Nadira Birthday Special: "SEX ZINDAGI KA EK HISSA HAI TOH SEX SE SHARMAANA AUR GHABRAANA KYUN?"

ALI PETER JOHN

I had first seen Nadira in 'Aan' in which she played an arrogant princess and had even scored over the main actors like Dilip Kumar and Nargis. It was the way she carried herself and the way she spoke, that marked her out as a brave and bold actress who was a way ahead of time.

I next saw her in Raj Kapoor's Awaara and the way she danced to the song 'mud mud ke naa dekh' gave her a place in my heart, even though I hated her in the roles she played especially her absolutely vampish role in Dil apna preet parai, I continued to admire her for her bold statements amd her manners and attitude in public places.

I met her personally when she was playing the mother of a group of children in Devanand's 'Ishq Ishq Ishq' and she turned out to be an extraordinary woman with a knowledge of so many different subjects and who could converse with any person on any subject. She had no intentions about being a great actress and was very down to earth. She smoked in public, she drank in public, if she was angry, she could fire the daylights out of anyone, however powerful or big....

I finally met her and spent more than two hours with her when she was shooting for a serial called Kirdaar directed by Gulzar. She took me to be her friend and during one of our conversations at her apartment in 'Vasundra' an apartment near Prabhu Kunj where Lata Mangeshkar and her family left.

She offered me a drink, but when I told her I didn't drink durind day, she said, "You idiot, a drink is a drink is a drink, and whether you drink in the morning pr afternoon or evening, it means the same thing. Do you know that Lord Bertrand Russell drank two large pegs of brandy before he could start his day." I had a small peg of brandy only to cheer her up because all the stories that she told me from her childhood days in a place called Nagpada in Bombay were all very sad stories and she had also told me how her marriage with Naqshaad , a poet had ended and how she had decided not to get married again. It was one of the many times when women ,old or young have opened out theri hearts to me.

It was evening and she asked me what I as a young man thought about sex and I was stunned with her question at her age when she had crosseed seventy. I had no ready answer to her question and she answered her question herself and said," Why are we all growing into a pack of hypocrites who do not have the guts to face the truths of life? Your fumbling to find an answer to my question is proof that you have been brought up ina society where even talking about sex is tabboo. You are a young man, you will have to learn to face the realities of life because life is a guest which comes only once". And after having a puff at her cigarette , she said something that I had not heard or read about before. The brave woman who never minced her words said , "Log itne sex se kyun darte hain? Sex ke bina zindagi kya hai, zindagi ho hi nahi sakti sex ke bina. Aaj bhi waqt hai ki insaan sex ko apne zindagi ka ang aur hissa samjhe, ismein sharmana aur ghabraana kaisa?" I left her house that evenning enlightenment by some basic truths about life. And instead of me thanking her , she called me the next morning to tell me how she loved the time I spent with her.

She was living alone in her apartment and was not keeping very well , but she still went for a walk all round the race course in Mahalakshmi and loved looking her own food and inviting her close friends to have a game of rummy and have lunch or dinner with her.

And one morning I received a call from Dipti Naval who was her ardent fan and she shocked me when she told me that Nadira Aapa had died in her sleep. And what was shocking was Dipti was the only star who made arrangements for her Christian burial and no other star, legend or filmmaker found the time to bid farewell to the actress who had dedicated her life to Hindi Cinema.

YAHAAN BEBAAQ HONA EK GUNAH MAANA JAATA HAI. LEKIN NADIRA JI NE WAHI KAHA AUR KIYA JO UNKE DIL MEIN AAYA. LOG SHAAYAD UNKO BHOOL CHUKE HONGE, LEKIN ITIHAAS UNHE BHULAANE KA PAAP NAHI KAREGA. ITIHAAS KYA INSAAN HAI JO WAQT WAQT SE BADAL JAAEGA?