May was a month of homecoming for actress/dancer (depending on where you seeher, on screen or on stage ) Mallika Sarabhai. She was in Kerala, her nativestate, for a stint before the movie camera after a long hiatus. You chase herdown to an old house in Allapuzha where she has been learning and deliveringlines written in a long forgotten language (her own) - Malayalam.
What emerges first from the gloomy hallway of the house is the grey hair, sodishevelled that she would look like an old dishrag, were it not for the naturaldancer’s grace that's fighting it out with the wrinkles on her forehead. Forthe moment Mallika Sarabahi is unaccompanied, but for one prized decoration -the role of Retd Professor Bhargaviamma in T.V. Chandran’s new Malayalam film Dani.
"I was to be Soosanna, but I hurt my leg and had to shelve it. Now I amBhargaviamma in Dani," Mallika cannot conceal her joy. She is wellaware of the fact that a role in T.V. Chandran’s movie is ascratch-and-win-ticket to awards. It is this knowledge that gives her voice abubbly tang.
Soosanna, the role she missed, brought Vani Vishwanath very close to thenational award for best actress this year. It did fetch the glamour girlcritical appreciation in plenty. The movie got the state’s special jury awardfor 2000.
"It was not the fear of a negative role that prompted my rejection of theoffer made by Chandran last year. I have done similar roles before." Mallikahas essayed characters in dark hues in films like Kalankini and MuthiBhar Chaaval. "The courage of a woman to face adversities has enamoured meand the issue of women’s struggle against injustice has been an issue veryclose to my heart. I have touched this topic many times before in my dancedramas," she declares.
"I am always learning and I could not give up this opportunity to hone myacting skills." Does it mean that she is bidding adieu to the world of dance?" Not at all. I got a good role. So I took the plunge," she says remindingus that this is only a brief interlude from the busy life of running her danceschool (Darpana Academy of Dance) and heading a TV Channel (TaraGujarati).
She explains that she stopped acting for want of good roles. Nothing forher compares to her experience of doing Mahabharata. "It changed my life. Ilived the role of Draupadi for five years straight. I did it in French withdirector John Martin’s help. It was a revelation - the total emancipation ofwoman."
That impression was permanent and has a strong bearing on her personality.Her life is built on decisions marked out for their individuality and utterdisregard for what others would make of them. Her marriage, children andrelationships -- all of them have been statements of the self.
Mallika’s talent for portraying disdain, an enormous part of her appeal and a gift shedeploys with great skill, seldom cuts much deeper than the character of Soosanna,one she had turned down. Soosanna was the tale of a sex workeron the wrong side of forty. In fact, it isn’t much of a transition fromthe 40-plus Soosanna she wished she had done to the 65-year-oldBhargaviamma she is actually portraying. The premise continues to be acondescension for a society that has rejected the likes of her.
Her role in Chandran’s movie may still rub in some mellowness to herdemeanor. Dani tells the story of Daniel Thomson (Mammutty) and the periodbetween the years he lived: 1938 to 2001. He meets Bhargaviamma, a retiredprofessor, at the old age home he is a resident of. The professor’s past is arevelation to Danny whose life has been tumultuous and eventful. T.V. Chandrantraces the history of the liberation struggle in Kerala through the lives of thetwo.
"Bhargaviamma is the old lady Dani meets in the autumn of his life, theirrelationship and the way it matures. That is the beginning and end of the movie,"says Chandran.
"This is the most important role that Mammutty has taken up since Ambedkar.And this will be the most talked about role too," he adds.
Chandran feels that it is much easier to narrate history using historicalfigures and important characters but to trace history through the ordinary livesof faceless and nameless people is a different ballgame.
Dani is a have-not living in the middle of prosperity. He sits like a bridgebetween wealth and helplessness. Occasionally, he picks up his saxophone/guitarand plays at funerals with the choir of the local church. A Malayali version ofRudali. The tunes he plays ease the pain of the bereaved and weep for him.
Prof Bhargaviamma walks into his life as if to wipe away those tears. Shemeets him soon after her retirement. Dani has been a pauper. She, on thecontrary, has everything - money, education and children. One after the other,all of them disown her. She discovers Dani whose life like hers was fallingapart. They prop each other up for the rest of their lives.
"It is a challenging role," agrees Chandran and is confident of Mallika’sability to pull it off. "She is a seasoned actress," he comments. Since shemade her debut in 1974 at the age of 15 Mallika has acted in several Gujaratimovies besides Basu Chatterjee’s Sheesha and the The ThousandFlowers in English.
She is, however, finding it difficult to mouth the dialogues in Malayalam.She has got it all written down in the Gujarati script but the accent doesn’tfit in well. "There will be lot of work at the dubbing stage," Chandranhints of the tough times ahead for Mallika.
With her decrepit profile, tangled accent and ageing aptitude, Bhargaviamma,as conjured by Mallika, may prove to be this year’s most captivating movieheroine.
There is a hint of this prospect in Mallika’s gait as she waves to areporter of a Malayalam newspaper. She tells him that she is waiting for a faxfrom her daughter. It is a review of her daughter Ananita's danceperformance. Ananita just did her arengatram (debut). One more danceramong the Sarabhais. One more homecoming for Mallika.
