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The making of a dream

Bhawana Somaaya talks about writing the biography of Hema Malini

CHALLENGING TASK Telling Hema's story

Today when the stars are ready to share what they do in their bathrooms, it is hard to imagine that a star could refuse to answer a question just because she was walking. Yes, we are talking about Hema Malini.

And the young journalist, who committed the alleged faux pas, was Bhawana Somaaya. That was in the late 1970s. Times have changed, and now Bhawana has come up with a biography of the dream girl.

A seasoned journalist, Bhawana has written extensively on cinema. She says the ice between the two was broken when Bhawana reviewed the actor's ballet "Draupadi."

"She called me and asked me to write a book on her as a dancer. She felt that people know her as a star but they don't know that there would be no Hema Malini without her dance and the hardships she had to go through."

But Bhawana had never worked on a commissioned book. "I told her that the book would be incomplete unless we include the actor and the woman. She agreed. Thus started our meetings. At times, I would leave a draft of 2,500 words with her. Next morning, I would find a thousand words added to the text. Sometimes, it hurt the journalist in me, but as an author it made my work more challenging." So here, Hema talks candidly not only about her career but also about the highs and lows in her relationship with her mother, father and Dharmendra.

Time and again, critics have called her a limited actress who thrived on her beauty and screen presence, but Bhawana feels Hema has been "enormously lucky." She completely trusted her directors.

She replaced Mumtaz in Seeta aur Geeta. Initially, very apprehensive about playing the naughty Geeta's part, she would ask director Ramesh Sippy to first enact every scene to her. Like the scene where she had to sit on the ceiling fan or when she had to dance on glass pieces in Sholay for the Jab Tak Hai Jaan!" As for the range of roles, Bhawana says Hema did her share of offbeat films such as Kinara, Rihai and Ek Chadar Maili Si. But like most successful stars, she fell into the image trap.

Final word: "She brought dignity to whatever she did and managed to retain her innocence despite the hardships."

ANUJ KUMAR

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