Waheeda relives Ray film memories
Kolkata: At a special Nandan screening of 'Abhijaan' organised a day prior to the director's birth anniversary on May 2 by the Society for the preservation of
Satyajit Ray
Archives, a video featuring
Waheeda Rehman
's recollections of Ray was presented to the audience. Attendees were treated to her recollections regarding her casting in 'Abhijaan' starring her along with
Soumitra Chatterjee
, Robi Ghosh and Ruma Guha Thakurta and how Ray conveyed to her about his inability to cast her in 'Shatranj Ke Khilari', despite having earlier promised to do so when directing a Hindi film.
The screening drew a good crowd with Ray Society's member secretary Sandip Ray and president Prasadranjan Ray in attendance. A brochure was distributed that gave a brief history of the making of the film. In the 60s, some assistants of Ray had acquired the rights to Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay's novel and requested Ray to write its screenplay. One of Ray's associates was assigned to direct the project. Ray prepared a treatment. Since he was not busy with any other assignment then, Ray decided to accompany the unit to Birbhum where the story was set. A muhurat with a day's shooting was planned. The unit requested that Ray himself direct the first day's work. Once done, others in the unit developed cold feet and insisted that he take on the reins of the director. Ray insisted on re-writing the screenplay and also made changes to the cast.
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He suggested Rehman for the lead female role. Ray sent a letter to Rehman mentioning: "My leading man Soumitra Chatterjee and my unit believe that you are most suitable for the role of Gulaabi, the heroine of my next film." In her video, Rehman recalled Ray's first remark on a telephonic call: "Waheeda, you earn a lot of money in Hindi films. I make films on small budgets". Rehman had requested Ray not to mention the remuneration bit and highlighted that it was an honour to be considered to work in his film.
The language barrier was sorted since her character hailed from the Bihar-Bengal border and conversed in a blend of Bhojpuri and Bengali. Ray also asked her to shoot the film from start to finish and not take breaks in between the shooting to work in Mumbai. In the video, Rehman also mentioned that Ray had got in touch with her during the making of 'Shatranj Ke Khilari' and said: "Waheeda, I promised to cast you, but I don't feel the role in this film will suit you".
Though there were some technical glitches in the screening, many in the audience were overwhelmed with the film. "It is the first time I watched the film on the big screen. Soumitra-da was going against his grain to portray this character. It was overwhelming to watch Waheedaji's subtle acting and the nuances of Soumendu Roy's cinematography," said Riddhi Goswami of the Ray Society.
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