Zarina Wahab-Chit Chor girl….
I read the following piece of news in the latest issue of my favourite film magazine SCREEN dated 18th March 2011:
Zarina Wahab to play John’s mother
Screen :18th March 2011
Zarina Wahab, who has played mother to Shah Rukh Khan in My Name Is Khan and Vivek Oberoi in Rakht Charitra, is presently shooting for the remake of Agneepath in which she plays Hrithik Roshan’s mother. She has also been signed on to play mom to John Abraham in Shrishti Arya’s upcoming film that will take off soon in Mumbai. It will be directed by debutant director Kapil Sharma, the son of astronaut, Rakesh Sharma. John essays the role of a man who is influenced by a lot of women around him, including his mother. “It’s a contemporary story and talks about the parent-children relationship in today’s world. Like my son, John who will be shown discussing his girlfriends with me,” says Zarina. Chitrandga Singh is cast opposite John. With an urban backdrop, this untitled project will also have some more actors who are yet to be finalised.
On reading this piece, here is what I wrote to Screen by way of a Letter to the Editor :
ZARINA WAHAB-the Chit Chor girl !
This refers to the small news item titled :”Zarina Wahab to play John’s mother” on page 1 of Screen’s latest issue dated 18th-24 March 2011.
It is really sad to see this “Chit Chor“(1976) girl and heroine of several hit movies of yester years, being now relegated to playing stereotype roles of mothers etc. in movies and in TV serials.
She had immense potential but unfortunately,somehow, many producers / directors missed exploiting it in her hey days, except perhaps Basu Chatterjee (Chit Chor,Tumhare Liye).
She had really captured the hearts of discrening audiences with her image of a middle class natural beauty and she had made a very popular pair with Amol Palekar.
That she still has the fire in her belly to excel in any role,has been amply proved by her winning the best supporting actress award in the recently concluded -The Global Indian Film and TV awards (2011) against stiff competition,for her well etched role of Razia Khan as mother of Shahrukh Khan in Karan Johars movie “My name is Khan” !
It will be recollected by avid cine-goers of late 70s era that Zarina had been nominated for a Filmfare best actress award for her role in “Gharonda“as long back as in 1977.Recently she was nominated for Screen Award for best supporting actress for her role in “Rakta Charitra” (2010) too.
So it is clear that in spite of a rumoured stressful married life,she continues to give her best shot to whatever role she gets.That speaks volumes about her talent.That at the age of 51-52,she gets offers to play roles of a mother to John Abraham and Hrithik Roshan,speaks of her calibre.
It is suggested that Screen should do justice to her (which has been denied to her so far) by featuring a full length article on this star-she really deserves it.By the way,if one visits the popular Youtube website,one will find that songs picturised on her in “Chit Chor” are still immensely popular (” Gori Tera Gaon Bada Pyara“,”Jab Deep Jale Aana“,”Aaj sey pehle,aaj sey zyada“) and are being still viewed by many lovers of Yesudas’s voice and Ravindra Jain’s music.Give Zarina her due please !
J S BROCA
NEW DELHI
I shall wait for the next issue of Screen to see if my views on Zarina are published or not !
For those readers who would like to listen to the beautiful songs from Chit Chor,here are the links to the three songs listed above :
E..n..j…o..y…!!
The info on this blog is beneficial.