Lockdown Legends ( Day 12): The Forsaken Performer

The story of this artiste is another testimony to the fact that success is such a volatile thing. Blink and its vanishes. Armed with a diploma in acting,  a talented actress makes her place in the film world and when it appears that she is here for the log haul, things don't go her way and the loss is for her as well as the film industry.

I am referring to Rehana Sultan, one of the finest actresses to have come out of FTII Pune. She was the first actress from FTII to have got a leading lady role just after passing out. In fact, she had two roles in her bag. Two roles, which were to take her to dizzying heights and change her life completely, though in a manner of a left-handed compliment !

The first film to hit the screens was :  Chetna !
Chetna was  based on the daring topic of a man trying to reform a prostitute by marrying her. The bold scenes and sensuous portrayal of Rehana was touted as the major attractions, as the poster of her naked legs dominated every wall and hoarding. The interactions between the prostitute and her customers was explicitly shown, bordering on soft porn.

                                             

The film was produced and directed by B.R. Ishara, who had directed three films earlier, but with little success. The film had newcomers Anil Dhawan and Shatrughan Sinha. The music was composed by Sapan Jagmohan ( Sapan Sengupta and Jagmohan Bakshi coming together) which was popular. This song on Rehana was relatively  less heard, though.

Close of the heels of Chetna, another film Dastak was released. Dastak was produced and directed by noted poet and writer Rajinder Singh Bedi. A writer of immense talent, Bedi was considered one of the most gifted of the Progressive writers who changed the course of Hindi cinema.

 The film was about the travails of a struggling newly-wed couple who unwittingly rented an apartment, previously occupied by a dancing girl, in a red light district in Mumbai.Sultan played a lonely and tormented woman, trapped in her apartment, while her husband, played by the versatile star Sanjeev Kumar is away at work. They both suffer knocks on their door from unruly clients of the previous tenant.
Rehana Sultan was just out of the film institute when Rajinder Singh Bedi offered her the film. Her delicate features and sense of vulnerability add to her appeal. She was sensual without trying to be. Sensitive handling of a delicate topic by Bedi , assisted by his cameraman Kamal Bose and editor Hrishikesh Mukherjee , made this one of the early signatures of art films in India.

 Rehana won the National Award for this film, as did  her onscreen husband, Sanjeev Kumar. The music of the film was composed by Madan Mohan and the songs were simply out of the world. 'Mai ri main kaase kahoon', 'baiyaan na dharo' and 'tumse kahoon ek baat paron se halki' were exquisite compositions. But the piece de reistance was the ghazal Hum hain mataa-e-koocha-o-bazaar ki tarah.

 Madan Mohan the  National Award for Best Music Direction and  Hrishikesh Mukherji earned a rare Filmfare Award  for his work as Editor.


                                   

Both the films were successful and Rehana found herself as the most talked about newcomer. In addition, she won the National Award for her acting in Dastak. The films were, however, soon forgotten under the deluge of Rajesh Khanna superhits that would follow.  

Though Rehana, in views of critics , " shattered every canon of the industry by accepting the role of a call-girl and mouthing bold dialogue", this became her undoing too. Despite some critics calling  her the "original superstar of new wave cinema for her two unconventional films" and work being appreciated by the iconic Indian director Satyajit Ray, she found herself inundated with what Bollywood loved to call "daring and bold roles".

Producers offered her scripts full of "rain and bathing scenes", a ruse to show skin. She literally ran away from a film because the producer gave her a "shocking" script. She rejected most such offers and waited for substantial roles. The wait, however, was long.

 Her two-film curse is the stuff of an actor's worst fear: typecasting. The brilliant actress was typecast into roles that required her to doll up and be glamorous. Films like 'Haar Jeet', 'Tanhai', 'Dil ki raahein' and 'Savera' had competent performances, but didn't manage to make a dent in her image.Her films were projected in advertisements as having "bold" scene, even when there were none.

 One of her films Prem Parbat ( whose prints are not available anymore), however, had a beautiful song picturised on her, which we shall never be able to watch. 

                                                

Another Rehana film Kissa Kursi Ka produced by Amritlal Nahata was banned during Emergency and its reels were destroyed. By the late 70s, she was reduced to taking up films like 'Agent Vinod' and 'Agent 009'. These were  regrettable choices for an actress who delivered such a memorable performance against one of the most talented actors of that generation, Sanjeev Kumar. 

Rehana married producer director B.R Ishara, who had directed her in Chetna and then she faded out of films. Her last few inconsequential films released in 80s and early 90s.The film  industry lost a great actress and it again outlines the curious ways it runs.

This song from Sajjo Rani turns out prophetic for Rehana , as her dream remained unfulfilled.