Farida Jalal is known for a long list of movies from ‘Aaradhna’ to ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’ and iconic television shows like ‘Shararat’. The actress is quite popular and needs no introduction of course. But what’s lovely is how Jalal is so honest, candid and has the most fun memories to offer from her films. In a recent interview, she has spoken about how she was so angry on Gulzar on the sets of her film ‘Khushboo’ co-starring Hema Malini and Jeetendra.
The film had released in 1975, and Gulzar wanted to get away with all the glamour, thus making the movie more real.
Recalling the memories on this movie, Farida said on ‘The Ashoke Pandit Show’, that on the first day, she came up with a chic hairdo. Gulzar bluntly told her, “If you look like this, what will I tell Hema ji?” This made Farida angry as she wanted to look all glam. She then changed her stylish hairdo to a simple one. Gulzar then made her realise her true potential. Gulzar told her, ‘Kaam dikhana hai, yeh sab nahi dikhana aapko (You have to show everyone your work, not all this).”
Further remembering a scene where her husband dies, Gulzar had told the actress that she has to scream and cry. ‘You wanted to be a serious actor, now show me what you’re made of,’ said Gulzar. After Farida did the shot, Gulzar told Sanjeev Kumar about it. When the ‘Aandhi’ actor met Jalal, he told her, ‘Suna hai bada acha shot kiya, murda bhi rone laga (I heard you gave such a nice shot that you made even the dead cry).’
The actress also had a song sequence in the movie which was shot in Goa. But even for that, the veteran lyricist-director wanted her in a simple look. Jalal recalled, “He came into my room and said, ‘Aaj aapka gaana hai, Mumtaz mat ban jaana, extra phool aur yeh woh. Log tareef karte hain ke aap dialogue naturally bolti hain, waise hi gaana karna hai (Today you have a song. Don’t turn into Mumtaz with extra glamour. People praise you for delivering dialogues naturally, so sing the same way).”
