Gulabo and Rosie

The Republic Day honour for Waheeda Rehman shines a light on an often under-appreciated talent. Poll old Hindi film favourites,and Madhubala is guaranteed a mention,an actor whose on-screen profile could span the intensity of Mughal-e-Azam and the impish peppiness of Achha ji main haari. Rehmans persona,in contrast,was more understated. From Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam to Pyaasa to Guide,she brought a remarkable and resolute individuality to her characters and with the lightest of touches. And the characters she played,too,blazed a trail. Cinema was fired,still,by post-independence idealism,given to privileging collective aspiration. Her characters posed,instead,the counter-questions,defying the prescriptions handed down of what proper life choices were,finding less beaten tracks to fulfilment. Two of her most memorable films,in fact,retain a striving for modernity that still startles. Pyaasa,where Guru Dutt plays a struggling poet,was for some observers the start of a more questioning cinema,an interrogation of the high-sounding slogans of the time. Rehman played Gulabo,a prostitute with a moral compass; besotted by the poets verses and sincerity,she helps him realise his dream,and becomes instrumental in getting his works published,without considerations of personal reward. In Guide,another milestone in her career,she plays Rosie,a gifted dancer whose passion has been thwarted by her dictatorial and disinterested husband. With a little encouragement from Raju,a tourist guide played memorably by Dev Anand,her career is transformed,and she gains the composure to hold her own. In a way,these roles were emblematic of a career defined by personal choices most notably,her decision to keep her name and unusual on-screen portrayals.