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Blast From The Past: Kalpana Iyer’s explosive interview reproduced
Blast from the past
STARDUST 1983
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“Honestly, I tell you
I haven’t had a single affair up to this date.” – Kalpana Iyer
Critics accuse her of vulgarising the cabaret; heroines dismiss her as a temporary survivor on sheer sex power; but heroes pant at and after her hip-wriggles, stripping and bad games! KALPANA IYER knows that her figure is her fortune, and flaunts it (on and off screen) to the ‘barest’ maximum to make it pay – in cash and kind!
Whatever happened to the tall announcements you made about switching over from dancing to acting roles, two years ago? Are you so minus talent that you couldn’t bag even the smallest of roles? Even Sheetal gets more lines to deliver (‘Satyam Shivam Sundaram’) in her films than you?
You see, I happen to be a very pushy girl. I’m not in the habit of waiting, but in the habit of grabbing all that comes my way. People seem to have forgotten that I did start my career as an actress in ‘Manokamna’. But after that film, I was not very willing to wait. So as soon as Dev Anand, the lovable person that he is, offered me a dance number in “Lootmaar’ (because Simple Kapadia couldn’t dance for mailto:hudz.in15@ gmail.com nuts), I grabbed it without batting an eyelid, completely ignoring all those who tried to stop me from doing it. And now I’m glad I did it, because ever since ‘Lootmaar’, I’ve been signing film after film and am being very much appreciated and applauded for all my dance numbers. I’m sure this wouldn’t have been the case if I had waited for acting roles to come my way. And if you call Sheetal’s role in ‘Satyam…” acting, well, then I’m glad that I’m not acting! I’d rather stick to my dance-numbers. Incidentally, I do have a few very good and important roles to my credit, like ‘YehRishta Na Toote’, ‘Vardaan’, ‘Dil Tujhko Diya’, where I am not doing any dance-numbers!
Don’t you feel ashamed when you are dismissed off as a box-office filler and your dances are becoming more and more provocative to give cheap thrills to the public? Don’t you find it humiliating to be referred to as the ‘vulgar version of Helen’? Even Bindu insists that you get so many offers only because you grab the most minute and meaningless dance sequences, even if they have no connection to the film’s story!
Who says that I’m a box-office filler and that my dances are meaningless and have no connection to the story? If I was doing those two-minute sidey roles like people are insinuating, it would have been a different thing. But what I’m doing are those hit dancenumbers which draw the crowds. When the masses, the people in the villages, etc., see a movie, they don’t bother to find out the whole star cast. But if they know that Kalpana Iyer is doing a dance
sequence, they rush to see it! So many of my movies have been sold because of my dance-numbers. And if at all people are comparing me with Helen, well, it’s the biggest compliment to me! She is the one lady I really admire and respect and I know that she is far better than me! I think she’s real great. Imagine doing only dance-numbers and yet surviving in the industry for more than twenty five years! And at the same time, maintaining that dignity and respect. I’m not at all ashamed, but rather proud in fact, to be anywhere near Helen, because before I became a Kalpana Iyer, I used to dance on all Helen’s numbers at my stage shows. But no one can point a finger at me and say that I’m copying her now, because Helen belonged to a different era. She never did disco dances, while I specialise in them.
Why does Bindu go out of her way to pick on you? Didn’t it harm your career when she declared in print that you and she were of the same age and that you can never achieve what she has?
I know statements like that are totally uncalled for and in very bad taste, made by those who have age hang-ups. But I’ve learnt to ignore them because I’m quite positive that no one believes them. After all, the public is not blind. Everyone knows that I’ve been in the
line only since the last three years, and Bindu has been here even before I was born! Besides, birth certificates don’t lie! But all said and done. I’m sure that Bindu won’t say anything nasty about me from now onwards, because we recently got an opportunity to meet each other and I found that basically she is a nice person and her husband Champakbhai is the most beautiful and understanding human being I’ve ever met.
After capitalizing on your body (“People like me better without clothes. If I have a good body, why shouldn’t I show it,” etc.) so blatantly, wasn’t it hypocritical of you to throw a tantrum during the shooting of ‘Teri Baahon Mein’ because men were ogling at your semi-nude appearance? Wouldn’t it have been simpler for you not to wear such daring clothes? Or don’t your producers (Umesh Mehra, etc) give you any choice in the matter? I admit I did throw a tantrum on the sets of ‘Teri Baahon Mein’. I felt I had to. I couldn’t bear those men who were total strangers ogling away at me. Not only that, they were also restricting my movements. I don’t mind when there are thousands of people ogling at me on screen, but it’s different in person. Besides, I was doing the dance with Mohnish Behl who is a newcomer, who I felt was also feeling uncomfortable.
