It’s almost impossible to condense Vijaya Mehta’s illustrious career and her rich personality into a few words. Many of the theatre doyen’s colleagues used the term “trailblazer” to describe her, following her demise on June 30 after battling a prolonged illness. But to Shabana Azmi, Mehta will always be that director who had a unique way of making her actors feel relaxed.
“In spite of her towering talent as an actor, she was a poor narrator of jokes. She inevitably messed up the punch line,” Azmi told mid-day, remembering her Pestonjee (1988) director. “Her son Deven would wring his hands in despair, but she would carry on undaunted, till she confessed, ‘Arre, mee main line visrun geli!’ It was her way of making her intimidated actors relax.”
(L-R) Shabana Azmi and Kirron Kher in ‘Pestonjee’
Before Mehta began her screen journey with Shyam Benegal’s Kalyug in 1981, she had carved her space in theatre. One of the most active participants of the Marathi experimental theatre in the 1960s, she co-founded the theatre group, Rangayan, with Vijay Tendulkar, Shriram Lagoo, and Arvind Deshpande. In films too, she shone bright — be it as an actor in Govind Nihalani’s Party (1984) or a director of the acclaimed Rao Saheb (1985).
An admirer of Mehta’s works, Azmi would always ask the filmmaker to sign her for one of her movies. Her wish was fulfilled with Pestonjee. “I pestered her to cast me in her [plays] or films. Finally she succumbed to the pressure and gave me Jeru in Pestonjee, a role unlike any other that I had done,” marvelled Azmi.
Shabana Azmi
1975
The year she received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
1986
When she won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for ‘Rao Saheb’
Did you know?
She won the Best Actress award at the Asia Pacific Film Festival for Govind Nihalani’s ‘Party’