WHEN A HAIR STYLE ALMOST COST AN ACTRESS HER FILM ROLE

After school, the only other place where one can get into trouble for an inappropriate hair cut is probably the armed forces. Besides these two institutions, one is pretty much free to maintain whatever hairstyle one deems fit, unless one has joined a dictatorial company (Yes there are some of those too!)

But the film industry too, is a field where the hair style, particularly for those facing the camera, is just as important. Particularly in Hindi cinema where there are trademark looks for certain character types. In the fifties and sixties, long, lustrous hair was the ornament of the heroine. If she tied it in two neat pigtails, she was the epitome of goodness, a woman with a heart of gold who would sacrifice anything for her man or her family. If she left it loose, allowing the breeze to play with it, this nymph of virtue was in a mischievous mood, ready to tease the hero with her platonic seduction (The art of making love by holding hands, nothing else). And if she planned to go to a party, the same long tresses would magically transform into something called the “bouffant” – a creation probably meant to stop babies from hiccoughing.

If the woman was a vamp, she had short hair. Period.

If at all she had long hair, then it had to be in psychedelic colours…like decadent pink or debauched purple.

Yes Bollywood also took its hair styles and haircuts very seriously. And now, one can understand how a hair cut almost cost a heroine the role she had just acquired from a prestigious banner. It might astonish people to know that the heroine was none other than Sadhana – the heroine with the most popular hair cut, imitated by masses of young girls in the sixties.

Of course, the story took place many years before the `Sadhana cut’ became a phenomenon. A time when Sadhana was a fresher looking to make a break in the film industry.  She was spotted by a noted producer from the times, Mr Shashidhar Mukherjee and he signed her on for the film, “Love in Simla,’ the female lead opposite his own son, Joy Mukherjee. On the first day of the shoot, he noticed that her forehead was a bit broad, so he asked the hair dresser to give her frills to cover up the expanse. It was an effect that he had seen on a heroine named Audrey Hepburn in Hollywood and he showed her pictures to Sadhana’s hairdresser as a reference.

After he saw Sadhana’s final look, he was pleased. Here was a heroine with the face of an angel, and a hair style that was so chic, so mod.

Now while, “Love In Simla” was being made, Sadhana also met other producers, hair set in her original two pigtails look. Among these producers was Bimal Roy, who at the time was making “Parakh.” When he saw Sadhana – she looked the part of a simple village girl, with an innocent face and expressive eyes and he had no hesitation in signing her on.

The shooting of Parakh began many months later and by now, Sadhana who was shooting for “Love In Simla,” had adopted the Sadhana cut as her look…on film and in life.

So when she finally went for the “Parakh” shoot, it was as the femme fatale Sadhana instead of the girl next door Sadhana. When Bimal Roy saw her he was shocked and he couldn’t help but blurt out, “What is this? You are not right for the role in my film.”

Sadhana had no clue what had changed since her last meeting with the man. She was oblivious to the fact that her earlier hair style made her look like a plain Jane…pretty, but plain. The frills on her head were making her look like a city slicker – street smart and drop dead gorgeous. She was far removed from the character of a village girl in “Parekh.”

Bimal Roy saw her crestfallen face and the sullen silence that accompanied it. He studied her face closely and realized that it was her hair style – it was the main culprit that had roobed his character of her innocence. So he told Sadhana bluntly, “It’s your hair style, unless you change it, you will never be able to fit the role.

Sadhana summoned her hairdresser…and briefed her to remove the fringe and make her the Sadhana of yore. The pig-tailed, simple girl next door was back and when he saw her, Bimal Roy smiled approvingly.