A rendezvous with Empress Grace

The evergreen Waheeda Rehman was in the city yesterday to attend an awards’ function and the 77-year-young actress didn’t forget to bring her Aaj Phir Jeene Ki Tamanna Hai, Aaj Phir Marne Ka Iraada Hai grace along.

As we traced her illustrious journey in Hindi cinema, she revealed the various milestones in her career. From being the fresh young face in CID to becoming Guru Dutt’s muse in films like Pyaasa, Kaagaz Ke Phool, Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam and later working opposite other industry greats like Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor and Rajesh Khanna, Waheeda has a filmography that simply cannot be matched.

She told us that she had a great working relationship with all of her co-stars but the ageless Dev Anand was the one she was most comfortable working with. The equation that the duo shared needs no explanation to anyone who has seen Guide.

However, as far as her mentor, Guru Dutt goes, Waheeda says, “Dutt sahab was unlike most of his contemporaries. He had his own way of working. He acted mostly in his own films and we all admire him for that. However, I don’t look at him as a co-star. For me, Guru Dutt will always be a director.”

Waheeda’s second coming in the film industry was with roles in films like Yash Chopra’s Trishul, Kabhie Kabhie, Lamhe and more recently, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Rang De Basanti and Delhi 6.

Although she hasn’t been seen on the big screen recently, she is still quite upbeat about acting. When we asked her are there any films from the recent years that she’d have loved to do, she quite instinctively said, “Jab We Met! I would have loved to play Jeet, had I been young now.”

As far as today’s actresses are concerned, Waheeda terms Ohh La La girl Vidya Balan, Sonam Kapoor and Deepika Padukone as her favourites and also adds, “I wouldn’t mind if one of Vidya or Sonam did my part if Guide is ever re-made.”

— With inputs by Omkar Rege