TRIBUTE TO LALITA PAWAR

Sometime afterTuesday, February 24, Lalita Pawar, the grand dame of Hindi cinema, was lost to this world. Her husband was in hospital recuperating after a throat operation and Lalita Bai was at home... alone, perhaps in great agony and completely helpless when death paid an ill-timed visit. Just a month ago, Sushama Shelly was in Pune and visited the frail old lady at her bungalow. That was perhaps Lalita Bai’s last interview. We produce excerpts from it and with Sushama relive her memorable innings in the industry which spanned seven decades.

Lalita Pawar has had the longest ever innings — from 1928 to 1998. She started at the tender age of 12, in the silent era, and was acting even at the age of 82, in the digital sound era! Her last Hindi film was released a couple of months ago. She had played Pooja Batra’s granny and Om Puri’s mother in Bhai. Seven hundred films in 70 years. What a record!

About a month or so ago, I happened to be in Pune. I made just one phone call and had got myself invited over to Lalita Bai’s Aarohi, her small bungalow in Aundh, an hour long autorickshaw ride away. She was wearing a pink gown and looking very frail. Moving around a little cautiously, speaking very softly, a total contrast to her popular screen image of a schemer, fighter and vampish mother-in-law.

“Life has given me so much. I have received so much love and respect from the people. My work has been appreciated and awarded. I have been honoured. I am really grateful to God. Yes, there have been major ups and downs in my life but then they’re a part of life. My only prayer to Him now is that jab bhi maut aaye, shanti se aaye! I want to die with my make-up on. I want to go when I am still active, able to move around freely and sufficiently independent. I hope, I will not become bed-ridden and a burden on my family members. I will not have to yearn for death!”

Must say, God did grant her her last wish. Lalita Bai didn’t have to pray for death. But why did death have to pay her a visit when she was all alone at home. Lalita Bai did not deserve to go unattended, unnoticed.

Her husband, Raj Prakash Gupta had undergone a throat operation and been in a private hospital since Monday, February 23. Their daughter-in-law and grand-children live in Bandra, a suburb in Mumbai. On February 24 they called Lalita Bai in Pune. No answer. The next day they called again. Again no answer. By now they were naturally very worried. Mr Gupta called up an advocate friend Kuber in Pune and requested him to go over to Lalita Bai’s Aundh residence and see if all was well. When there was no answer to his repeated knocks and rings, Kuber contacted the police who forced the door open. And there lay Lalita Bai, still on the bed and lost to the world. It was a shock to everyone. Her body was taken to the Sassoon General Hospital for post-mortem. The doctors declared that death must have come sometime ‘after Tuesday’. The police registered a case of accidental death.

Lalita Bai’s entry into films was as accidental as her exit from the world. Amba Laxman Rao Sagun was born on April 18, 1916 in an orthodox family in a little village, Yevle in Nashik. Her father, a silk and cotton piecegoods merchant, was a rich man and Lalita Bai grew up in the lap of luxury. The family had no contact whatsoever with movies. Young Amba was at the most taken to a devotional Ram Leela to amuse her.

In keeping with the times, Amba was not sent to school. “In those days, girls were taught household work,” she recalls, “and groomed to look after the family. I learnt to read and write on my own later when I joined films. Whatever I have learnt I have learnt from life!”

In 1927, she and her brother accompanied their father to Pune. He left the children at a friend’s place and went out to do his work. The friend’s daughter took the children to watch a film. Lalita thought that all the artistes in the silent film were dumb and that was why they never spoke. The children were then introduced to the cinema hall manager who explained that the people they saw on screen were only characters and not real persons. To explain things better to them he took the children to Aryan Productions. The producer of this company was the owner of this picture house. While watching the shooting, little Amba was injured and sent to the studio dispensary to be treated. Between sobs she demanded that she be photographed too. To pacify her, they acceeded to her request. Then Amba wanted to view the trial footage to see how she looked in a ‘moving’ photo, so it was screened. Nanasaheb Sarpotdar, the proprietor-director of Aryan Productions, was so impressed with the rushes that he sent for Amba’s father. He wanted Amba to play the child’s role in his next film Patit Uddhar.

Her father reluctantly agreed to the offer and Amba Sagun was given the screen name of Lalita. It was the role of an innocent child and Lalita came up with a wonderful performance and after that there was no looking back for her. In the next 18 years, she very successfully portrayed all types of roles — from a beggar girl to princess, from a rani to a nani. Her films ranged from historicals to socials, costume dramas to mythologicals, from comedies to tragedies, from mysteries to musicals, from jungle and stunt movies to romances. Thaksen Rajputra, Prithviraj Chauhan, Gamini Kawa, Chatur Sundari, Padmavati Parini, Song Of Life, Daler Jigar...These were some of her memorable movies. Thaksen Rajputra and Chatur Sundari had a record run in Mumbai theatres. In Chatur Sundari she played 17 different charcaters.

