In a welcome move, leading ladies long past their glamorous avatars are now making a comeback in
Bollywood and Tollywood (Bengali) films adding a mellow tone to the stories, Shoma A. Chatterji observes
‘Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety’: William Shakespeare in Antony and Cleopatra. Do we see reflections of these words in the recent phenomenon as once glamorous leading ladies making a comeback as mellow characters?
Yesterday’s dum maro girl Zeenat Aman has been making waves recently with her silver streaks fully in view and obtaining a robust following on Instagram, that too she has subscribed to not very long ago. She did not mind playing the mother of an eligible bachelor in Sallu ki Shaadi (2017). Her soon to be released Bun Tikki has Shabana Azmi as a co-star.
Shabana has never been away from the limelight anyway. She has been straddling theatre and cinema seamlessly. She rocked as Jamini Chatterjee, Dharmendra’s love interest in the hit film Rocky aur Rani ki Prem Kahini.
Jaya Bachchan, despite her political career, has taken on roles from time to time to give a glimpse of her talent. She did make an appearance in Ki and Ka in 2016. But it is her most recent appearance in Karan Johar’s Rocky aur Rani ki Prem Kahani as the dominating matriarch in a conservative and aristocratic Punjabi family that caught one’s attention.
However, her performance as Dhanlakshmi who rules the extended family with an iron hand is somewhat over-stylised, not helped by the heavy make-up and glitzy costumes. She can hold her own and does not need the over-the-top pizazz. Talking about mother roles, many do not know that Vyjayantimala was approached to portray Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor’s mother in Yash Chopra’s Deewar. She rejected it. The result is there to see. Vyjayantimala disappeared into near-oblivion while Nirupa Roy, who played the mother in Deewar, went on to be flooded with roles of the iconic, sacrificing mother in many films that triumphed at the box office.
Sharmila Tagore is another one-time famous heroine who is happily stepping into senior roles in films and also on OTT platforms. The natural grey in her hair, the dignity that age has added to her personality, have made her a much-in-demand character artist in several films in recent times.
After a long gap of eleven years, we saw her perform as the matriarch of an aristocratic, Delhi-based family on the OTT series Gulmohar. It tells the story of the multi-generation Batra family, which is set to move out of their three decade old family home. The move sets in motion the rediscovery of the bonds that have held them together as a family, while grappling with personal secrets and insecurities.
“After a considerable gap, I am very happy to be in the familiar and well-loved ambience of a film set. I agreed almost immediately to be a part of team Gulmohar — after the moving narration of this heartwarming and beautifully written story/script. It’s a very layered and absorbing family drama. I am sure many will enjoy watching it together with their loved ones in the comfort of their homes,” she said in an interview. Though the web series did not catch the eyeballs as expected, Tagore gave a dignified performance sharing the screen with another senior come-back actor Amol Palekar in a negative role.
And now she is making a return to Bengali cinema after 14 years in Suman Ghosh’s Puraton with leading lady Rituparna Sengupta as her co-star centering on a mother-daughter relationship.
Neena Gupta who gave up on her Ph.D. study in Sanskrit mid-way never quite made it as leading lady though she did play significant roles in what was then called parallel cinema beginning in the 70s. Today she is signing roles suited to her age and image. The interesting thing about her films is that though she is featured in senior roles, they are significant portrayals no less than the lead. The best example of this is the film Badhai Ho in which she portrays a middle-aged married woman with grown-up kids finding herself pregnant and the complications that follow.
Her portrayal of Parkash Handa, a vivacious Punjabi woman, in the latest film Mast Mein Rehne Ka opposite Jackie Shroff received rave reviews.
Last but not the least is the much-touted comeback of Raakhee Gulzar in Bengali cinema in Amar Boss (My Boss) directed by the successful director-duo Shiboprosad Mukherjee and Nandita Roy. Her last-released film, Nirban, also in Bengali, was in 2019. It was directed by the late Gautam Halder but though it was screened at the Kolkata International Film Festival, it was not theatrically released. So, Amar Boss more or less marks her return to the Bengali screen. She had played an important role as a senior actress in Rituparno Ghosh’s Shubho Muhurut (2003), an adaptation of an Agatha Christie crime novel with Jane Marple as a home-grown detective (Raakhee) but then there was a lull in her career. So, My Boss marks her return to Bengali cinema after a long 20-year gap.
The iconic Victoria Memorial, a symbol of Kolkata’s colonial past, served as one of the primary locations for this film. The monument’s majestic architecture and lush gardens provided a striking contrast to the story’s contemporary themes. Shiboprosad, who is also acting in the film in addition to directing it, says, “We have been talking about working with Raakhee-di for quite some time but we were both caught up with Raktabeej. The first important task after the release was to complete the Amar Boss script to present the full story to Raakhee-di . After the narration in Mumbai, she loved the story and gave us the dates.”
As for Rakhee Gulzar, “Coming to Kolkata is like coming home for me as I have spent my growing up years here,” she says.
Slightly less senior actresses like Raveena Tandon are also enjoying a fresh lease in career options thanks to the OTT platform. Even the talented Shefali Shah surprised the audience as the middle-aged housewife who is slowly losing her memory in Three of Us.
It is a good portend that senior actresses are getting roles in the tinsel world today. Time was when an actress got married, the roles trickled down, and if, God forbid, she became a mother, even if young people did not want to see her as their dream girl.
Can we look forward to seeing classic actresses like Waheeda Rehman, Asha Parekh and Deepti Naval return to the screen – big or small? It will only enrich our movie-watching experience. (TWF)
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