Remembering Vijaya Mehta: Anupam Kher, Paresh Rawal and Rohini Hattangadi Pay Tribute to The Theatre Legend

Hindi and Marathi film and theater doyen, Padma Shri Vijaya Mehta, passed away at the age of 91 on June 30. The recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi award in 1975 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Tagore Ratna in 2012, she was also conferred the National Best Actress award for “Rao Saheb” (1985).

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Recalling their association, Anupam Kher tells Variety India, “The unfortunate part of life is that it goes on and we must move on. I last met Vijayabai four years ago when she was not well. As a teacher, she was enviable. We first worked together in ‘Rao Saheb,’ and I thought that since I had come from the National School of Drama with a Gold Medal and all, I knew everything. But then I met a director who added dimensions and understanding to my craft, I realized that she is a master. Vijayabai was unbelievably patient, with a child-like quality of wanting to explore, and she would get excited whenever she got a good shot or whenever someone delivered their lines well!”

Kher goes on, “‘Rao Saheb’ was shot in a start-to-finish schedule of 125 days in Goa. But when we were making ‘Pestonjee’ just three years later, there was a major technical glitch, and I had to rush to do other films alongside as I had become busy. But that did not stop her from being a professional and a disciplinarian too. The best thing about her was that, unlike some who want to be treated as great people, she, who was actually brilliant, was never impressed with herself and remained a chilled-out and relaxed person. Vijayabai was the doyen of cinema, craft, culture and theater and even as the NCPA chairperson, she did a lot of great work.”

Kher says emotionally, “A loss is a loss. But as long as we remember what we learned from her, we can continue with her legacy silently within our hearts. But I really wish I had spent more time with her.”

He concludes, “I also cannot forget her affectionate nature and sense of humor. “Rao Saheb” was based on her play “Barrister,” and while she had cast me in the film, Vikram Gokhale had played the role in the play. Therefore, I asked her why she had not cast him in the film as well. She mischievously asked me, ‘Do you have a problem with that?’”

Paresh Rawal, speaking to Variety India, shares, “She was such a great director and actor. I must have watched all her plays. I watched “Barrister” twice in one day and what refinement and class she had even as an actor. I would have been very happy had she directed me some time. When I told her this wish, she gently told me, ‘I would have loved to work with you, but I am not active anymore.’ I would sum her up with just two adjectives — best and refined.”

Rohini Hattangady tells Variety India, “Vijayabai made her directorial debut when she was in her early twenties, in 1955, with Vijay Tendulkar’s Marathi drama, ‘Shrimant.’ My father, Dadasaheb Oak, acted in it. I was about four then. But unlike my father, I never got to work under her direction.”

Hattangadi continues, “I would enthusiastically watch her plays that my father took me to while I was in school, like ‘Ek Shunya Bajirao,’ but at that age, I didn’t understand them much. It was only when I went to National School of Drama (NSD) that I began to increasingly love theater, including her plays like “Sandhya Chhaya”, “Hamidabaichi Kothi” and others.”

“I remember watching “Sandhya Chhaya” when I was in my 20s, and she was in her 40s. She was playing a 70-year-old character. I observed her, remembered, and used what I had learned from her skills when I later got to play an older character in “Rathachakra.”  Watching any great artiste is also a learning. Whenever I met her, I kept telling her I wanted to work with her, and she assured me that when she had the right role, she would call me. But that chance never came. She remains an institution and a vidyapeeth (university) both as a director and an actor.”