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Photo: K. Ramesh Babu

A CLASS APART Hema Malini: ‘Those days heroines were unapproachable. They were like dreams.’

Many Hema fans are wont to agree that she in fact looks more gorgeous now than during her heyday, in say a Seeta Aur Geeta or Sholay. Looking absolutely well-preserved and lithe, and not an iota of the 59 years that she’s seen of life, Hema Malini storms into the room.

The Rajya Sabha MP is all set to turn producer this year, but is wary about giving details. Her nasal tone rises by a few notches in protest, when asked the names and themes of these films.

Surprisingly, unlike most film stars, she didn’t launch her daughter Esha Deol with a home production earlier. Hema Malini says the first three films she will produce now, will star Esha. “I did not know at that time that Esha wanted to act in films. She was too young. And I wasn’t ready to produce films then. But now, she’s groomed herself well,” pronounces the proud mamma.

The hunt is on for the suitable hero to pair her with. (“It’s so difficult to get heroes… they are all so busy! Kisko pakdoo samajh mein nahi aata,” she says sounding half like a vexed producer and half like the motormouth Basanti!) “With corporates coming into film production, they take care of everything and I can concentrate on the creative aspect,” she explains.

After Baghban and then Babul, where she played the glamorous young mother, she says she’s been disappointed with such roles and there aren’t many roles coming her way. “I am reading three interesting scripts…,” she trails off, not revealing more.

While she hasn’t seen RGV’s Aag, she insists the characters of Sholay are impossible to recreate. “I don’t think anyone will dare to make it now. Even if I play Basanti again, I can’t. It was about that time… even Ramesh Sippy can’t make Sholay now. People who remake films think they can surpass the original. That’s their ego. The ambition is good, but there shouldn’t be ego in it.” The Hindi cinema heroine has changed dramatically, agrees Hema Malini.

“Those days heroines were unapproachable. They were like dreams. There was a mystery about them.

The exclusivity of the heroine is not there today. Ours really was the Golden Age of films. Maybe business-wise, today’s films do better…Today, because of the media, specially TV, and functions, there is over-exposure,” she says, breezing past the irony of her own presence at the promotion. “Promos of the latest films are shown 100 times on TV…” she says in exasperation.

Hema Malini is known to dote on her daughters Esha and Ahana, and has earlier too publicly disapproved of the kind of clothes heroines are expected to wear today.

Her anxieties as mother show up when she frets about Esha. “I tell Esha that as a heroine she has to maintain her figure but as a mother I feel she’s so thin! I used to have my naashta, go for shoots, have lunch… what was my natural self, I was on screen. Today you have to work hard for it. Even if a skin fold shows, they are particular about it!” It’s probably Hema’s dancing that has kept her as fit as a fiddle.

It continues to be her passion , and she gives energetic dance ballet performances even now, the latest being the Krishna Ras last weekend in Delhi.

“I do Bharatanatyam, but I have diluted the classical with different themes and stories. As you grow older, giving a two-hour classical performance becomes tough. People come to see me at my shows and will not sit through it if I do dances with only Tamil lyrics.”

She is appalled that kids today consider only filmi dance as dance. “They wear these item number kind of dresses and dance… it looks odd, but parents are happy! I don’t understand.”

Hema believes that the divine art that originated in temples has to be taken to a different level for film audiences to appreciate it. But, she insists, “Give them what they want… but bring them up by one level rather than pulling dance down.”

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