Script tease

Subhash K Jha looks at five actresses who dared to be different

They broke barriers sending the sati-Savitri image flying out of the window. No longer were these women content to play insipid doormats of cliches, Miss Coy dictated by an unchallenging script. They pushed the envelope, breaking boundaries by playing lesbians, adulterous women or bandit queens, all characters with shades of grey. In doing so, they opened up a new way of looking at women's sexuality on celluloid.

Sharmila Tagore in An Evening In Paris: (1967) Sharmila dared to do what until then only vamps did in Hindi films. She donned a bathing costume for An Evening In Paris. In fact she wanted it to be a bikini. It was director Shakti Samanta who put his foot down. Sharmila was always ahead of her time. In Aradhana she donned grey to play Rajesh Khanna's mom. In Mausam she let out a volley of abuses as a hardcore streetwalker. Way to go.

Rehana Sultan In Chetna (1970): In B R Ishaara's Chetna Rehana Sultan shook the junta with a poster of her naked thighs spread into a suggestive 'V' with the hero's face peeping out from between the legs.
Before and after Rehana no heroine dared strike the same pose suggesting where a man likes to place himself vis-u00c3u0083u00a0-vis a woman.
In Chetna as a prostitute unable to adjust to married life who finally commits suicide because she cannot sleep with one man every night.

Shabana Azmi in Log Kya Kahenge (1982): In the little-known Log Kya Kahenge(1982) directed by B R Ishaara Shabana changed the way we look at the bharatiya nari.
She played an adultress who strangles her stepson to death when the little boy sees her making out with her lover.
Even today Shabana gets scared when she sees the look on her face while murdering the child.
In Mandi Shabana was the overweight overbearing Madame and in Khandhar she was a timid self-effacing little creature who seemed to shrink into herself. That's known as range, baby!




Seema Biswas In Bandit Queen (1994): In Shekhar Kapoor's bio-pic on Phoolan Devi Seema dared to go full-frontal nude scene.
Though it was later revealed that a body-double did the needful it was Seema who took the full blow of the scandalous shot.
I don't think even the most committed actress would dare. Bollywood never forgave Seema for her boldness.
She continues to be wasted in trivia.







Nandita Das in Fire (1996): In Deepa Mehta's raging Fire (1996) she was the rebellious housewife in a repressed Delhi family who dares to have an affair with her sister-in-law.
Nandita even kissed Shabana.
The film epitomized the spirit of true sexual liberation.

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