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Icing on the cake
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Amitabh may be the bitter chef in ‘Cheeni Kum’, but Zohra Sehgal sweetens the pill
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Frank as always Zohra Sehgal says she is not very familiar with Amitabh’s films
In mainstream Hindi cinema, an actress usually won’t admit to touching 30 till she reaches 45, in case she is relegated to the mother and grandmother roles. As for actors, it is only the phenomenal Amitabh Bachchan who continues to reign at the
box office even in his 60s, but he is considered a trendsetter around whom movies are being made. Balki’s Cheeni Kum is a case in point. The protagonist is 60-plus, his ladylove 30-plus. But wait, as we all pun on sugar and spic
e, there is yet more icing on the cake: a 90-plus Zohra Sehgal, playing mother to Amitabh’s Verma.
Zohra Apa, zipping round the world for theatre and cinema assignments, has a lifetime of experience in the performing arts. She has proven she can give a feisty whack with a cricket bat, as she did in a popular advertisement; she ha
s shown she can bend it like Beckham; and her little jig in "Dil Se" is still close to cinema goers’ hearts. So when she sets about to baby Big B this week in the Amitabh-Tabu starrer, her fans should lap up every word. Zohra Apa simply can’t be typecast as the simpering, weak or long-suffering grandma.
In the process, Hindi cinema seems to be evolving ever so slightly, with storylines that include protagonists above 25! Or is it? “There aren’t enough roles for elderly actresses in cinema anywhere in the world,” says the veteran, “but there are roles for elderly men!”
She should know. She is characteristically frank about her director. “I feel Balki has a long way to go yet. Besides, until I see the film, it is too early to comment.”
As for Bollywood, everyone else might be expected to be in awe of star power, but not her. So what is her appraisal of the Angry Young Man and his evolution into the dynamic old one?
“Because I have been out of the country, living in London for 25 years, I am not very familiar with Amitabh’s films. Yet, from whatever little I have seen and my experience working with him in "Cheeni Kum", I feel he is a great actor!” she says. There’s one for the young old man’s diary. Meanwhile, everyone tired of stereotypes is heaving a sigh of relief.
ANJANA RAJAN
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