The Longest Kiss by Desai Kishwar

Author:Desai, Kishwar
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-12-28T00:00:00+00:00

Of course, she was thrilled with the opportunity she had been given. In most studios, women were not treated with so much respect. Even at Bombay Talkies, things would change over time, but in the early years, there was a lot of easy camaraderie, perhaps because some of the women who joined, like Khurshid and later Leela Chitnis, were married and had children. Devika, too, tried to make the newly recruited actresses feel as comfortable as she could.

When Khurshid returned to Bombay Talkies in 1941 to act in Naya Sansar, after Himansu’s death, she found the atmosphere still very friendly and familial. But she noticed many material changes. The studio had expanded and the large orchards surrounding it had been cut down to make room for small, two-bedroom bungalows. She stayed in one of them with her family, paying a nominal rent. According to her, there was ‘no competitiveness and a feeling of goodwill pervaded the production’. Only one film was shot at a time and during the breaks, everyone ate together. The atmosphere was unique, and the studio was run almost like a school. ‘The gong was rung at 9 a.m. and everyone arrived on the sets ready with make-up and with rehearsed dialogues.’

The discipline that had been instilled by Himansu and the good practices that had been initiated by the international crew five years earlier, continued after his death. For that, the credit belonged to Devika and to the team members who believed in the values of Bombay Talkies, even though by 1941 the studio was facing some internal factionalism, in which Devika was also embroiled. The two groups, however, worked hard not to let the quality of productions be affected in any way.

At every stage, Khurshid said, she felt well looked after. On the day Naya Sansar was released, the studio car took the star and her children to the cinema theatre, where Ashok Kumar, Devika Rani, Rai Bahadur Chuni Lall and Sashadhar Mukerji were already present. There was friendly banter and appreciation as the crowds called out for Renuka Devi.

In her memoirs, she commented that there was a marked difference in the atmosphere at Bombay Talkies as compared to other studios. Though the money offered to her was much higher elsewhere, the other studios did not have the class or the close bonding that she found at Bombay Talkies. She was offered 5,000 per month just the following year, for a new film to be shot at Pancholi Studios in Lahore, but once there, she sorely missed the friendliness she had experienced during the shooting of Naya Sansar.

This bonhomie was to set Bombay Talkies apart from all the rest. The screenplay writer and satirist Saadat Hasan Manto wrote frankly about his days in the Bombay film world. His experience of most studios was that either the actresses of the period belonged to the class of courtesans and prostitutes, or they were young, ambitious women—who were often exploited. In one of his essays (‘Rafiq Ghaznavi: The Ladies’

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