Actresses From India

"I was surrounded by dance, music and religious chants, so it was that kind of a mood. Our family was very culturally-minded, especially my grandmother. She was also quite the disciplinarian. She made sure I practiced daily for hours."

"But first I was made to learn music, because music and dance go together. You can sing, but you can’t dance without music..."

"I think I was born to dance. That’s what my grandmother told me. So it was always in my system."

"I always cribbed about having such a long name and my grandmother would say that nobody else will be called ‘Vyjayanthimala'."

"A good artiste should be able to portray any kind of role. Guide is closest to my heart because Rosie was a very mature character. She is married to Marco and yet decides to go in for a live-in relationship with Raju. Many producers saw it as a negative role, a wrong step at that stage of my career and advised me not to do it, but to me a role was a role. But sometimes personalities do come in the way."

"And you cannot imagine the excitement when I came to be cast with her in Sunil Dutt's 'Reshma Aur Shera'. It was like an unbelievable dream. The Rajasthan location of Jaisalmer and the hot deserts beyond that in the village of Pochina merely a few meters away from the Pakistan border. The arduous drive for hours into the interiors without any navigation and roads. Miles and miles of barren dessert and dunes with a scarcity of every possible material good, required for survival"

"I was and still am her great admirer and fan. She signified to me the epitome of Indian grace and culture. She possessed in her the mischievous streak of that precocious village belle and the spirited movement of a Shiv Tandav. She looked vulnerable and lost, searching for protection in one moment, yet knowledged and mature in another. You felt like protecting and guarding her from all the evil of the world and to gently wipe away any frayed eyebrows that may have accumulated on her face. Her performances were pure and clean, without effort and deliberate design. They were just a part of her - simple and soft."

"Dinner followed thereafter among a small group of common friends, a surprise being the presence of my favorite Waheeda Rehman. Now aged and well within her years, she to me described what the conventional Indian woman ought to be in look and behaviour. Those early films 'Pyaasa' and 'Kaagaz ke Phool' and 'Chaudhavin ka Chand' and 'Sahib Biwi aur Ghulam' are unforgettable for the charm and grace and childlike softness of an ethereal looking Waheeda ji, alluring and dynamic by the intensity of her simple and endearing looks and performance."

"Yes, my acting was not stylised. I always underplayed, maybe because I never learnt acting. I thought the best way is to feel it and do it. And when you feel it, the emotions come out naturally. Gulabo (Pyaasa) was liked by people and I started getting different roles. If I liked a story my attitude used to be: this is the scene, this is the character and I have to do it. I never thought about the repercussions of doing a character."

"The instant Waheeda Rehman arrived for her ten days shooting in Calcutta, she charmed every member of Ray’s unit. She lacked star airs and graces, never behaved in a pretentious manner and was content to go about off the set in her own face without make-up. There was an unspoilt quality about her personality and she was conspicuously receptive to Ray’s direction. She was pliable, with few ingrained mannerisms."

"Everyone is born for something. This girl was born for the camera."

"Cinema is a product of society. You look around you, the way women dress up for parties is no longer the same."

"In those days the heroes and heroines had to play characters, which were essentially good. Now there is no such compulsion. And it is a good thing. I like the choices Vidya Balan has made. People say mine was the golden age of cinema. I think we are on the threshold of another golden period."

"I definitely think this is the best time to be in the industry. Earlier, films were made on a set pattern- love story, family drama, one is rich and other is poor type formulas. But today there are different kinds of films being made and accepted by the audience. I wish I was there in the industry today...I wish I was born in today's time."

"I don't believe in remakes. I think original films are classics and one can't make it or match up to it (original film) the same way. And even if they do there will be comparisons...it's not a good idea,""

"It was important to have compassion, [which, she added, came ]] partly from acknowledging we are one."

"What matters most in life is good health and a good night's sleep.""

"Take risks and don't fear failure"

"Guide, Pyaasa — these are my films that can be remade with current actors. But the music and lyrics should not be changed. Because you cannot have a samba or bhangra beat for the seduction scene in Pyaasa...the beauty will be lost."

"The director's word used to be final. Today directors don't even come on sets for a dance sequence. Its canned by the choreographer."

"Arre bhai...there is so much more to Indian music than those beats. I have done bhangra...nothing against it. But why do we present only that to the Indian and global audience. Punjabi language and music has become the language of the film industry unfortunately. Be it Singh is King or London Dreams or New York Beats are the same. agreed you cannot use classical or folk music in New York or Singh is King but London Dreams — it's supposed to be a musical. Music should have been the soul of it. But that is the weakest thing in the film. So much could have been done — classical music and folk music could have been used. But they didn't. They want to finish of work ASAP. Quantity, not quality has taken over."

