PICTURE TALK
The Dream Girl. The three words still resonate with Hema Malini’s legion of fans – and there are countless of them – crisscrossing generations. After all, who can forget those timeless lines from that timeless song: ‘kisi shayar ki ghazal, dream girl’…?
This picture and a few others were shot on the sets of the Charas in 1976. The film had Dharmendra in the lead.
I was invited to the shoot by the producer-director, Rama Nand Sagar. A reporter from the Screen magazine had also accompanied me if I remember correctly.
When we reached the sets – it was set up in a studio – the shooting was in progress, so we were shown to a place where Hema’s mother was sitting. As we learnt soon, she was waiting for Hema to return during the break of the shot. We were both introduced to her. When Hema’s mother came to know that I was from Delhi, she started asking lots of questions. Her queries were mainly about the reception of one of Hema’s recently released films in Delhi.
Some 15 minutes later Hema too joined us and sat next to us until she was called for her next shot about an hour later.
After I was introduced to her, Hema too started asking similar questions – about the business and reception her just released film had received.
I do not exactly remember what all we talked during that one hour, but it was all related to her films, performances, business, etc.
I later shot her again on the sets of another film, Razia Sultana, again with Dharmendra in the lead and Parveen Babi as her co-star, at Kamalistan Studios. This film was directed by Kamal Amrohi.
The third time I shot her was during one of her several Bharatnatyam dance performances.
The views expressed here are the author’s own and The News Porter bears no responsibility for the same.
