I never believed I was pretty - Shubha Khote

 

Touching 80, Shubha Khote credits her long innings to her happy-go-lucky personality. Farhana Farook reproduces the breezy conversation with the veteran She’s synonymous with smiles and laughter. But Shubha Khote, very early in her career, had Sahir Ludhianvi’s classic break-up ode – Tum mujhe bhool bhi jaao toh yeh

haq hai – filmed on her in Didi (1959). She played the dejected-in-love heroine to a handsome Sunil Dutt in the K. Narayan Kale film. But being the queen of tearjerkers was never her ambition.

The all-India cycling champ and the inter-collegiate swimming title holder, recognised as a tomboy amongst peers, was averse to the soppy perception of the heroine in Hindi cinema. She dared to take the path less-ventured and went on to win accolades for her ease with humour. Before we begin the interview, she ushers me in a special room that hosts her numerous trophies. She asks, “How can I choose my best film? Every film is special.” Then she points out to a picture of her favourite actor James Dean. “At the age 25, he played a 75-year-old man,” she remarks revealing why she revels in a sense of adventure. The almost 80 Shubha, in a 60-year-old career, has straddled films, television and theatre. She credits her untiring zest to ‘thinking positive and staying positive’

Game to play

The world of entertainment was not alien to the sporty Shubha Khote. Her father, Nandu Khote, was a stage actor, who had also acted in silent movies. Young Shubha made her stage debut at the age of four. But cycling and swimming remained her passions. “When I went for my first cycling race, my father declared, ‘If I have to take you back home on a stretcher, it’s okay. But you have to win the race’. And I won the inter-state race,” she beams. She had no ambition to become an actress back then in the early ’50s. “I did a Marathi film just for fun during the vacation, while still in college (St Wilson). A still from the film with me on a cycle was published in a newspaper,” she says. Seeing that noted filmmaker, Amiya Chakravarty, signed her for Seema (1955). Shubha played Putli, an orphan and a confidante to Nutan’s character, Seema. Towards the finale, the film had a bicycle chase, which required Shubha to display her talent. “I was supposed to chase a thief. There was rubble on the road and I fell and crashed my face. The left side of my face was ruined. I feared this was the end of my career,” she shares. In the next 11 months, she hurt her leg while shooting for a Marathi film and developed gangrene. “Thankfully, I overcame that too. I attended the jubilee function of Seema straight from the hospital. Luck has always been with me. I’ve faced seven major accidents during my career of six decades,” she reveals. After Seema, she received so much recognition that she was forced to buy a car and give up the cycle, even though she could hardly afford it. She went on to play a tragic role in Champa Kali (1957), the vamp in Paying Guest (1957) and a romantic heroine in Heera Moti (1959). But she was never interested in playing the leading lady. 

“I never gave importance to my looks. I never believed I was pretty. Meri shakal soorat was not that of a heroine,” she says with candour. She counts 1958 as her golden year, where she gave back to back hits including Anari, Gharana and Sasural. She even won the Filmfare nominations in the Best Supporting Actress category for her roles in the latter two. Her fan following increased manifold. Says she, “I’d answer the huge amount of fan letters myself,” she says. She also encountered the unpleasant kinds. “One of them threatened to throw acid on my face. The police had to be informed,” she recalls. It was L.V. Prasad’s Chhoti Bahen (1959) with Mehmood, which established her as a comedienne. “I enjoyed doing comedy. I’m a happy- go-lucky person. Amiyaji once told me, ‘You have a fantastic sense of timing. Stick to comedy’,” she says. She adds that she was inspired by actress Ramola Devi (Khazanchi, 1941), who had a lively screen presence.

Mehmood and Me

For the next six years, films starring Shubha, Mehmood and Dhumal became huge grossers. These included Bharosa, Ziddi, Chhoti Behan, Sanjh Aur Savera, Love In Tokyo, Grahasthi, Humrahi and Beti Bete. “Mehmood, Dhumal and my track would be running parallel to that of the lead pair’s,” she smiles. “Mehmood was a jolly person. He’d always be cracking jokes. He was fond of perfumes and cars. We were so close, that I’d observe the Ramzan rozas with him, while he’d do the Shravan vrats with me. Sometimes, even Dhumal would join us,” she shares. To rumours linking her with Mehmood, she says, “I was never involved in affairs. Being a sportsperson, I was more of a tomboy. My co-stars regarded me as a tomboy. Mehmood and I called each other ‘Bhai’. We were buddies.” She adds, “You can’t stop people from talking. I took the rumours in my stride because you know what’s in your heart.” She concedes that heroines often felt unnerved by her presence. “Some heroines would insist on wearing the costumes reserved for me. As I’d been into sports, I had a good figure. So clothes would fit me well,” she says. My peers Shubha worked with Geeta Bali in Goyal Productions’ Nai Raahen (1959). “Geetaji was the only actress, who excelled in comedy,” she says adding, “In recent times, we had Sridevi. She was a quiet person but on camera she was magic. She made faces; she did all that her role required.” One actress she considers as her ‘dearest friend’ was the late Nutan. “We clicked from the word go in Seema. She remained my friend, philosopher and guide. She’d advise me on my clothes, my make-up,” she shares adding, “She was a natural beauty. She looked beautiful from any angle you shot her.” After Nutan’s marriage, Shubha says she stopped visiting her home. “Once I called her to wish her on her birthday. Her husband (the late Rajnish Bahl) picked up and said, ‘She’s sleeping. She has asked to be allowed to sleep at least on her birthday. Do you have a message?’ After that I stopped calling her. I didn’t want her to face any repercussions. I’d meet her on the sets,” says she. Nutan passed away in 1991 due to cancer. “During her last days, I’d talk to her on the phone. I don’t think she was particularly happy,” shares Shubha. 

