Silver screen mom, Sulochana Latkar turns 90

Sulochana Latkar's smile lights up her face as she folds her hands in a namaskar. Just shy of a week in turning a nonagenarian, her gait is calculated. She breathes heavy as she is helped into her favourite chair in her Prabhadevi home in Central Mumbai. When asked about her plans for her 90th birthday, which also marks her completion of 75 years in the film industry, she laughs, "At my age, those celebrating my birthday are more excited than I am," and adds, "Please don't misunderstand. It is not like I'm not grateful. God has been kind and my parents' blessings have guided my journey. I was extremely lucky to have met a guru like Bhalji Pendharkar so early on in life who gave me a new direction. I feel privileged that I'm still loved so much both by people in the film industry and audiences."

Having played mother to every lead actor from the pre-Independence black-and-white era onwards to stars like Kashinath Ghanekar, Dilip Kumar, Sunil Dutt, Saira Bano, Dev Anand, Amitabh Bachchan, Rekha, and until much recently Bharat Jadhav, she says many of them stay in touch with her. "Dharmendra always calls to enquire after my well being and wish me. The calls are not impersonally made through his staff – he himself calls." She also remembers how on her 89th birthday Big B himself came home to wish her. "I felt overwhelmed that he made time to come all the way to greet me," she reminisces with joy.

But the other person she enjoys a really special rapport is Bharat Ratna nightingale Lata Mangeshkar. "I come from a really small village on the Maharashtra-Karnataka border and felt awkward since I couldn't read or write or speak in a sophisticated manner like the others at the studio. When people like poet-lyricist Ga Di Madgulkar teased my accent and rural language, I'd break down. Lata Mangeshkar, a senior at the studio who came from humble circumstances herself, supported and looked out for me making me attached to her." Despite their age and health issues, which means they meet less often, they stay connected with regular calls, she points out.

After becoming a household name in the 1950s with a slew of successful Marathi films, she began getting offers in Hindi with Ab Dilli Door Nahin (1957). Two years later, when filmmaker Bimal Roy approached her for Sujata (1959), she was confused. "I had misgivings about playing mom to Shashikala and Nutan fearing it'd ruin my chances of ever being considered for heroine roles." However, the late Lalita Pawar told her how character roles were better than leads given their longer shelf lives.

The excitement is palpable when she talks of Roy's style of work. "Bimal Da spent a long time discussing characters. But in the end, he let us interpret it like we want only gently stimulating if he saw a departure from the subtle and real acting he preferred."

The Padma Shri and Maharashtra Bhushan awardee is awkward when we bring up the subject of state recognition. "The fact that you are asking me this question shows audiences' love for me. I feel no award can come close to that," she says, but adds as an afterthought, "When I see many deserving veterans passed over, it does rankle. State recognition should be conferred when the artiste can at least comprehend what's going on," citing the example of the Dadasaheb Phalke award given to Pran just before he passed away.

Hope the powers-that-be read this and feel the nonagenarian's anguish.

This veteran, who has hit a double century with the number of films she has acted in, points out how the industry has changed from its basic bare form to one with the latest tech, superstars and multi-crore films. "It's been a while since I really felt like sitting through a film. True, everything has become modern, but the writing is really weak. I miss the powerful scripts and rounded characters of the past that left a mark on audiences who still remember them."