Rajni Sharma

QAMYAB – THE FORGOTTEN GEMS OF BOLLYWOOD

Qamyab is our humble tribute to all those lesser-known actors, one hit wonders and junior artists who we see umpteen times but don’t know about; beyond their faces. These actors have been an integral part of Bollywood but didn’t get their due. This series is our sincere attempt to put a name to these faces, familiarize them to our readers and celebrate their achievements in life – however big or small. We believe that every artist contributes in his/her own way to the cinema’s success. Qamyab will explore the unknown lives of such actors and artists as we believe even these forgotten gems of Bollywood deserve their due recognition today.

It is a strange coincidence that successful child artists in Hindi cinema couldn’t make it big as adult actors. Apart from a handful like Sachin Pilgaonkar and Padmini Kolhapure, the rest couldn’t replicate their childhood success. These include the cute and sweet child stars like Jr. Mehmood, Master Alankar, Baby Farida, Baby Naaz, Javed Rizvi, Baby Guddu and many others.

One more actress, who falls in this category is Rajni Sharma. She was a popular child artist of her time, but couldn’t attain stardom as an adult.

In the ’70s, talented beauties like Sharmila Tagore, Mumtaz, Rekha, Hema Malini, Neetu Singh, Zeenat Aman and Parveen Babi were ruling the roost and it was invariably tough for other upcoming actors to survive in Bollywood as these reigning queens had struck a popular pairing with all the lead heroes of that time. Rajni Sharma too had to face this challenge.

Born in 1963, not much is known about Rajni’s personal life. She was obviously bitten by the acting bug as a kid. From late ’60s to early ’70s, she worked in several films by the name Baby Deepa. Her first appearance as a child artist was the film Aashirwad (1968), famous for Ashok Kumar rapping to ‘Rail gaadi rail gaadi’ song with a bunch of kids. Rajni went on to work as child actor in some notable films like Hum Ek Hain (1969), Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1971), Paraya Dhan (1971), Door Ka Rahi (1971), etc.

Rajni Sharma’s moment of glory was yet to come. It happened when director Tarun Majumdar wanted to remake his Bengali hit Balika Badhu (1967) in Hindi. The original version had Moushumi Chatterjee; but she had grown older by then and couldn’t reprise the role.

Majumdar selected few names like Debashree Roy, Mithu Mukherjee and Sarika, but couldn’t finalize them for some reason. He came across Baby Deepa and realized that she was the perfect fit for Balika Badhu (1976).

A much younger Anil Kapoor, who was struggling that time, went to audition for Balika Badhu in a traditional ethnic wear for the lead role opposite Rajni Sharma. However, Majumdar rejected him and settled for another famous child artist Sachin Pilgaonkar, who was now stepping in to adulthood

Balika Badhu’s plot doesn’t need much elaboration. As the title suggests, it was about child marriage in a North Indian village. Set in the British era, the married couple Sachin and Rajni are too small to understand the meaning of marriage.

Rajni Sharma was only thirteen years old when she worked in the film and was credited as ‘Introducing Balika Badhu Rajni Sharma’. Thus, she started her career as a heroine by her original name and her character was also named Rajni in the film.

Balika Badhu went on to become a big hit across India and its music became extremely popular. The song ‘Bade acche lagte hai’, which Sachin sings for Rajni on the lakeside, became a chartbuster and launched the career of singer Amit Kumar. Sachin and Rajni Sharma became household names with Rajni being referred to as Balika Badhu by everyone.

The 20’s something Sachin got many movie offers after the film’s success but it didn’t benefit Rajni Sharma that much, largely due to her tender age. Filmmakers were wary of casting thirteen-year-old Rajni as main heroine in their movies.

cinema and we respect her sentiment.

Wishing the Balika Badhu of Bollywood all the very best in her old age!!In her adolescent age, Rajni was too old to be a child artist and not mature enough to play the female lead. It must be a rare case where an actors age became an issue in her early career. Having said that, it didn’t stop Rajni Sharma from signing more Hindi movies, most of them with her Balika Badhu co-star Sachin in the lead, along with some Punjabi films.

Rajni’s next release was Bolo He Chakradhari (1977), which was a devotional film involving big names from the Marathi industry like Jayshree Gadkar, Ravindra Mahajani and Bal Dhuri. Rajni portrayed Goddess Rukmini, the wife of Lord Krishna (played by Sachin). The same year, she made her debut in Punjabi cinema with Shaheed Sardar Kartar Singh; a biopic on Kartar Singh Sarabha, co-starring Satyajeet Puri.