaz to a headstrong grandmother in Baghban, Malini always portrayed women as symbols of strength onscreen. That was her biggest award.
The great acting talent never really indulged in films where she is dancing around trees. Even lesser-known films Paraya Dhan and Anjaam saw her work on progressive characters.
In fact, Malini was probably the first heroine to have a full-blown action sequence with Amitabh Bachchan (in Naseeb), at a time when no heroine got a chance to do that with him during his early superstardom.
And I guess, Malini is the only heroine who had a prefix which no heroine had before her. She will remain India’s only Dream Girl, who created a benchmark with blockbusters and progressive movies.
I also feel that her contemporaries like Rekha, Jaya Bhadhuri, Rakhee, Parveen Babi, Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil and Zeenat Aman admired Malini for her courage, honesty, and hard work. She has also been greatly admired for her dedication to Indian classical dance and traditional upbringing. She never took part in any rat race, and that’s probably the reason why audiences kept her as the longest reigning number one heroine in the history of Hindi cinema.