Bollywood legend Hema Malini discussed her continuing involvement in classical Indian dance at a press conference Saturday at the Radisson Hotel.
Flanked by daughters Esha and Ahana Deol, who performed with her Saturday night in her Parampara dance program at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, Malini also spoke of her political activities as well as her new directorial effort, Tell Me O Khuda, which stars Esha Deol, and as her father, the great Bollywood actor Dharmendra--both her father in real life and Malini's husband.
Malini first noted that although she's performed dance programs many times in the U.S., this was her first in which she was accompanied by both daughters and in a purely classical format.
Her presentation, she noted, would touch on social issues that she has long supported, including women's empowerment and fighting female infanticide. It would also combine her own focus on the South Indian Bharatanatyam dance form, and her daughters' choice of the older Odissi style.
As for the Parampara title, she symbolically applied the Sanskrit word, which denotes a succession of teachers and disciples, to her relationship with her daughters.
"It's the mother giving knowledge to her children," she said.
She said that she wanted her children to learn dance, and after they chose the Odissi style, they started performing together "since the people wanted it." Obedient daughter Ahana said that with all her mother's experience, "[we] listen to what she says!"
Esha divulged that as her mother's daughters, she and her sister were expected to learn dance. But she was "more into sports and football," Esha added, until "one day I was flipping through the channels and saw Odissi."
Describing the style as "more graceful and soft" than Bharatanatyam, Esha dedicated herself to learning it, she said, adding that performing it with her mother is "very comforting." Malini agreed with her daughter that her own mother was "very, very strict" in pushing her to learn dance.
"She was very strict with me--which was not needed," she said. "But I'm grateful, because today I'm able to be [here] in front of you."
Asked how long she had trained in dance, Malini, 62, hedged: "Go up to my age," she suggested. "I started at six--you calculate!" She said that she has performed two or three dance shows a month--even when filming.
"I love to dance," she explained. "This is an art, and [having] my girls doing it with me gives great pleasure for me as a mother. I'm in control--not only at home!"
All jokes aside, Malini spoke of the spiritual element of classical dance in relation to ballet and Bollywood styles. She lamented the "total change" in Bollywood dance, which has evolved out of the classical tradition and is "very sad." But she lauded Ahana's expertise in modern dance technique--while acknowledging that she herself was unable to replicate it.
Ahana, who expects to appear in her first film next year, wants to mix contemporary dance with classical and traditional. But Malini stressed the need for dance event promoters like Simmi Bhatia, the executive director of the South Asian Music and Arts Association (SAMAA) and the Skirball performance's organizer.
"So many promoters want ballet or Bollywood," said Malini. "To keep classical [dance] alive we need organizers like Simmi."
Restating the importance of dance in her life, Malini said that it "rejuvenates me."
" [Whenever I'm] stressed out with political life or anything else I immediately want to dance," she said. Regarding her participation in politics--she is a member of India's Bharatiya Janata Party--she said that because people loved her so much for her films, it gives her a platform "to give back to my country."
She noted that her stay in New York was limited to three days, as she was due to return to India for the Oct. 7 release of the music to Tell Me O Khuda, the film she has directed that stars Esha, and playing the part of her father, Dharmendra.
"It's a story about an orphan girl's quest to know her roots," said Esha, "a beautiful bonding of father and daughter. It's a dream come true for me to work with my dad, who's been in the industry 50 years."
Noting how Dharmendra, who starred with her in the 1975 Bollywood blockbuster Sholay, has worked under acclaimed Indian directors like Bimal Roy and Anil Sharma, Malini gloated, "Now he comes to work under me!" But "he immediately understood that I know what I want," she hastily added.
It was noted that Tell Me O Khuda is going up against Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan's new Ra.One when it's released in time for India's Diwali festival. But Malini shrugged off any concern about marketplace competition, and said that she had helped launch Khan's film career in 1992 with Dil Aashna Hai, which she also directed. Told of younger superstar Hrithik Roshan's expressed wish to have her play his mother in a film, she said, "I'm always ready to be the mother of a nice handsome boy!"
Ahana observed that Bollywood movies aren't "as narrow-minded as they used to be," particularly in terms of subject matter. Malini was pleased that the industry was "allowing new talent to come up."
And she laughed in conceding that "everybody is trying to take from me" her title of "dream girl," which was bestowed upon her at the outset of her career, and provided the title of her 1977 film--also starring Dharmendra.
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