Spread in bed, the alcohol encouraging her, Seema uncovers her enchantment game on her hesitant client. Unreciprocated, she stands up, the camera highlighting her legs with the man in the edge turning away… The absurd scene from B.R. Ishara’s Chetna (1970), including beginners FTII graduates Rehana Sultan and Anil Dhawan, came to each bulletin around. Shaking sexual profound quality out of its pride, it changed the true to life maxim for eternity.
While Chetna had her play whore Seema, Rajinder Singh Bedi’s Dastak, delivered that very year, had Rehana play love bird Salma, longing for closeness with her better half. That she’s confused with being a prostitute is an incongruity of situation. In case Chetna was common, Dastak was verse. Yet, both depended on the externalization of ladies, stripping sexual savage deep down. Liberal approval and grants later, Rehana hailed as the mascot of New Wave film, wound up caught by the pigeonholing condition…
During the ’80s, she wedded tutor and dissident B R Ishara, her senior by quite a while. From dream to mate, hers was a withstanding responsibility until he died in 2012. His recollections actually turn her hazy. His way of thinking brings her comfort. Away from the spotlight, the 69-year-old Rehana esteems the phosphorescence of a daily routine experienced with trustworthiness…
Dastak and Chetna, both in 1970, brought you moment acclaim.
I had marked Rajinder Singh Bedi’s Dastak while at the FTII itself. We started shooting it later. Notwithstanding, Chetna (1970, coordinated by B.R.Ishara) was delivered first. Bedi saab showed me the subtleties of ladies in the lower-working class groups of North India. They utilize a ton of motions while talking. Love bird Salma pines for her better half (Sanjeev Kumar). I needed to communicate that. Dastak was a creator upheld job. Sanjeev was an incredibly fine entertainer and I made an honest effort to praise him. The film’s tunes Baiyan na dharo, Hum hain mata e, Tumse kahoon ek baat and Mai ri were flawlessly filmed.You probably been shocked to win the National Award for Dastak…
I was going for a film when Sanjeev Kumar hit me up and said, ‘Do you realize you have won a National Award for Dastak? It resembles an Oscar.’ I was unable to accept I had won it. I became passionate and started crying. Feeling celebratory, the unit declared a get together. This was my first prologue to progress. I never envisioned I’d become popular short-term.
How did Chetna happen?
Bedi saab was shooting Dastak in highly contrasting so the obviousness of a working class family could be brought out. At first, individuals thought it was a common film. I fostered a complex with regards to that. So when a still picture taker companion, Rakesh, said that chief B.R.Ishara needed to meet me for Chetna, I found out if it was a highly contrasting film. As he didn’t know, I was not enthused about the portrayal. He said the chief was composing the film in a lodging in Churchgate and that I’d need to meet him there. I would have rather not go to the lodging as I’d heard tales about producers calling courageous women there. I requested that they get back home. I entered the corridor, my disposition showing my reluctance. One look at me and Ishara saab told Rakesh, ‘She’s my Seema (Rehana’s person in Chetna)’. He preferred my naak unchi disposition! In any case, I wasn’t keen.How did you at long last yield?
Ishara saab was sitting with his legs on the couch. I was horrified at the sight. In addition, he was smoking, the smoke occupying the room. I abhorred it. This was the subsequent calamity. I was 100% certain I wouldn’t do his film. Out of kindness, I found out if they’d have tea. Ishara saab said, ‘Haan chai toh ho jaye!” I was shocked at his familiarity in the primary gathering itself. Anyway, he started the portrayal. Before its finish, I had tears in my eyes however I didn’t need anybody to see it. I said, ‘I’m doing your film. When are you beginning?’ Ishara saab said, ‘You’ll need to wear your own garments.’ I concurred. He added, ‘You might need to get nourishment for all from home.’ I consented to that too. My main condition was that I’d give primary goal to Dastak as I’d marked it first. I was playing a basic working class spouse in Dastak and a call young lady in Chetna. Given the incongruous characters, Bedi saab dreaded his film would be demolished. Fortunately, nothing of that kind of occurred.
