Somebody has rightly said, ‘Never ask a woman her age’; but, you can always ask her birthday, if you know her personally. Now, take the example of veteran Bollywood actress Hema Malini. Hemaji is certainly senior to me, but still I am not interested to know her age. I can never forget her birthday, which falls on 16th October ? As a collegian, I always used to remember birthdays of all my favourite film stars. And, Hema Malini was one of them. Once, I even asked my mother as to why birthdays of all top film stars happened to be during late September and October? And, she said, they were all ‘Librans’ a sign meant for artistes.
Hema Malini in Rihaee
After few years, when I shifted to 5th Road Juhu, sometime in 1978 , soon I came to know that Hemaji lived on the 12th Road. It was almost walk able distance from my place. On few occasions on Sundays, I even passed by her bungalow and also other bungalows of Dharmendra ,Manoj Kumar on the 1th Road, Mr. Amitabh Bachchan on the 10th Road, and Shatrughan Sinha on the 8th Road and so on, with the hope that one day I would catch the glimpse of at least one of them. But, that time never came. Then one day on a Sunday evening, I saw Amitabh Bachchan waving at people standing in front of his bungalow, surrounded by Police , while I was going for my evening walk, towards Juhu beach. That was all, till early 80s.
In 1985, when I studied Journalism, there was a letter from Mr. Feroze Rangoonwala, inviting students from our batch to contribute for his Film magazine ‘Picturepost’. And, I quickly responded next day visiting his office, as it was Saturday afternoon, being half working day at my office. Mr. Rangoonwala gave me my first assignment and that was to interview Dev Saab. And, the beginning was made. But, still, I could not interview Hema Malini, as Picturepost shut down its business in February 1988. But, one day, that opportunity came sometime during March 1988. I was then contributing for 3 different publications as a freelancer. One Saturday afternoon, I was invited at the Famous studios, where film maker Aruna Raje was in the stage of completing shooting of her film ‘Rihaeee’ in which Hema Malini was in the lead role. I did meet Hemaji on this occasion, but couldn’t speak much, as it was an exclusive interview of Aruna Raje, for Sunday supplement of Free Press Journal. But, she looked gorgeous, even without make up, in that get up of a typical village woman.
Few years later, PRO Rajoo Kariya invited me to attend the shooting of Dev Anand –Hema malini starrer film ‘Aman Ke farishtey’ one Saturday afternoon at a Juhu bungalow. This film however could not see its release date. But, that day once again I met evergreen Dev Saab and of course Hemaji on the same sets.
Hema ji did agree to speak to me, when the PRO introduced me to her, on a condition that she would answer only three questions from my side. When I asked her fourth question, she immediately pointed out, “Gentleman, You have finished your quota of three questions” But, I insisted that it was a sub question arising out of the answer given by her to my third question. That particular question was relating to her dubbing done for films. Hemaji generally speaks Hindi or English with Tamil accent, but how come in films, we find her speaking fluent Hindi ? I was especially referring to her dialogue delivery in the super hit film ‘Sholay’ . “Very smart”, she quipped, but did answer it with that typical smile on her face. “ I always preferred dubbing my dialogues for all Hindi films, early hours of morning, before I uttered even a single word in Tamil at home. And, this worked better. Once I start conversing in tamil for the day, it is very difficult to get the perfect hindi accent,” she had admitted. So, finally, I had made it. And, the short interview appeared in Marathi weekly ‘Saptahik Sakal’ a Sakal group of publications.
Last time I met Hemaji was during FICCI Frames entertainment seminar, sometime in 2003 , when I spoke to her about her TV serial, which she was producing and it was brief chat. But, I found her with the same charm, which she possessed as a young actress. For the past 10 years, we find her actively involved with Politics; but she is still active with her dance group and the group’s performance every year. That’s the secret of her success. Once a dream Girl is always a dream girl. No wonder, even today, she is addressed as Dream Girl Hema Malini at all bollywood functions.