Farida Jalal recalled how Gulzar would often ask her to cut down on glamour on the sets of their 1975 film, Khushboo.
Hear the film name, Khushboo, and immediately, Kishore Kumar’s haunting ‘O manjhi re, apna kinara’ song flashes through your mind! The Gulzar-directorial, based on Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s popular novel, ‘Panditmashai’ dropped a surprise for the audience when it released as it presented the film’s lead pair- Jeetendra and Hema Malini in a deglamorized avatar.
Be it the bespectacled Jeetendra or Hema ditching her bonnet hairstyle and glamorous outfits for non-coiffed hair and cotton saris, the film’s director Gulzar made sure that they let only their performances do all the talking. And this change extended to another member from the cast as well- Farida Jalal who essayed the role of Manno in the film.
In a conversation with film producer Ashoke Pandit, Farida recalled how Gulzar insisted that she shed off all kinds of glamour on the sets. The veteran actress said that on the first day of shoot, when she arrived on set with a striking hairdo, the filmmaker rebuked her and said, “If you look like this, what will I tell Hema ji? Kaam dikhana hai, yeh sab nahi dikhana aapko” (You are here to show your talent, not to look pretty).
Farida admitted that she was angry at him in that moment because she wanted to ‘doll up like the rest of the cast’, but agreed to settle for a simpler hairstyle.
Further, she also recalled how before a song shoot in Goa, Gulzar told her, “Aaj aapka gaana hai, Mumtaz mat jaana, extra phool aur yeh woh. Log tareef karte hain ke aap dialogue naturally bolti hain, waise hi gaana karna hai.” (Today, you have a song shoot. Please don’t turn into Mumtaz with all the razzmatazz. People appreciate you for your natural acting, retain that for the song as well). The actress said that she was looking forward to ‘thumkas’ but was forbidden from that.
However, Gulzar’s strict diktat did work in Farida’s favour as he made her realise her potential. Talking about a scene from the film where her character Manno’s husband dies, the actress recalled Gulzar telling her, “In this (scene), you have to scream and cry, You wanted to be a serious actor, now show me what you are made of.”
When Farida nailed that scene in one take, Gulzar was so impressed that he even told Sanjeev Kumar about it. Later, when she met the ‘Sholay’ actor on a different film’s set, Kumar praised her by saying, “Suna hai bada accha shot kiya, murda bhi rone laga” (I heard you gave such a nice shot that even the dead character teared up).
Khushboo narrates the story of Kusum (Hema Malini) and Brindavan (Jeetendra) who are betrothed as kids, but get separated due to a misunderstanding. Years later when they cross paths again, they realise that life has a lot more surprises in store for them.
