Lekh Tandon: The man who directed Amrapali

Lekh Tandon was one our most prolific and underrated directors. His range stretched from the playful Professor to the magical Dulhan Wohi Jo Piya Man Bhaye to the illogical Jahan Pyar Mile. His most celebrated film was the historical Amrapali (1966) that recreated the legendary romance between Amrapali the courtesan, played by Vyjayanthimala, and  Ajayshatru the emperor of Magadh, played by Sunil Dutt. The film’s opulence and periodicity had stunned the world then as it continues to do now.

In the past, there were such exquisite films based on Indian classical dancing as Kalpana in 1948 where the real-life couple Uday and Amala Shankar performed a classical Indian ballet through which the story unfolded. Among other films that explored the deep-rooted connection between dance and cinema were V. Shantaram’s Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje in 1955, where the director’s wife Sandhya co-starred with Kathak exponent Gopi Krishna for a choreographic odyssey, and S.S. Vasan’s  Chandralekha, which also opened the same year.

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In the 1960s films about Indian dance like Vijay Anand’s Guide, Lekh Tandon’s Amrapali and Subodh Mukherjee’s Abhinetri gave trained dancer-actresses like Waheeda Rehman, Vyjayanthimala and Hema Malini a chance to display their nimble feet while enhancing their celluloid image as deeply resourceful actresses. All that stopped with K. Vishwanath’s Jaag Utha Insaan and Sur Sangam. Both were massive successes in the southern Indian original but thundering flops in Hindi in spite of the masterful dancing of Sridevi and Jaya Prada.

Vyjayanthimala considers Amrapali a high point in her illustrious career. “I vividly remember every detail. The dancing I  got to do in Amrapali was, to my mind, unique to Indian cinema. Once in a while an actress gets to do a whole film where classical dancing is a part of the story. The title of the film was based on my character. I had the rare privilege of performing the legendary Gopi Krishna’s choreography. I would like to think I did justice to Gopi Krishaji’s dance steps. Lekh Tandonji was there to guide me every step along the way  in getting my character’s  gestures postures and demeanour right.”

Three years after Amrapali, Vyjayanthimala worked with Lekh Tandon again in Prince where she had a mammoth dance face-off with Helen.

Recalls the iconic actress, “Shankar-Jaikishanji had composed the song Muqabla humse na karo where I did the classical dancing and Helenji did the western steps. Shammi Kapoorji  also danced in the song. Lataji sang for me, Asha Bhosleji sang for Helenji and Rafi Saab sang for Shammi. It was a momentous dance number.I must give the credit for my dancing to Lataji’s singing. In Amrapali she sang such exquisite numbers for me: Neel gagan ki chaon mein, Jao re jogi tum jao re…”

Sanjay Leela Bhansali an ardent admirer of Lekh Tandon’s work says, “Amrapali inspired my historicals Bajirao Mastani and Padmaavat. The way he recreated the war scenes, and especially the way he presented the amazing Vyjayanthimalaji in those incredible songs like Tumhe Yaad Karte Karte, Jao Re Jogi Tum Jao Re, Tadap Yeh Din Raat Ki and Neel Gagan Ki Chaon Mein, were definitely my reference points for Deepika Padukone in Bajirao Mastani and Padmaavat.

After  directing the much-loved musical Jhuk Gaya Aasman (Rajendra Kumar-Saira Banu in an afterlife comedy), Prince (bringing together the Professor hero Shammi Kapoor with Vyjayanthimala for the first and the last time) Lekh Tandon directed Dulhan Wahi Jo Piya Man Bhaye in 1977. The small-budget film starring two newcomers Prem Kishen (actor Premnath’s son) and Rameshwari Talluri became the biggest hit in the history of Rajshri Productions. If we look at its austere budget and staggering profits, Dulhan Wahi Jo Piya Man Bhaye was even bigger than Rajshri’s Hum …Aapke Hain Koun.

After directing the Rajesh Khanna-Rekha hit Agar Tum Na Hote (1983) Lekh Tandon kept a low profile as a director choosing to act in films like Ashutosh Gowariker’s Swades, Amol Palekar’s Paheli and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Rang De Basanti.

Shabana Azmi has fond memories of Lekh Tandon. “I did two lovely films with him Ek Baar Kaho and Doosri Dulhan, a film way before its time on surrogacy. Shekhar Kapur often says that he learned a lot from Lekhji. He was an underrated filmmaker.”

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based journalist. He has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out.

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