"How often do you come out of a film these days humming a song? Earlier I thought that my age had something to do with it. But then I spoke with some youngsters and they seemed to agree in retrospect.""

"Today that rarely happens. Most often the songs are used as a relief. They have nothing to do with the film per say. And all look almost the same. Just replace the central characters and a step here and there...choreography remains the same in most cases. So does the beat. We have so many classical dances and folk dances in the country but nobody seems to be using them."

"Music earlier used to be an integral part of the film. The background score and the songs were as important, to take the story forward as were the screenplay and dialogues."

"I've made a few films and by the grace of God, you've liked them."

"There are so many acting schools these days. Maybe, the new generation of actors is forgetting that acting is more emotional than mechanical. Take dancing, today's dancers are not dancing; they're just performing a drill to some beats."

"The shelf-life of a heroine is very limited. But I feel that a true artiste should never retire. Even now, I can't say no to a role that excites me. But I don't see films as my career any longer. I do it for the fun and satisfaction."

"My teaming up with Amitabh Bachchan in Do Anjan earned me fame as an intense actress. Then it was Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Khubsoorat in 1978 that established me as an actress of repute."

"My interest was dance and, in the beginning, I didn't enjoy acting at all. It was my mother who brought me into films and who looked after my career. I remember each time a producer came to meet her, my only reaction was, 'Oh God, another year of my life gone.'"

"Politics is a jungle where destinies change every evening."

"I have been chanting Soundarya Lahari, written by Adi Shankara for about 16 years now. It is very popular here in the South but not many know of it in North India and this is my offering for the pooja season. I meditate to these shlokas and am very happy that Suresh Wadkar and Shankar Mahadevan have contributed to it, with Amitabh Bachchan giving the introduction."

"I am glad I got to be part of such a historic film,” she says and pauses to think. And then adds, “The movie is still popular and that’s great. It also means that for as long as people remember the film, I will also be there in their memories. That’s special. And of course, it is not just Sholay but people also remember me for Seeta Aur Geeta. When I am in the U.S., I love travelling in cabs. And there have been times when Russian cab drivers recognised me and hummed a few tunes from the movie!"

"There is no other choice. Modiji has to come back. It will be dangerous for the country if someone else wins. That’s why we all (BJP members) are working hard to bring him back."

"We went to Kumbh, we had a very nice bath. It is right that an incident took place, but it was not a very big incident. I don't know how big it was. It is being exaggerated. It was very well-managed, and everything was done very well...So many people are coming, it is very difficult to manage but we are doing our best."

"Though I was too young to understand the complexities of marriage, I understand that the premise of their disagreement was unfair. Why must a woman have to give up her passion after marriage when the same is never asked of a man."

"It has been my most appreciated performance to date and though I have played myriad characters over the years, some how none was as complex or as passionate as Suadamini. The director later told me that the only reason he cast me was because I was a dancer and capable of delivering navarasas [nine forms]."

"I was cast opposite multiple heroes and as luck would have it, the chemistry worked with most."

"Learning the long lines and delivering them in one take was a nightmare, but Rameshji helped me as also the fact that I have a good memory. It is only when you become successful that you realize how everything contributes to your success."

"So many roles, so many trends, so many kinds of cinema and so many stories…I have projected different images during different decades, voiced different concerns –sometimes as a daughter, sometimes as a wife and mother- but often I ask myself if things have really changed. I am not sure."

"I made a serial called Nupur in which I danced for one particular shloka of Soundarya Lahari . The show was mostly about dance. It is then that I started learning to chant Soundarya Lahari . …People only know me as an actor and a dancer but recently I thought about doing this album."

"One day she will be the biggest star of the Indian screen."

"It has been more than three decades but Hema Malini’s passion for dance has not diminished. Starting in the early 70s with solo Bhratanatyam performances, the diva has reinvented herself at every stage of her career. When she felt that the pure classical dance form would not be appreciated by a less aware audience, she expanded her art form to include ballets."

"I was quite the media darling."

"Quoted in Verve: The Spirit of Today's Woman (page 74)"

"For me dancing is not just moving your arms and legs but basically it's a very spiritual experience. It's part of me and a second nature to me. You can say it is in my blood."

"I don't understand the difference between being a star and being an actress. If you are a good actress, you can also be a star but it does not work the other way round. You must be able to deliver the goods."

"I hope I am not sounding presumptuous or vain. but I think like Sridevi, I was another heroine who could break the barriers between the classes and the masses."

"It's so ironical. When you finally achieve recognition, you hide behind dark glasses."

"Good films flop, atrocious films do well. Uncertainty is the only certainty in this business."

"The tendency in the media is to portray everyone in the film industry as sex-starved creatures. Please spare us."