Q: You are the only leading actor in Hindi to have worked in two films with the Tamil doyen?
A: I was in fact looking for Bharathi Sir’s photograph. I had an amazing photograph. And I couldn’t find it. I had a really nice picture with him. I was one of the lucky ones from the Hindi cinema to have worked with him. Red Rose and Saveray Wali Gadi. Rajesh Khanna and myself and Sunny Deol and myself respectively.
Q: Yeah, that was nice. But Bharathi Raja’s original Tamil Sigappu Rojakkal was far better?
A: I don’t want to compare, but you know the thing is that I was lucky enough to work with him. And we had such a good rapport. We had such a good relationship. He was such a prolific filmmaker. He was such a humble, down to earth man. I’ve worked with a lot of South people who may not have been that humble as he was. He was literally a very, very simple man. Very simple. I had so much affection for him and so much respect. That last few times that I went to Chennai, I wanted to meet him, but he was ailing. So I couldn’t meet him.
Q: But he was working till very recently as an actor?
A: He had suddenly become very active as an actor. Playing very interesting fathers. One day I saw a film and he was there. I said, hey, that’s Bharathi Sir. And I was like, hello, how did he become an actor? Very good one too. Considering he used to show most of the scenes by acting.
Q: How was it being directed by him?
A: In the first film especially, I had a communication issue with him because he didn’t know the language. He didn’t know Hindi. So he used to, you know, show a lot of interesting expressions. And act more because he couldn’t express himself in language. So there was an actor in him. I think he rehearsed on all of us. He would express to us, you know, everything. And he would do it so uninhibitedly.
Q: So were you able to copy him when he showed you?
A: Well, I mean, sometimes I used to laugh at this. Sir, what are you doing? If he’s doing a romantic scene, suppose with Rajesh Khanna, putting a quivering hand on his face. So I used to laugh. And I remember even when we did Savere Wali Gadi he would act out my romantic scenes with Sunny Deol.
Q: Both the films were interesting, but neither worked at the box office. Could it be the Hindi sensibility was different from the southern sensibility? Was that the reason?
A: I feel maybe the Hindi audience wasn’t as prepared for anti-hero at that time during Red Rose. Because people accepted Kamal Haasan totally as a psychopath. Because Kamal Haasan had the image of doing anything and getting away with it. Yeah, and Kakaji(Rajesh Khanna) was such a romantic hero. Yeah, he was a romantic hero. So could be, maybe our audience wasn’t prepared. Earlier, the hero would never kill. He would never shoot. He would never murder. And heroines would never do certain things. But today, the times have changed. I feel Red Rose was ahead of its time.
Q: You were very new at that time?
A: Yeah, it was after Noori, my first film. And to do something so complex at that early stage of your career. Yeah, so I totally relied on my director. And to a great extent, Kakaji to help me. Because I really had no experience. I didn’t even know what schizophrenia was nor what psychopaths were like. So for me, it was all molded by the director and by the co-actor. I must say that Kakaji was gentle and kind. Not overly bossy or scared me.
Q: So would you say that Bharathi Raja played a hand in the way you shaped into an actor?
A: Definitely, I learnt a lot about acting from him. And I think every actor who has been launched by him, who has worked under him, will say that about him. See, I know Radhika from the South. And these girls who have worked with him. Radhika was launched by him. She’s a super actor. Of course. I’m sure she will give a lot of credit to Bharathi Sir on how he moulded her. And I remember one film he was directing later. I really wanted to do that film. And I wanted to play a very unglamorous, ugly heroine. He said, I cannot put you in that role. I said, please sir, I’ll do different makeup. I’ll put buck teeth. I’ll do this. I’ll wear that. He said, no. No, but you don’t have the face that can be turned ugly. But I wanted to do something challenging and something different. I was so excited about doing these kinds of challenging roles. Because at the end of the day, however hard you worked as an actor, you were, oh, she looked beautiful. So that was so annoying. That was no credit to me. So I used to get a bit frustrated with that. But anyway, having said that, remembering Bharathi Sir with a lot of affection, and a lot of, you know, positivity because he was genuinely a good man.
Q: Were you close to him?
A: We were actually close friends for a long time. But then we lost touch, which I regret. I really wanted to meet him. I remember telling my friends to ask. I said, I want to meet Bharathi Sir. Because she said, oh, I tried, but he’s in hospital and he’s not well. The family’s saying, ‘abhi nahi mil sakte’. (Can’t meet him now). So I couldn’t meet him. Unknowingly, I learned a lot from him. So many things. Whether it’s how you place your hand in the romantic scene. I remember there was a scene where Sunny Deol comes running to me in Saveray Wali Gadi. And he was supposed to, you know, put his hand on my shoulder. And Sunny… .we were climbing up the hill running….He would come and he would put his hand on my shoulder… Bharathi Sir was like, this is a girl. Romantic. You are not fighting. You are not fighting with her. Gentle, gentle. I mean to say these are nuances which only a very sensitive filmmaker would understand. He knew my shortcomings. He knew my plus points. And I must say, he gave me a lot of confidence. He really did think I have the prettiest face he had worked with.
Q: How did you get Red Rose?
A: The first time when Bharathi Sir had a look at me, I think he was quite shocked and disappointed. This is the girl who’s going to be playing his most important character. And Sridevi had done it before me, you know. And what an actor she was. And she was definitely more experienced than me. Because she’d been working as a child star. She knew. And I was one gawky teenager, literally.
(THE INTERVIEWER IS A VETERAN FILM CRITIC)