Happy to be her own self
BAGESHREE S.
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Aarathi has travelled, explored life and found herself. The yesteryear actor does not find the need to cling to her faded stardom
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FREE AT LAST Aarathi: `I'm glad that I need not struggle to look beautiful any longer' PHOTO: BHAGYA PRAKASH K.
There is something about Aarathi today that reminds you of the vivacious Hema she played in Shubha Mangala (the 1975 release, directed by Puttanna Kanagal), who holds her head high and sings "Ee Shathamanada Maadari Hennu... " But being older and wiser, she now seems completely purged of the trappings of the film's denouement, where Hema runs laughing and crying into the arms of the all-forgiving hero.
The star of the '70s and '80s has returned to the Kannada film industry after an 18-year hiatus in the U.S. Having just completed the children's film Mithai Mane based on her daughter Yashaswini's story, Aarathi looks happy and relaxed. And you can't miss glimpses of Hema — confident, straightforward, looking at everything with a sharp, critical eye — in a lot that she says.
Many questions
"See how Hema wails `Prabhakara... ' and runs to him abandoning her own true self?" she asks, almost re-enacting the whole scene for you right across the table. "But why? I never asked that question then. I wish I had." She adds after a thoughtful pause: "It happens everywhere. America hasn't had a woman president to date."
But at least a character like Hema carries herself with pride in the better part of the film, unlike the all-sacrificing sister in Thayiya Madilalli. "That role really bothers me even now, though the film was a big hit."
Not that things have altered greatly in her absence. "We are even now rehashing the same formula." And then does another bit of acting across the table to bring alive women on our small and big screens who are still "getting up early, having a bath, wearing kunkuma and making bed coffee for their husbands... " There are minor changes, though. "Those days we used to shoot in Kemmangundi and now we shoot in exotic locations overseas!"
But even as she may be full of questions about the suffocating, unrelenting formulas, Aarathi looks back at her own life and career "without any regrets". In fact, she considers herself "a damn lucky person" on a lot of counts. She entered the industry at a time when it was ready for a change, willing to watch a "plain-looking person on screen". There was a sensitive director like Puttanna, ready to take on women-centric roles. He cast her in complex roles in Edakallu Guddada Mele, Nagara Haavu, Katha Sangama, Ranga Nayaki and so on. She also had big hits such as Hombisilu and Premada Kanike. "So many things came together to make me a star. My contribution is only that I used to work hard!"
If she quit the industry in 1987 it was because she wasn't getting any exciting roles and knew that she would be stuck in the rut of mom and mom-in-law roles if she stayed on. "I wanted to get out and do things I missed because I came to the industry straight after school." She tried her hand at directing a TV serial, which she hugely enjoyed, and then moved to America with her young daughter. The first two years passed in the "little, little joys" of going shopping with her daughter, washing, cooking... Then she grew restless again. That was when an NRI, Chandrashekhar Desaigowdar (now her husband) asked if she would help him with the projects for underprivileged people taken up by the foundation started by him.
She plunged into it and worked with battered women, street kids, and homeless immigrants from Mexico in California. "This work gave me satisfaction I had not known before. In the industry, it's all-important to survive and stay ahead. But it's a pure pleasure to see a homeless child go to school and come back to tell you that he loved it."
Then Chandrashekhar suggested that she go to India to do similar work. She landed in North Karnataka, where her star value, which she had quite forgotten, came in handy. "Many home-bound women were willing to get out because I was there!" The foundation has given scholarships to many kids. "One of them is a doctor now," says Aarathi, eyes shining with pride.
What dragged her back to films, finally, was her daughter's touching story on child labour which had "immense visual possibilities". With her husband's assurance on funding and a "three-day crash course" in filmmaking backing her, she jumped into directing. "I was nervous the first day, but it all came back to me once I got into it," she says.
In fact, nothing that has once touched your life ever goes away completely, Aarathi believes. "Everything I did has made me who I am today. Like an instructor for homeless kids used to say in California, we are constantly assimilating things around, whether or not we are aware of this process. Sometime later it comes back to you, even if you don't link it to an old incident." That was exactly what her mother used to say too, in a different language, location and culture. "If you pick a fight, pick one with a piece of sandalwood. At least the fragrance will rub off on you."
Self-discovery
And this process of growing up and self-discovery happens only when you are willing to get out of the rut that's forever around to suck you in. "Elders said stagnant water rots and it's important to keep flowing. I think everyone should travel." She has been lucky, to travel, to find herself in a challenging situation to discover her possibilities beyond the straightjacket of stardom.
So much so she can now sit absolutely comfortably in front of the camera without a trace of makeup on her face, unlike many old stars who desperately fight age with layers of greasepaint. Ask her how she has managed to purge herself of the star hangover, and responds with an uninhibited laugh: "Who am I trying to fool? Everyone knows when I joined the industry and how long I have been around." But doesn't she feel any inner compulsions to look beautiful? "Noooo," she protests. "On the contrary, I feel happy that I need not struggle to look beautiful any longer. It's a pleasure to be myself!"
Touching base
SEEKING THE ROOTS `Some day I hope to hold a conversation in Kannada, an intelligent one, without using English' Photo: Bhagya Prakash K.
You would guess that Yashaswini is a sensitive person and a writer if you read just the brief note she has written on her mother for the press kit of the film Mithai Mane. It's touching without being sentimental, and steers clear of all that one would expect to read in a CV.
It was the same sensitivity that drove Yashaswini to write the story on which Mithai Mane (Candy House in English) is based. While on a visit to India, she saw a child working in a relative's house. When she asked if the girl wasn't too young to work, the family said they were only helping her by keeping her at home. "I didn't know enough Kannada then. But I did know that sahaya is to help without expecting anything in return. And that surely wasn't the idea." The 27-year-old, who holds a masters in creative writing from the U.S., in fact, came to India to learn Kannada and know more about her own culture, as she was barely 10 when she India. "Now I have learnt to talk beyond hashivagide and nidde barthide. I am studying Kannada chandassu because I'm fascinated by grammar. But some day I hope to hold a conversation, an intelligent one, without using any English."
A film buff herself, one day, "maybe even 10 years from now", she also hopes to write an independent script for a film and bring out her collection of "experimental poetry" which is now in manuscript form.
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