Conversations with Waheeda Rehman by Nasreen Munni Kabir

The Art of Conversation

Waheeda Rehman is a highly regarded actress in Indian cinema. Starting from the age of 15 in 1955, she appeared in countless films in a variety of roles till 2009. She was widely admired for her beauty, her graceful dances, and her acting skills. There is bound to be public interest in a life such as hers. But what makes Rehman’s life of even greater interest to historians of Indian cinema is her partnership with the actor-director Guru Dutt, which gave us several iconic films. It is impossible to think of Rehman without also thinking of Dutt at the same time. The unexpected death of Guru Dutt in 1965, at the age of 39, has been an unresolved mystery. What is known is that he was depressed in the last days of his life. What is however not known is whether he took his own life, or he died by accident. What was he depressed about? Was he secretly in love with Waheeda? Did his depression have anything to do with her?

Evidently, these are deeply personal and sensitive questions. However Time is a great healer. The conversations published in this book were recorded in 2012-13 nearly 48 years after Guru Dutt’s death. This is time enough to look back dispassionately at the past, and reveal oneself without embarrassment, or regret. But Rehman does not do this, and parries the questions in a bland, noncommittal way, always referring to Dutt as “Guruduttji”. Kabir’s failure to draw her out on her relationship with Dutt is a great disappointment. There is not even a categorical denial of a relationship.

The Conversations could have been edited better. The Conversations were reportedly recorded over 25 sittings spanning a period of over a year. They occupy 212 printed pages and are presented as a single chapter without any break. If the Conversations were broken down subject-wise, or period-wise, they would have been more readable. An epilogue of Kabir’s impressions at the end of the interview would have been welcome too, that is assuming that Kabir did indeed have something to say!

The book contains numerous black and white photographs of Rehman’s family, friends and professional colleagues, and also of some iconic sets of her movies. This could be a treasure trove for her fans.  

For those interested in the art of conversation, this Reviewer has two recommendations to make:

(1)    Conversations with Chandra, which appears as Epilogue to Chandra- A biography of S. Chandrasekhar by Kameshwar Wali.

(2)    Talking India Ashis Nandy in conversation with Ramin Jahanbegloo.

Two different individuals, one a Nobel prize winning Physicist, and the other a social psychologist-humanist with a penetrating insight into India and the world.