“Is that beautiful girl really me?”As she turns 74 the Dream Girl Hema Malini looks back at her blockbuster beauty

For fifty-five years, Hema Malini has regaled audiences with her bewitching looks and talent. Regarded by box office experts as the most successful Hindi film heroine of all time, Hema for the first time acknowledges and owns her beauty in this livewire conversation.

Congratulations, you are going to be 74 on October 16. But you look no more than 45?

Ha, that’s what you wish for me. But we both know it is not true. Next year will be my big birthday when I am 75. Amrit Mahotsav ke saath saath hoon main. This year I am still very young (laughs). Ageing is inevitable. At 74 I can’t look what like what I did when I was 30 or 40. I can’t tell age to stop. ‘Arrey bhai ruk jao’. Aisa toh nahin bol sakti na.

Your fans want to know the secret of your eternal beauty?

No secret at all. Just eating sleeping properly and on time. Dancing takes care of the rest. It is very important at this stage to stay fit. Nowadays my grandson keeps me on my toes. He is the only who is allowed to do anything he wants with me. The other day he dropped my phone and it broke. I lost a lot of my data.

Hemaji which is the best birthday gift you have ever received?

I received my best birthday gift this year. Somebody gifted me all my films from Sapnon Ka Saudagar to Shimla Mirch. All my films together! I can see any film or any song of mine anytime. I don’t have to search for them anywhere.

So when you see yourself in your early films like Sharafat, Raja Jani, Abhinetri and Johnny Mera Naam, what do you feel?

I feel, ‘Who is this beautiful girl?’(laughter). So beautiful she is, I can’t believe it. It is a fact that I was really beautiful.

Yes, it is. But so far whenever I brought up the idea of your beauty you dismissed it

Not any longer. Now I agree with the opinion that I was very beautiful.

You still are…

Maybe. But it’s a different form of beauty. I can’t look now as I did when I was 25. My brother tells me I looked different when I was younger. In every stage of one’s life, one looks different. During those days the cinematographers loved their heroines’ faces. They made sure I looked my best. Look how beautifully (cinematographer) K Vaikunth shot me in Andaz, Seeta Aur Geeta and Meera. Nowadays, cinematographers just do their job professionally. There is no emotional attachment to the actors. Actresses like Rekha, Madhuri and I don’t fit in at all. I will do a film only if it is worthy of me.

Perhaps there are no faces like yours, Madhubala’s, or Sridevi’s for the camera to fall in love with?

Why do you say that? There are many very beautiful actresses today like Deepika Padukone, Kareena Kapoor and Katrina Kaif.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali says you look like the face on the Durga Maa idols in Kolkata.

That’s sweet of him. I perform the Durga ballet every year on stage. It is one of my favourite dance forms.

Cinematographers said about your face that it looked beautiful from every angle.

Again, I found this out very late (laughs). When I was younger I was doing two and three shifts a day running from studio to studio. I never got the chance to see any of my films.

Your mentor Vyjayanthimala is now very frail and old

Arrey yeh to hona hi hai. What is so saddening about it? One must enjoy the process of ageing. And not brood about it. Fans of us actors should not feel disappointed when we age.

Who were your favourite heroes?

You mean besides Dharamji? They were all wonderful. I enjoyed working with all of them.

So many films in the 1970s like Sanyasi, Premnagar and Dus Numbri were hits only because of you?

I am not aware of this. That was another, another time.

When do we see you on screen again?

As soon as someone writes a role, especially for me.I would love to play someone close to my heart.

A dream role for the dream girl?

Yes(laughter).

Hemaji, may stay you as young and lovely forever?

Thank you. But I am warning you, I won’t.

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.

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