2022 Dadasaheb Phalke Award: Asha Parekh was once the talisman for box-office success

Between 1963 and 1972, the Asha Parekh phenomenon was nothing short of a juggernaut—she delivered box-office hit after hit.

It is a happy time for Asha Parekh. Not only is the yesteryear actor the latest recipient of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, but Parekh will also turn 80 on October 2. Although she last appeared in films in the mid-1990s, Parekh was once the talisman for box-office success. That she is receiving India’s highest award for cinema ahead of many of her peers (Waheeda Rehman, Vyjayanthimala), says something about her legacy.

Critics would say that Parekh’s body of work does not have an eternal quality to it, but she made up for it with a string of blockbusters. Think of the period between 1963 and 1972 and the Parekh phenomenon was nothing short of a juggernaut. Starring in a bunch of commercially successful films – Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon (1963), Ziddi (1964), Mere Sanam (1965), Upkaar (1967), Chirag (1969), Aaya Saawan Jhoom Ke (1969), Aan Milo Sajna (1970), Samadhi (1972) – Parekh stacked up her legacy with sheer quantity.

In 1966 alone she delivered four hits with Teesri Manzil, Aaye Din Bahaar Ke, Love In Tokyo and Do Badan. She almost repeated this in 1971 when three of her films – Kati Patang, Mera Gaon Mera Desh and Caravan – met with great success. Be it Dharmendra, Joy Mukherji, Biswajeet, Manoj Kumar, Jeetendra or Rajesh Khanna, Parekh romanced nearly every leading man of the period. That her autobiography is called The Hit Girl is testament to her terrific ride at the box-office.

Her detractors may also point to her not having a memorable character – à la Rosie (Waheeda Rehman, Guide) or Basanti (Hema Malini, Sholay) – in any of her big films, but this is a classic case of highbrow snobbery. Many sacrifice a lifetime wanting to be the flavour of the season. That Parekh was very much in favour with audiences for nearly a decade, deserves applause of the most generous kind.

Perhaps it was Parekh’s vivacious disposition that worked so well for Hindi cinema of her era. As filmmakers gave up the weightier themes of black-and-white 1950s Hindi cinema to escape into the open countryside in the 1960s, Parekh’s bubbly charm was the perfect fit for the breezier storylines of the period. In her own little way, she made a break from those who came before her.

Although she had worked as a child artiste earlier, Parekh’s very first film as lead actor, Dil Deke Dekho (1959), has her character announce that she has formed a rock ‘n’ roll club with her friends. This was an important departure from the ever-so-pious, saree-clad heroines who were weighed down by their character’s personal tragedies and family compulsions. An open embracing of Western modernism and culture was anathema for these women.

Parekh, only 17 when she did Dil Deke Dekho, broke free from these shackles. She played female characters who drove cars, danced in clubs and set out boldly to solve murder mysteries. Her figure-hugging churidar kurtas, printed blouses, winged eyeliners, puffy bouffants, high ponytails and chandelier earrings were a style statement for the time.

Indeed, when she let go off her coat to reveal her shimmering fuchsia pink, sleeveless blouse and went toe-to-toe with Shammi Kapoor in the riotous ‘Aaja aaja, main hoon pyaar tera’ (Teesri Manzil), it was a defining moment. The shedding-of-the-coat should be seen as a metaphor for women letting go of themselves in the club space, a place otherwise reserved only for vamps and molls in Hindi cinema. As the veteran journalist Sidharth Bhatia told me for my book on filmmaker Nasir Husain, it was Parekh who paved the way for Zeenat Aman and Parveen Babi in later years.

Parekh certainly could dance. Whether she played a village belle or banjaaran or a high-heeled socialite, Parekh brought terrific rhythm and vitality to her dance routines. That she had a strong background in classical dance obviously helped her case, but even in ‘Daiyya yeh main kahaan aa phansi’ (Caravan), Parekh neatly pulled off the over-the-top madness demanded of the near-five-minute-long sequence.

She was something of a trailblazer outside of her film career too. At the peak of her stardom, she formed a film distribution company, Movie Gems, with Nasir Husain in the late-1960s and distributed 20-odd films in the 1970s and 1980s. After she called quits on her acting career, she turned television producer and directed serials in both Hindi and Gujrati. The soap drama Kora Kaagaz, that featured Renuka Shahane and Salil Ankola and ran for three years between late-1998 and early-2002, was directed by her.

Parekh is an important chapter in the history of Hindi cinema. To deny her a place in the pantheon of greats would be to miss out on a significant artiste who possibly reflected the aspirations and attitudes of audiences of the 1960s. That she is finally getting the Dadasaheb Phalke Award makes for a most appropriate 80th birthday gift.