But obviously, he didn’t make a noise about it because he couldn’t afford to. So I took it in my hands to shoo away the crowd. I had to do it. I’m sure the director Umesh Mehra would have done it himself if he hadn’t been so busy with the journalists that day. Then also, the fact that I was wearing a more revealing dress than usual, made me all the more uneasy. But it couldn’t be helped because the outfit went with the director’s concept of the film. In most of my films, my dress is already decided upon and I don’t have much choice. But there are a few directors who are ready to accept my designs, and there I try to cover my body as much as possible. I’m not saying that I turn around and tell my director ‘no leg revealing’, because after all, I’ve got good legs, but I do draw a line somewhere!
Why are you such a ZeenatAman chamchi? Your praises of her looks, talent, etc., ring absolutely false. Is it your way of hitting out at Zeenat’s rival Parveen Babi who is encroaching on your dancing territory (‘Namak Halal’ ‘Meri Awaz Suno’) and doing a better job of it?
Parveen has been doing those vamp roles lately, so she’s encroaching on a vamp’s territory, not mine. You should be asking Bindu this question, not me. Anyway, those dances which Parveen has done are no threat to me. In ‘Namak Halal’, the dance looked okay purely because it was a well picturised dance sequence. Parveen certainly has no dancing talent. It was just luck that the dance clicked. Of course, she did more justice to the role than any other actress would have done in her place. But that’s that! It’s not that I’m being mean to Parveen, I’m just being frank. I do like Parveen, but I like and admire Zeenat a lot more. Because in spite of being such an open book, she has carried herself so well for so many years. As for Parveen. I feel she’s a more closed person, more within herself.
Isn’t it true that three-fourths of the film you have in hand are kind courtesy Amjad Khan? Is it because Amjad has threatened you that you keep denying your affair even though eye-witnesses swear they have seen you sneaking into five-star hotels at all odd hours (3 a.m.) with him? Don’t you feel humiliated when Amjad’s wife lambasts you as a third-rate, sub-standard starlet and not the kind Amjad goes for, to defend her marriage against the rumours?
What nonsense! I haven’t got a single film because of Amjad. I have too much self-respect to accept something out of charity! If Amjad was getting me roles, wouldn’t I have been in all his films? Then how come I’ve done only three films with him – ‘Pyaara Dushman’, ‘Satte Pe Satta’ and ‘Chor Police’? And even in these films, I hardly have a single scene with him! You’ll be surprised to know that Amjad didn’t even know I was in ‘Chor Police’. The producer of the film had approached me for the role. I dont’ think Amjad has ever recommended me to any producer. Yes, at one time in 1979 when I’d taken part in some competition as a model and Amjad had been the judge (he didn’t even know me then), he’d told the person sitting next to him that I’d make it as an actress someday. Well, if that person has decided to take me in his film three years later, I don’t think it’s because of Amjad, but because I am Kalpana Iyer! Actually, it’s these frustrated actresses who spread these rumours about me and Amjad. If being terribly fond of a person means you are having an affair with that person, then I think all these people who think this way are too narrow-minded to live in this world! It’s just that both Amjad and I vibe very well, and he can converse with me freely and intelligently, which he can’t with others. Frankly, I’m not bothered about what everybody else says, but I’m hurt that Amjad’s wife has doubts about her husband after so many years of marriage, and has begun to believe these rumours to make such rude statements…
What’s the reason for the hostility between you and Raj Kiran? Is it true that you made a big play for him during ‘Manokamna’ but he rejected you?
In fact, it was very much the other way round. When we were shooting for ‘Manokamna’ it was he who was on the go all the time and it was I who was cold because I felt, who is he to touch me! That’s why in one of his interviews, he even said something like how can anyone call Kalpana of all people a sexy actress Anyway, what is Raj Kiran who is he? One Raj Kiran doesn’t make an industry!
Whatever went wrong between you and Mithun Chakraborty? At one time you two were quite a steady number, but now he literally begs people not to connect him with you in any way!
Mithun and I are very old friends. We were very friendly in those days when I was a top model and Mithun was an upcoming model, trying to make it big. At that time, he used to confide in me about a girl he was engaged to. Of course, that lady is married now, so I don’t want to elaborate but all I want to say is that if we were having an affair, he wouldn’t have confided in me about another girl he was engaged to. Mithun doesn’t want us to be linked up because he knows what a decent girl I am! I am not one of those ex-girlfriends of his who snub him in public all the time!
