Conversations with Waheeda Rehman by Kabir Nasreen Munni & Rehman Waheeda

Author:Kabir, Nasreen Munni & Rehman, Waheeda [Kabir, Nasreen Munni]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789351186427
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2014-03-21T00:00:00+00:00

Visiting Dev Anand on the sets of Prem Pujari. Circa 1969. Waheeda Rehman made the maximum number of films (seven) opposite Dev Anand.

Were you familiar with R.K. Narayan’s novel before starting the film?

WR: It was Mr Ray who asked me to read the novel because he was considering adapting it. He told me if the film ever took off, he would cast me as Rosie. She had to be a good dancer and he knew south Indians were usually good dancers, and so he had thought of me.

I had forgotten all about it when a year or two later Dev told me he was producing the film. I asked: ‘You mean R.K. Narayan’s novel? But isn’t Mr Ray making it?’

Dev said: ‘No, no, I know about that. I have bought the rights of the book.’

Satyajit Ray would have conceived the film in a completely different way. But I believe I was fated to play Rosie, no matter who was going to direct the film. Many actresses were keen to play Rosie, including Padmini and Leela Naidu. They sent me letters saying I should let them know if for any reason I did not accept the part.

NMK: I never knew Mr Ray wanted to make a film based on R.K. Narayan’s novel. That will be a surprise to many. Yet he clearly thought the role of Rosie was perfect for you, just as no one but Nargis could have played Radha in Mother India.

WR: Or Meena Kumari as Chhoti Bahu in Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam.

NMK: Absolutely right.

You seemed to suggest there was a possibility that you might not have played Rosie. Is that right?

WR: I almost didn’t, because Dev announced that Raj Khosla was going to direct. I said: ‘Dev, have you forgotten how we quarrelled during the making of Solva Saal?’

‘Forget it, my friend. Everyone fights in life. Come on now, Guide is a very big picture, Waheeda. It is going to be made in English and in Hindi. Don’t be like that. You are a mature person and Raj has changed.’

I don’t know what happened but in the end Dev decided against Raj Khosla as director.

NMK: What was your disagreement with Raj Khosla? Was this during the making of Solva Saal?

WR: That’s right. You see in the film I play a naive sixteen-year-old girl who is in love with a boy who promises to marry her. We elope and foolishly I take all my dead mother’s jewellery with me. We catch a train and, halfway through the journey, the boy steals the jewellery and disappears. I am distraught and decide to commit suicide. I get off the train and head towards the sea. Dev, a co-passenger, has been watching me all the while and has understood the whole situation. He follows me and saves me from drowning.

Our clothes are wet, and so we go to a nearby dhobi ghat and the dhobi lends us some clothes till our clothes have dried. What do I see? The costume department gives me a chiffon sari and a strapless blouse.

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