Monday, February 3, 2014

Jidhar Dekhoon Teri Tasveer Nazar Aati Hai

She was my first crush – at my age of 17, when somewhere in mid-eighties of technicolor world, I saw her in one of her movies from B&W era. 


She had arrived on Hindi screen, with a very innocent and a quintessential beautiful face, which looked all the more alluring in the Black & White world of Hindi movies. As the cinema went colour, her elegant demeanor and extraordinary acting capabilities were a whiff of fresh breeze in those times when a heroine essentially was part of the glamour to attract the audience. 

Adopting a very subtle style of performing, over the years, she essayed a variety of challenging roles, and excelled in each one of them - be it of a moll in her first movie, a courtesan in love with the dacoit who has abducted her, an actress outshining her mentor, a married woman wanting to unshackle herself so that she can dance & discover herself, a woman caught in the middle of two feuding clans – which got her a National Award, a nurse fighting & losing in a doomed romance, a married woman trying to hide her affection for her illegitimate child – and many more. 

Her best features were her eyes &, Oh boy, she used them so eloquently. Those eyes could express sorrow, joy, anger, mischief, innocence, coyness and determination –as would be the demand of the role – and in a manner that could connect with the audience instantly.

With changing times, she was perhaps the only actor of her times, who aged gracefully, still retaining her beauty naturally and her zest for life, which makes her that much more attractive – even today when she has turned 78.

She is Waheeda Rehman. She is my first crush.

Here is a Pancham special for her, a song with romance at its core. Kishore Kumar rendering, the way only he could, the lovely verse penned Anjaan, as Amitabh croons his undyling love for Waheeda on-screen in Mahaan:

Zinda hoon main tere liye
Jeewan tera hai ho 
Mera hai jo sab hai tera
Ab kya mera hai
Meri khushion ki tu jagir
Nazar aati hai
Jidhar dekhun teri tasweer
Nazar aati hai

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