After having done 14-15 films for Aryan Producitions, Lalita worked in a Diler Jigar for Shyamsunder Agarwal. The year 1932 marked the advent of talkies. She was invited by Siraj Ali, the owner of the Standard Film Laboratories, to work in Mastikhor Mashuk. His next film with her, Blue Engine impressed Chandrarao Kadam, the owner of the Chandivali Studios, and he signed her on for five films to be made under the banner of Chandra Art Productions. Earlier she had co-produced Kaliash with Ganpat Bakre of Kolhapur. Now she joined hands with Chandrarao Kadam. In 1935, Himmate Marda was produced along the lines of Tarzan. This was the first talkie in which Lalita sang her own songs which increased her popularity even further. She later produced a film called Duniya Kya, based on Tolstoy’s Resurrection. Her performance and her songs gave Lalita the numero uno slot.

Lalita Bai always maintained a distance from her co-stars when on the sets. But it wasn’t because she was a star. She was always conscious of the fact that she lacked beauty, a good eduaction and family support. “I could see that my co-stars considered me inferior to them but I didn’t let them give me an inferiority complex. I may not have passed out of any school but I had graduated from the school of life. And when it came to acting I knew I was one of the best. As soon as the camera started rolling I’d feel like a maharani. So I never let my co-stars’ attitude bother me. Instead of indulging in faltu gossip with them, I’d spend my time between shots thinking of my work. Cinema was there in every cell of my body... in my soul. I ate, slept and breathed films. “There were times when I was at home chopping vegetables and I’d forget I wasn’t facing a camera. I’d forget I was at home and start thinking I was still in the studio and was giving a shot,” she’d confessed with a smile.

One of her prominant Marathi films was Netaji Palkar (1938), made by Bhalji Pendharkar. She also acted in New Hana Pictures’ Sant Damaji, Navyug Chitrapat’s Amrit (written by VS Khandekar) and Chhaya Films’ Gora Kumbhar. All these were mega hits. She might have risen to greater heights but for an accident. During the making of the film Nek Dost (which was directed by GP Pawar whom Lalita later married), someone she knew introduced her to Bhagwan and he requested her to suggest his name for a film. She immedaitely contacted one of her producers and Bhagwan was given a role in her next film. “The next day we were to shoot a scene in which Bhagwan was to slap me hard. He did. The very next minute my ear started bleeding profusely. Chandrarao Kadam, the hero of the film, rushed to get a doctor. The doctor gave me a wrong injection. As a result, I developed an allergy and things got progressively worse. The left side of my face was paralysed and my left eye badly affected. I was in bed for three years. To date they haven’t been able to conceal the damage done to my face. The doctor had advised me to sue the film company. I didn’t. But the company threw me out of Jungle Azadi and terminated my contract. And after three years no one was prepared to cast me as heroine, so at the age of 25, I had to take on character roles,” Lalita Bai had once narrated her sad story. Interestingly, she was always accident prone. She was seriously injured during the making of Gamini Kawa when a talwar pierced her stomach during a shot. Then she fell off the horse during Prithviraj Sanyukta and during Ravi she almost drowned. However, that slap proved to be the most fatal and finished off her career as a star. But Lalita Bai wouldn’t give up. “I decided to turn my liability into an asset,” she had asserted. Her first film in a character role, SM Yusuf’s Grahasti was a golden jubilee and for her sterling performance she was awarded a gold medal weighing five tolas. “That was one of the best moments of my career.”

She played many more memorable roles as a character artiste. Nobody will ever forget the cute kelewali in Shri 420 or Mrs D’Sa of Anari or the frustrated spinster in Professor or Mr & Mrs 55 or Raj Kapoor’s mother in Parvarish or Shammi Kapoor’s mother in Junglee or the mochi in Amrit. “People thought that I was really an untouchable after this film and would not let me into their house. Eventually, I had to go to Ahmednagar and get a caste certificate stating that I belonged to the Sail community.”

Another memorable role was in V Shantaram’s Dahej. Lalita Bai had great regard for this great maker. “Shantaram Bapu was known to be a strict disciplinarian but he was pretty easy-going with me. In Parchhaiyan he played the blind hero on my insistence. I had also suggested his name to Bhalji Pendharkar for Shivaji’s role. Who else would have suited the role better,” she had pointed out.

She was also very close to Hrishikesh Mukherjee whom she called Dada during the making of Anari. “Dada allowed me to give my shots the way I thought best because I was a veteran,” she informed. However, a small misunderstanding created a rift between them during Anand. While negotiations for the film were on, she was acting in four other films. Two of the films were being made by NC Sippy and Lachman Lulla, both of whom were Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s best friends. “Since I was going to do all these films around the same time, I requested Dada to pay me more for this film. I couldn’t charge him less and his friends more. I told Dada I would make an adjustment when I did his next film. But I think Dada was annoyed with my suggestion because after that he never made another film with me. Even today I feel very hurt when I remember this incident and I wish Dada would at least try and sort out this misunderstanding,” she had sighed.

A major financial loss she suffered resulted in a drastic change in her lifestyle and prompted her to shift base to Pune. And there she lead the last few years of her life, quietly, contentedly with her husband. That day during my visit, as I was getting up to leave, Raj Prakash Gupta returned home. The special glow in Lalita Bai’s eyes was visible as she introduced me to him. The couple seemed very much in love, even after all these years. Today when I think of her last moments I wonder if she relived her dying shot in Anari as she lay there, helpless and in agony, on her death bed. I wish this time too there could have been a retake. I wish this one too had been just another believable performance and Lalita Bai could have just got up and returned home to her husband.