“Once I happened to meet her at Film City. She was waiting for her shot in the make-up room. I told her why don’t you complete your shot and go home. She said, ‘I’m more comfortable here than at home’.” Shubha regrets not having worked with Dilip Kumar. “But I wouldn’t have been able to act in front of him – so great he’s as an artiste. He’s Bhagwan to me. Even when his back is facing the camera, you can grasp his emotions,” she points out. She narrates an incident, “Once I met Dilip saab at Rajji’s (Kapoor) party. He addressed me as ‘pori’ (endearment for girl in Marathi) and placed his hand on my head. I didn’t wash my hair for days. My mother said, ‘Wash it or you’ll get lice!’” she laughs at the memory. “I worship him. He’s my Guru bhai. His first film Jwar Bhata was with Amiyaji. My first film, Seema, was with the same filmmaker.”

Marriage and me

Marriage was just as unplanned as her career. “Suddenly, you fall for someone. Yeh pyaar jo cheez hai… it can’t be controlled,” laughs Shubha, who married Dinesh. M. Balsaver, then an official with Burma-Shell. She chuckles as she narrates her ‘marriage drama’. “My mother (Leila Khote) was dead against it. I still can’t fanthom the reason. Perhaps, because he was a widower with two sons. Or because I was at the peak of my career. Or maybe, she wanted me to marry someone else,” she says. “She locked me up in a room. I then took sleep- inducing pills. My dadi (grandmother), who was like a rock, supported me. So did my brother (actor Viju Khote), my father and the rest of the family.” Anyway, her father and brother whisked her away to their old home in Chowpatty from her bungalow in Santa Cruz. “The pheras were fixed for January 24. But my mother got a wind of it. So, we got married on January 21 instead,” laughs the actor who just celebrated her 55th anniversary. “Thankfully, after my daughter Bhavna (Balsaver, actor) was born, my mother cooled down,” she informs. 

“Years later, I played my mother in Ek Duuje Ke Liye,” she says of her iconic character of a villain with comic shades in the film. Shubha is close to her two stepsons – Parmanand and Ashwin. “Until the younger was seven, I didn’t have my own. Bhavna was born later,” she says. She was a hands-on mother. “I never had an ayah for my children. Parmanand later studied at Scindia School in Gwalior. Ashwin, who’s a bit emotional, couldn’t adjust being away from home. He came back,” she says. Today, Ashwin is a sound-recordist, who’s worked for shows like Kaun Banega Croprepati and Dus Ka Dum, while Parmanand is in the US. Shubha’s all praise for her husband, who encouraged her to work. After marriage, she produced and directed the Marathi film Chimukla Pahuna (1968), in which her husband appeared in a cameo. “I told him chalo kar lo,” she reminisces. Her husband has a farm in Kamshet. “We get vegetables and fruits from there. He visits us every fortnight.”

Break and beyond

Between 1966-1975, Shubha continued to be seen in films like Love in Tokyo, Tumse Achha Kaun Hai, Mili and Badlatey Rishtey. There was a lull in her career when she accompanied her husband to London, given his posting there. She regards Ek Duuje Ke Liye as her comeback film. “Though my role was negative, it was funny,” she smiles. Between the ’80s- ’90s, she was seen in films like Coolie, Sagar and Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin. Recently, she featured in Toilet Ek Prem Katha and the Madhuri Dixit starrer Bucket List. She has also directed comedy plays like Hera Pheri, Hum Dono and Let’s Do It. Her home production, Bachelor’s Wives, had more than 40 shows in Mumbai. She also did the Hindi adaptation of the play No Sex Please, titled Hangama Ho Gaya. “Theatre keeps me focussed,” she says. Her hit TV shows include Zabaan Sambhalke, Baa Bahoo Aur Baby and Mangalam Dangalam, which is currently on air. Through the six decades she stuck to her dictum. “I never asked for work and I stayed away from negativity. I don’t like playing negative roles either. 

I didn’t watch Paying Guest because of that. Years later, my children forced me to watch it,” she says of the Subodh Mukherjee film. What brings her joy are the simple things. “I enjoy seeing birds on trees. I love observing the peculiar, the unusual about life,” she says adding, “Bhavna and I try to catch the first day first show of a film. She comes all the way from Chowpatty for this. It’s fun.”

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