You are said to be most slept-around woman in the industry. Are you so desperate for your career that you are ready to oblige anyone who promises you even an extra close-up in a film? All rubbish! All these cheap remarks are made by third rate actresses who have perverted minds and are frustrated sitting at home. If sleeping around could get one roles, wouldn’t all the aspiring actresses have made it by now? Do you mean to say that Zeenat, Parveen,
Rekha, have slept around to make it to the top? In fact, to this date, no one in the industry has even made a pass at me. Leave alone sleeping. I can’t think of even asking someone to take an extra close-up of mine in a film! I wouldn’t stoop so low! Honestly, I tell you I haven’t had a single affair up to this date. I think I don’t have the time to have one!
Insiders insist that your career desperation is purely money-oriented. Having lived through abject poverty in the past, do you also feel as scared and insecure about your success as Mithun Chakraborty?
I can’t understand why Mithun feels insecure. He is a star, after all! Poverty hasn’t made me scared or insecure, it has made me a lot wiser and given me guts. My days of poverty have been a thousand times worse than Mithun’s. Right from the age of eight, I used to support a family of six, with the twenty rupees I earned. Tell me, is it possible for a family of six to survive on twenty rupees? Well, we did. I know what my mother has gone through to make me what I am today and that too without any means of support.
That’s why, till I’m there in this world, I shall see that the precious smile on my mother’s face shall never be wiped off. God forbid, but even if my career goes to the dumps I shall not stop. I will go back to my modelling, that’s my world. I’ve been in it for eight long years and I’m sure I’ll be accepted back any time. Even if I don’t model, I shall work and keep the money coming in. That’s why I don’t live like a star, because I don’t take my success for granted.
Is it because you yourself are ashamed of what you have to do on screen, that you make it a point to be respectably dhakofied in sarees whenever you attend social parties and functions? Prema Narayan, Komilla Wirk, Padmini Kapila and your other colleagues don’t indulge in such double standards.
I know a lot of people think I have double standards, but it’s not that. It’s just that I am a very, very simple girl. In fact, I’m much too simple for my own liking! The glamorous person which people see dancing away to glory on screen is not me. I hate all this glamour which is stuck down my throat. That’s why I love every single moment when I don’t have to act and behave the way I’m made to on screen. Because in reality, there are two different Kalpanas. You will be surprised to know that I’m a strict vegetarian, I don’t drink and I am a very God-fearing person. The only thing which goes with my glamorous image on screen is my smoking off it. And I’m not ashamed of it. I do it in front of my own mother. I don’t believe in going to toilets, greenrooms, dressing-rooms, to have a quick smoke, like the other actresses do. What I’m trying to say is that I prefer to be the person I am. So if I’m comfortable when I’m dhakofiedin sarees, why shouldn’t I dress that way?
How long can you hope to survive in the rat-race on your sex-appeal alone? Where are the other sex symbols, Bindu and KomillaWirk, today?
For heaven’s sake, please don’t compare Komilla Wirk and Bindu. Who is Komilla Wirk today, where is she? As for Bindu. I do appreciate that she has managed to survive on vamp roles for so many years in this cut-throat industry. But for me, I need time. All I’m doing is asking for time. I’ve just been in this industry for three years and two months and have already proved myself as a dancer. Now I need time to prove myself as an actress. But like I said before, I’m not willing to put away my dance-numbers and wait for acting roles to drop in my lap. I’m sure I’ll get them on the way. My ultimate aim is to prove myself as an actress, which I’m certain I will do!
FAST FORWARD
A beauty queen, Kalpana Iyer was the first runners-up in a Miss India pageant, after which she entered films She was bold, brazen and extremely sexy.. In fact a Kalpana Iyer dance number in any film supposedly added to the oomph factor and got the audience to the theatres. As a person, she didn’t hesitate to call a spade a spade and had the guts to answer any and every question even if they were hard-hitting and cutting as you can see in this throwback interview. Today, Kalpana Iyer is semi retired after a wonderful inning in films – she worked till 1995 – her role as public prosecutor in Gundaraj was much appreciated. She was also seen in various roles on TV. Supposedly, she was even managing a restaurant in Dubai. Her personal life despite her alleged linkup with Amjad Khan was very conventional despite her bold image. She never married – in fact, she said in an interview: “I was always misunderstood, you know, as the ‘it-girl’ personifying glamour and oomph. A Miss India, a model, an actress. Everyone assumed I was bold but I was actually very simple… God-fearing, always concerned about ruffling the feathers of my conservative Tam Bram family who were quiet and simple, and into Carnatic music… telling too many white lies to protect too many people.” Today, Kalpana Iyer has aged very gracefully. Her fans, however, still clamour to see this wonderful lady on the big screen or on TV.”
- Sumita Chakraborty
