4 days Ago By Subhash K Jha
If we look back at the chequered history of women-oriented mainstream cinema, we always see the Bengali tigresses extending their clause to a point beyond convention. Take your mind back to those two masterpieces, Mamta and Aandhi featuring Suchitra Sen. Both the male leads (Ashok Kumar and Sanjeev Kumar) played roles akin to Palash in Filhaal.
Both Dadamoni and Haribhai sportingly stepped back into the shadows to let the Enchanting Enigma from Bengal shine in the arclights. Suchitra Sen isn’t the only Bengali actress to be privileged. Sanjeev Kumar repeatedly stepped aside for his Bengali co-stars Sharmila Tagore in Charitraheen, Mausam and Namkeen, Jaya Bhaduri in Anamika, and Raakhee in Trishna.
What’s it about the Bengali actresses that make our habitually vain male stars shed their plumes? Customarily, a heroine-oriented commercial film goes through hell trying to find the male 'Other'. An actress of Tabu’s stature finds herself acutely short-staffed in the male department. Ramesh Sippy had to drop the film that he wanted to make with Tabu in the lead.
And she had to make do with Atul Kulkarni in Chandni Bar. Shah Rukh Khan agreed to play Sridevi’s prop in the Army. But only because he’s her diehard fan and on condition that his role be billed as a guest appearance.
Going by the size of the heroine’s role in an average Hindi film, they should all be billed as guest stars. Not the Bengali brigade, though. From Suchitra Sen to Sharmila Tagore, Jaya Bachchan, and Sushmita Sen, they’ve all been at the centre of their destinies, with the traditional master and bread earner happily playing a fringe beneficiary.
Almost every film in Jaya’s career, from Uphaar (where Swaroop Kumar played her supporting co-star) and Guddi (where Dharmendra had far less footage than the chit of a debutante) to Govind Nihalani’s Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa, featured Jaya in author-backed roles. Raakhee rocked and rolled in made-to-order central roles in Sharmilee and Pagli right from the start. Yash Chopra made a whole film, Kabhi Kabhie, that revolved around her character.
27 years later, half-Bengali Kajol grabs centrestage in the Kabhi Kabhie of the new millennium while superstars from three generations, Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, and Hrithik Roshan, happily play supporting roles. As for Sharmila Tagore, even when Rajesh Khanna was the emperor of all moving images, she grabbed the plum role in Aradhana, Amar Prem, and Daag. Barring Rani Mukerji who kept getting into marginal situations (in spite of every leading filmmaker from Sanjay Bhansali to Karan Johar wearing looks and talent), no leading actress from Bengal could ever claim to have been a mere prop on screen.
Actresses like Suchitra Sen and Aparna Sen didn't build a sufficiently muscled career in Mumbai. But whenever they stepped into the puddle, it was to play the pivotal part. So what if Aparna Sen turned down Aradhana to make way for another Bengali sherni? She did Vishwas, Kotwaal Saab, and Imaan Dharam, all featuring her in main roles.
Cut to Sushmita Sen, who started her career with a role specially written for her by Mahesh Bhatt in Dastak and almost made it as M.F. Husain’s post-Madhuri muse in his second feature film.
But Sushmita changed her mind as these hot-tempered mercurial Bengal actresses often do. They turn around, though they never turn back when they feel in some way compromised or slighted. Sushmita is not just a national face.
She’s an international celebrity. From Miss Universe to the power behind Sanjay Narang's culinary throne in New York, Sushmita’s life is rocking more forcefully than Van Helen’s strings. But there are strings attached, of course.
In India, faces—no matter how stunning—going to too many places is never taken seriously. “Is she in India?” they ask about Sushmita in Bollywood whenever someone wants to sign her up. And never mind if she’s the most professional actress on the Bollywood block.
It's not just a professional hazard. For an actress in Mumbai who has a life of her own beyond the camera, accountability is a constant companion. And God forbid if you happen to be a non-Mumbaiyya actress with a lust for life.
There’s something about her. Something extraordinarily warm and yet distant. A strange and rare blend of enchantress and enigma Sushmita Sen is a misfit in our movies.
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