In a career spanning over five decades, timeless actress Waheeda Rehman, has been part of several memorable films like Neel Kamal, Bees Saal Baad, Khamoshi, Pyaasa, Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, Guide, CID, Chaudvin Ka Chand, and Solva Saal, among others, establishing herself as one of the finest artistes of the industry. However, the leading lady of the ‘Golden Age’ of Indian cinema said she didn’t show her skin for the roles she essayed and often refused to succumb to the demands of producers and directors, who were eventually convinced.
She said that she has always been very particular about her sartorial choices. While she understood the importance to ‘look the part and dress appropriately’ for the character, she has never been a someone to do unnecessary skin exposure. She said she was always shy and was uncomfortable with skin exposure. Waheeda told Times of India that she paid attention to what she wore and how she wore it.
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Stressing on how what an actor wears on-screen should be relevant to the character they’re playing or the era in which the film is set in, she referred to her contemporary Vyjayanthimala’s role in the historical drama Amrapali. Talking about how her costumes reminiscent of clothing worn 2,500 years ago where there was no distinct top, she said that her body was covered with pearls.
Further, sharing an interesting anecdote from the sets of Kala Bazar, where she was doing a scene with Dev Anand, she recalled the sequence demanding her to take off her saree. The scene included Dev Anand going to fetch flowers for her, and accidentally slipping off a cliff. She was supposed to remove her saree and use it as a rope to save his life. Initially, the actress expressed her reservations in doing the scene, telling director Vijay Anand, “Yeh toh main nahin karoongi. Woh bhi outdoor mein! (I would not do the scene where I have to take off my saree and that too in the outdoors!)” Vijay then explained to her the significance of her ‘removing her saree’ in the scene. Vijay replied that the scene is not intended to show her body but to save someone’s life.
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The Guide actress believes that a costume should serve a purpose and should not merely be a tool to show one’s body. “What I want to underscore is that the costume should serve a purpose. You can wear a bikini or swimming costume or whatever you like but it shouldn’t be done with the intent of just revealing your body,” she urged. When asked if producers and directors obliged to her demands, she responded, “Over time, as I gained more experience in the industry and rose to become a leading heroine, I succeeded in convincing the directors.”
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This isn’t the first time the actress has opened up about being determined about what she wanted to wear in her films. In fact, she even made Solva Saal director Raj Khosla “furious” for refusing to wear what he had selected for her, in a scene where she gets drenched and is required to change her clothes. An angry Raj had even called pack up and told her that her career would be over as she had too many conditions. Speaking to Radio Nasha, she reminisced, “I was given a costume that I did not want to wear. The director said if you are not comfortable then don’t wear it but when you come on the set, you should be happy. So when I came on the set, I wore what made me comfortable.” The director, she said, was only convinced after Dev Anand’s intervention, who was the leading man in Solva Saal.
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