This is an ode to my favourite character, Chandni in the movie ‘Silsila’. It does not matter that the movie was a commercial flop. The point is that Rekha who played the role of Chandni looked as lovely and bewitching as an apsara in that movie. And absolutely no lady that I have ever seen has ever come even close to her mesmerizing beauty.
Long black hair hanging down her back in rich waves, pouty ruby red lips, big, vulnerable eyes and a tall, willowy figure – that as the essence of Chandni, AB’s beautiful lover. Her dressing sense was simply breath-taking - Pastel colored, chiffon saris draped enigmatically with pearls around her long, swan like neck. Offwhite, Cream colored fabrics, sometimes baby-pink, sometimes peach. Soothing colors of sensuality and innocence. Magnetic and alluring, never jarring to the eyes.
All the bright reds and green and even some mousy browns were given to the wife, Jaya Bachchan to wear. Jaya looked, as per the requirements of her role, sophisticated and almost matronly, in total contrast with the dew drop-like Rekha.
Not only was her look amazingly beautiful, but Chandni had this uncertain, hesitant way of walking that reflected her feminine confusion on being pulled into an exciting but forbidden affair with the tall, handsome AB. Her voice was husky and yet at the same time, sounded like it was dipped in honey. The deep breaths before and after she spoke every sentence just added to her mystery.
My favorite scene in the movie is when AB meets Rekha after years in a parking lot. Determined to fob off his advances and yet in love with him desperately, she whispers ‘I hate you’ to him. Then she whispers it again. And yet again. All AB does is take her into his arms as she breaks into tears. Watch the terrific chemistry between them as she sobs in his arms. There is no need for explanations. You know that this is a very powerful moment when everything ceases to exist – everything, except love. The moment is grim and tense – there is no explosive joy that one comes to expect with lovers uniting. You know that this is the beginning – and not the end.
My only complaint is that though Chandni was a beautiful woman but nowhere did she display a strong character. As she croons ‘Tu badan hai, main hoon chhaya’, she is just a exotic shadow that follows AB. She does not complain when he leaves her to marry another woman, agrees to an extra-marital affair readily when he proposes and does not even protest much when he leaves her yet again, to be with his long-suffering wife. How I wish she had taken her own decisions and made her own boundaries. Beauty without strength is truly a waste.
Yet, full marks to Rekha for effortlessly looking like the seductive mistress, and still managing to look innocent enough to make you feel like protecting her against the unforgiving world.