Free Conversations with Waheeda Rehman by Nasreen Munni Kabir, Waheeda Rehman Page A

classics and I can imagine it is satisfying to have such a substantial legacy. I am not sure how many Indian actors will leave behind as many memorable films. I’d like to ask you about another important film in your career—
Mujhe Jeene Do
. Set in the Chambal Valley of Madhya Pradesh, this tale about a dacoit and a dancer was among the highest-earning films in 1963.
    What made Sunil Dutt decide to produce a dacoit story?
    WR: From the early 1960s, Vinoba Bhave and Jayaprakash Narayan encouraged the Chambal River Valley dacoits to surrender. It was around the same time that the story of dacoits became a popular subject in Hindi cinema. The trend started in1960 with Raj Kapoor’s
Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai
. In 1961 came
Gunga Jumna
with Dilip Saab and in 1963 Sunil Dutt released
Mujhe Jeene Do
, directed by Moni Bhattacharjee who had worked as Bimal Roy’s assistant on the classic films
Do Bigha Zamin
and
Madhumati
.
    You could say even
Sholay
was about a dacoit, Gabbar Singh. And Sunil Dutt himself had played a good son turned dacoit in
Mother India
. When we were shooting
Mujhe Jeene Do
, Sunilji told me about an incident that took place during the making of
Mother India
. He had to play an emotional scene and, to get the emotion right, Mehboob Saab asked him to lie face down on the ground. He then stood on Sunilji’s back and twisted his arm. When he screamed in pain, Mehboob Saab said: ‘I want you to cry out just like that in the shot!’ I told Sunilji I hoped he had no intention of doing that to me.
[we laugh]
    NMK: I read an article by Deepak Mahan [
The Hindu
, 13 May 2010] in which he interviewed several former outlaws who believed
Mujhe Jeene Do
had the most authentic depiction of dacoit life while they felt that films like
Sholay
were glamorized figments of imagination that bore no connection to reality.
    WR: Sunil Dutt’s intention was to show the reality of dacoits, and that was the interesting thing about the film—eighty-five per cent of the story was based on real-life incidents, including those involving the notorious ‘daaku’ Maan Singh.
    We had police protection while we were shooting the filmin the ravines of Bhind–Morena. I remember hearing about a woman who had been kidnapped and who later became a dacoit. One of her hands had been cut off and so she had to fire her gun with one hand. I have forgotten her name, but it is a true story. Her daughter came to see me during the filming of
Mujhe Jeene Do
and, when she saw our costumes, she said: ‘My mother never wore a
ghagra-choli
, she wore pants.’

    A day off during the filming of Sunil Dutt’s
Mujhe Jeene Do
. Chambal Valley, circa 1962.
    NMK: So much for the costume department!
    You play the prostitute Chamelijaan in the film. She is a woman who is abducted by the dacoit Jarnail Singh [Sunil Dutt] who falls in love with her when he sees her dancing at a wedding. What kind of person is Chameli?
    WR: She has a defiant nature and although she is at Jarnail Singh’s mercy, she refuses to dance for him and tells him: ‘I dance at happy occasions—at weddings or when children are born. But your hands are stained with blood. Because of you, women become widows and children are orphaned. What right do you have to tell me to dance?’ I thought that was a good scene.
    Portraying Chamelijaan was a challenge because her character goes through many transformations—from dancing girl to wife, wife to protective mother—I needed to express a range of emotions.
    A character touches me if I believe the events in the film could actually happen to someone in real life. Then I can perform better. When the characters and storylines are too unreal, mywork isn’t very good. My heart isn’t in it. But great actors like Dilip Saab, Amitabh or Naseeruddin Shah can perform well even when the character, or the dramatic situations they need to bring alive, seem artificial. I can’t do that.
    NMK:
Mujhe Jeene Do
has your exquisite song ‘Raat bhi hai