FilmIndia (Jan-Nov 1942)

November 1342 r I L M I N D I A dhona in graceful motion. "Alibaba" and "Abhinaya* soon came to the Bengali screen and made Sadhona a film star. Critics had seen dances before, but for art, they had to wait for Sadhona to come on the screen. "Kum-kum The Dancer" brought the Bcses to Bombay, but in "Raj Nartaki" (The Court Dancer) she achieved international recognition. Sadhona returned to Calcutta for sometime and went her inevitable danc ng tour. For the Boses are gipsy artists. They settle down for six months every year and earn well in the stable occupation of screen work, but in the remaining six months they tour and dance the savings away. The net result is: Sadhona and Modhu are always hard-up and they hate the income-tax man. Now Sadhona is once again u Bombay working in "Paigam" of Amar Productions. It is a siory built round a dancer with her sighs and sm les punctuating her art. "Bulbul' Desai makes his debut as a director with this picture and Sadhona thinks, "Bulbul has done surprisingly wellr. Like Sadhona. we are also surprised, as "Bulbul" looks so "vegetar an ' otherwise. When I asked Sadhona whether she liked the idea of married girls taking to a screen career sre replied, "If a girl knows how to look after herself and if the husband is broad-minded enough, she shculd join the films and explo t her talent". She thinks that it is possible lor a film star to keep a home but with motherhood the career must <-easp. "The chiMren must not be neglected", says Sadhona. RESPECTED BY FAN'S Like all wcmen, Sadhona is fond of good clothes, and in ; ddit on, she showed simple but elegant taste in the choice of the cream-cole ured Benares Sari that set off her fine figure to the best advantage. The secret of her gcod figure is due to the fact that she avo ds rice, potatoes and sweets. Her only weakness, if it can be called cne. seems to be for *Rosguolas' (judg ng from the number that decorated our table at tea-time). The evidence of this, is seen in the rather prominent cheeks. She is 5' 1^ ' in height and weighs 7 stones 12 lbs. She has b'.ack hair wh ch she dresses up m waves. To her dark brown eyes, with their ccntinuous sparkle, Sadhona owes half her charm and the other, to the unconscious graceful hand movements that she made use of during the course of our conversation. She likes perfumes, but particularly Jasmine. Her favourite foreign actor is Charles Boyer, who seems to have captivated our Indian women stars completely. Bette Davis and Vivien Leigh she considers good artistes. When I asked her about the love, scenes in cur p ctures, she said with a sigh, "Oh! Our love scenes are so unreal. They are a great drawback In cur p ctures' and yet, she says, our Indian women have been thought up in such a way, that the love scenes could not pessibly be made like those in Western pictures. The strangest thing regard'ng her fan mail, which is p-etty big, is the fact lhat not one has prcposed to her — pr bab'y because she is a married lady or because she inspires reverence and respect in ther minds. They write to her, "My dear Mrs. Bose. ' They worship her, adore her but they don't say, "I m in love with you." The pity of it! She however prefers to be called Mrs. Sadhona as this sounds unsophisticated. Sadhona has one great amb'tion in her life and that is to make a beautiful tecnnico!our dance picture in Hollywood. Also she wants to open a Dance Academy after the war and train talented pupils herself. She imagines or rather wants us to bel.eve that she is 'too old for romance — I don't think with her artistic temperament she could shed rcmance off like that, at so early an age. One thing must be said to her credit and that is, that she is leading a comfortably clo stered life in her beautifully furnished flat at Worli. All the fame she has had and is raving has only enhanced her sweet nature. I fcund her an interesting person, for she answered all my questions as well as she could, but not befcre conc'uding, "I have never before gene thro such an ordeal in my life!" They say it is the ideal screen pair — Neena and Prithviraj in "Ek Raat" the first Shalimar picture. v 45