Hema Malini 

S(three) Shakti: Hema Malini, Esha and Ahana Deol
Hema Malini on dance and her daughters

Hema Malini - woman, sensual danseuse, doting mother, editor, actress and director. There is so much to her dynamic multifaceted personality that cannot be contained in a nutshell. She wielded such strong commercial clout at the peak of her acting career, that actors like Dev Anand and Rajesh Khanna had to turn to her to give them that much wanted hit. She was thrown out of her first film, a Tamil one by director Shridhar in 1964, because she had no star appeal! She began her career opposite Raj Kapoor in Sapnon ka Saudagar (1968) and became the eternal Dream Girl of Hindi cinema.

Hema Malini is the captivating heroine of many a Hindi film, director and producer of much talked about television serials 'Noopur' and 'Women of India,' the first-ever woman to head the National Film Development Corporation, editor of a biligual women's magazine and mother of two daughters, Esha and Ahana Deol born of a volatile North-South Dharmendra-Hema Malini combination. Through all this express activity called 'life' she never lost focus on her first love - 'dance.'

On the contrary, she has embellished this part, with technical know-how she gained from her films and television experience to create spectacular dance ballets like Ramayan, Meera, Durga, Mahalaxmi, Savitri, Radha-Krishna and Nrityamalika. On the anvil are plans to create a state-of-the-art academy called the 'NatyaVihar Kalakendra.'

We spent some exclusive moments with this sensual beauty and her daughters, Esha and Ahana Deol during harrowing moments of beautification in the Green Room before a dance performance of the trio.

If there could be a mother hen, it is Hema Malini. Fretting and fuming at her daughters' casual attitude before the performance, she looks over their makeup with microscopic precision. This perfectionist expects nothing but the best. As Esha holds a closed eye for the dramatic application of eyeliner, 15 year old Ahana rests casually on the sofa lost in teenage concerns and Mama throws at them threatening words in Tamil.

"I am very tense about my daughters' performance. We have been practising all week together but I still am not confident of us dancing together. This will be our first time. I am not so much worried about Esha as I am about Ahana. Ahana is Mamma's baby and even on stage she sticks close to me. I have to keep whispering to her to maintain distance during the performance," says Hema Malini, as she glances affectionately at Ahana. The interview is interrupted with typical Tamilian 'Aiyoos and Aamaas,' from her daughters.

When asked about how it feels dancing for the first time with her daughters, Hema says, "It is a very different experience dancing with both of them. I have danced with Esha before, now I will have Ahana dancing alongside also. I will perform Bharatnatyam, while my daughters perform Odissi. It was all unplanned. Esha did not have busy shooting schedules so I asked her to dance with me. Ahana had also learnt a few dance items so I thought why not Ahana also. Someday she has to perform, this could be the best opportunity." However, it is not Bharatanatyam, but the hauntingly beautiful Odissi that Esha and Ahana have chosen as their form of self-expression.

Is Hema Malini a very pushy mother? "My daughters are busy with their studies, their course and their friends. If I leave it to them they will never learn Bharatnatyam or any kind of art expression. I have been able to kindle their interest in dance, but with time they will learn to love it and will thank me for it," Hema says with the enthusiasm of a mother. She believes, "Because of dance I was able to join films. So I am sure it will help Esha and she will have to make time for it. In spite of my busy film shooting schedules, I never stopped giving performances. That was the only way I could keep in touch with dance."

Esha, with Odissi makeup and hairdo, asserts, "In the beginning I took up dance for my mother's sake. Now I actually find a personality change with dancing, it helps keep a cool mind, almost like meditation and does me a lot of good physically too. We have a dance teacher, Pandit Ravindra Athibuddhi, coming home on weekends to teach us. Right now I am concentrating on my career, so whenever there is a show and Mamma asks me to dance, I dance. A lot depends on my film shooting schedules." Hema's mothering does not stop at dance, she is as involved in Esha's film career, making sure she chooses good films, planning her shooting schedules and even ensuring that the movies are released on time.

Now it is young Ahana's turn at the hands of the makeup artist. "I am a little nervous," she pipes in, fidgeting in her chair. Is she also inclined to act in films? "No, no" she loudly asserts, "I am just not interested in joining films." (Did we just hear Papa Dharmendra heave a sigh of relief!)

Hema has had enough of my intrusion in the Green Room, and quite firmly ushers me out before her daughters can get more outspoken.

That's Hema Malini for you with her volatile and vibrant young girls! A celebrity mother with a difference.

By Anupama Vinayak
Photographer: Vinayak Prabhu