Dancing Queen: Hema Malini: Bollywood Dream Girl in Hong Kong for a Classical Performance

A Bollywood legend steps out in style with her daughters for a show with a difference, writes. P.Ramakrishnan. 

She was a screen goddess in the 1970s and ‘80s and irrefutably, the first Queen of Bollywood, but Hema Malini, 61, says dance, not acting has always been her true calling. “I have faithfully remained devoted to dance,” the legendary actress says. “Even when I was acting, I made sure to find time to practice and perform. I’ve always held stage shows over the years, performed in the US, Europe and Asia in various festivals. Acting in films was a career; dance was my love.” 

Malini and her daughters Esha and Ahana Deol will be in town next week for a one-night performance of Parampara, showing Bharatnatyam, the oldest dance form of southern India, and Odissi, a traditional temple dance form Orissa (eastern India), dating back more than 2,000 years. 

“It’s our national dance,’ says Malini. “It’s what our culture is about and Bharatnatyam is my first love. My mother was a classical singer and had great interest in all arts, so she made sure by the age of six, I was learning.” 

Malini initially studied under Sikkil Ramaswamy Pillai of the Triveni Kala Sangam arts school, and was later taught by the likes of Kittapa Pillai, Vempatti China Satyam and Natranam Gopalkrishnan in Bharatnatyam, and two other dance forms, Kuchipudi and Mohini Attam. Kuchipudi is the classical dance of the south-east Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, known for its graceful movements and strong dramatic characters. Mohini Attam, from Kerala, in southernmost India, is danced only by women and is known for its sensual themes. 

“Dance is a life-long commitment,” says Malini, who took up acting in her mid-teens. She also served an apprenticeship under Mylapore Gowri Ammal in the Abhinay (the art of acting and expression) aspect of Bharatnatyam, and studied the theory and practice of Carnatic music. Through films such as Geet Govind, Durga and Draupadi, Malini helped to popularize so-called dance ballet – an accessible form of classical dance marked by its simplicity, directness and grandeur. 

Malini starred in more than 150 Indian movies during four decades, but always ensured she allocated time for dancing. “There’s a world of difference between film dancing and the traditional art,” she says. “I was very strict about not doing any vulgar movements. I would first ask the choreographer to show me the steps and if I didn’t like it. I wouldn’t do it. I’d do them my way.” 

“Even today, the way Indian cinema is going, there are many good dancers, but its up to the actress how she portrays herself. You have a choice to do or not do a movement a certain way. There are some actresses who are so good they will never appear lewd. Women have to be responsible for how they are shown and projected.” 

In her heyday, Malini was known as the Dream girl, thanks to the 1968 movie that launched her big-screen career, Sapnon Ka Saudagar (the Dream Merchant). Posters carried the alluring line: “Come meet the Dream girl”. “I had no training in acting,” she says. “Dance was it. I think dancing made me more comfortable performing in front of the camera because I knew I had to express myself. In dance, there are no words. All gestures and movements have to reveal the narrative. “In movies, there’s dialogue and song and your face doesn’t have to exaggerate to display emotion as much. There were no schools for acting and training courses like there are now. I took what I learnt from my background and made it work for me.”

Although her youngest daughter, Ahana, has shied away form Bollywood, Esha, 23, is a popular star. Neither has attained the deified status of their mother, who was yet again voted as one of India’s most beautiful women. 

Unlike her own mother, Malini says she hasn’t pushed her daughters – although she certainly didn’t discourage them from following in her footsteps. 

“Everything I am is because of my own mother,” she says. “She wanted me to dance, I did. She wanted me to act, I did. I didn’t push my daughters to anything, but I did encourage them to learn dance from early on. In my early years, I was in Tamil Nadu, where you can easily learn Bharatnatyam, but my kids grew up in Mumbai and its much harder. They had to travel to their teachers and they were in school, so it was a bit much. And they did whine and complain,” she says with a laugh. “But now, it’s the most beautiful thing that binds us together.”

Malini says she’d like to team up with Esha in a film. “Eventually, I’d like to act and want to direct a film with her, but there’s a paucity of good writers and suitable subjects. I can’t do rubbish and I can’t sit at home and do nothing. We’re lucky that we have dance.” 

For the two-hour, Hong Kong show, the trio will perform solos and duets in various styles and costumes, with all three dancing a finale.

“The rhythm and harmony is perfect when we all dance,” says Malini. “We all live together, rehearse together, compose together. Daughters are like an extension of the mother, of oneself.” 

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