Manisha Koirala, the ‘Wander‘ woman, beautiful forever

From her generation of actresses,, Manisha Koirala has always been my favourite. Most others prefer Tabu , and no doubt she is fabulous. But over the years Tabu’s performances have become distractingly self-aware. She knows how powerful she is on camera.

Manisha remains supremely oblivious of her powers. In Sanjay Leela Bhansali ’s Heeramandi her role bears a passing resemblance to Tabu in Mira Nair ’s A Suitable Boy . The difference is, one performed knowing she was skilled. The other remains innocent of her skills. Manisha Koirala has always been a bit of a ‘wander’ woman. She loves to travel, and so does her heart.

She has been in several terrible relationships with men who hardly deserved her. She even married in 2010 to a Nepalese man. But the marriage was short-lived. Manisha tried hard to be a good wife. I don’t think she was cut out for that role.

She hasn’t been in a relationship since her illness. She told me, “I am at the crossroads in my life. I don’t want to repeat the mistakes I made earlier in my life. For whatever reason, I made wrong choices in my life. Now whoever comes into my life has to be the one I will spend the rest of my life.”

Like many beautiful actresses before her Manisha very frequently shortchanged herself in the hope that the relationships would eventually work out. Manisha no longer lives on hope The illness in 2012(when she was detected with cancer) taught Manisha to love herself. She is now very happy spending time with herself and her family. Once in a while, she likes to be with close friends. But most of all she has grown to love her own company. Manisha her books, movies and yoga.

She admits her past relationships affected her self-esteem. She would be constantly bending backwards to accommodate her men’s ego. She cannot be bogged down by her insecurities anymore. “The person who comes into my life has to respect the fact that I am a financially independent actress with 20 years of experience and 70-odd films to my credit. You cannot make me feel guilty for what I’ve achieved. I’ve led an open life. I’ve never hidden anything. I am not ashamed of anything I’ve done in my life. There have been things that I shouldn’t have done. But I don’t deny those phases as they are a part of the process that made me the person I am today.I never hurt anyone except myself. Today my life has changed completely. I’ve emerged much stronger. I think I deserve a lot better in life than I got.”

We have to agree with that: Manisha got some memorable roles in the early part of her career notably Mani Ratnam ’s Bombay and Dil Se , Sanjay Bhansali’s Khamoshi : The Musical and Mansoor Ali Khan’s Akele Hum Akele Tum . But thereafter she lost control of her life and career.

Maybe she isn’t as smart as Tabu. But Manisha is even now capable of giving performances that come from the heart. In an little-seen film called Dear Maya directed by Sunaina Bhatnagar, that Manisha did after her illness reveals herself to be the performing diva that she is. This is an overwhelming story of a beautiful lonely woman fading away in her self-created isolation in the anonymity of a hill station until, one fine day, she is suddenly jostled into a delayed blossoming.

Manisha Koirala plays the wilting flower with heartbreaking integrity. She is a feast for the senses. This film is remarkable for how capably it uses this actress’ beauty and the feast. Though Manisha’s Maya is central to the plot and her name is mentioned in almost every scene, director Sunaina Bhatnagar uses Manisha’s incandescent physical presence sparingly. This is a wise narrative device. Every time she is on screen Manisha leaves you craving for more, not only because she is exceptionally watchable but also because her character is written as an epitome of enigma. The more we are told about her the more we want to know. Manisha owns the film in every frame that she occupies. The camera has always been in love with her though she has not always reciprocated that love.

Now in Heeramandi, Manisha is all set to rip the screen apart with her magnetic presence. Says Sanjay Leela Bhansali , “I am working with her after 26 years. She was so raw and so natural in Khamoshi. Now she has evolved as a person and an actor. She has been through so much in life and emerged stronger. This strength shows in her performance.”

This is the time for Manisha Koirala to claim the greatness that was always hers by right, and which she came close to achieving once. It’s time for her to claim her place among the all-time greats.

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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