Anjali Paigankar

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.

Goa, known for its exotic beaches, is often called the Bahamas of India. This scenic state has given many beautiful actresses to Bollywood starting with Mohana Cabrel in the ’50s to Ashalata Wabgaonkar in the ’70s and later, Varsha Usgaonkar and Maria Goretti in the ’90s. In fact, Varsha Usgaonkar balanced Hindi and Marathi movies quite well, establishing a strong name for herself in both the industries.

During the fag end of Portuguese rule, many resident Goans migrated to foreign countries after it was declared that Goa would get merged with the already independent India. The Goenkars, uncertain about their future, started migrating out from ’50s onwards.

Our actress for today’s article belonged to one such family, which left Goa a decade before it got liberated and settled down in London, where she was born. Her name is Anjali Paigankar.

This luminous beauty with glittering eyes and a petite slim figure tried her luck in Bollywood in the ’70. Truly, watching her few films while doing the research for this article got us fascinated so much that we can imagine how many guys would have been crazy about her in those days.

As aforementioned, Anjali was born in London in the mid ’50s after her parents settled there. She completed her education in the Queen’s land but sometime in the early ’70s, came to India to become an actress. Working as a part time model, Anjali joined the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune and completed her diploma in 1974. Post her diploma, Angie, as she was known by everyone, started looking out for plum roles in Bollywood.

This was probably her most challenging phase as the competition was high with many established actors being the first choice of filmmakers. The reigning superstars like Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna, Dharmendra, Vinod Khanna, etc also preferred to work with established actresses as against rank newcomers. Thus, Anjali didn’t get any offers for commercial cinema of that era.

Around the same time, there started a trend of art films termed as parallel cinema or new age cinema, which weren’t commercial in nature but were low budget ventures catering to a niche audience. Most of these offbeat movies tackled the pertinent social issues of that era and would invariably feature powerful actors like Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Smita Patil, Rohini Hattangadi and Shabana Azmi. This wave of parallel cinema gave Anjali a scope to fulfil her Bollywood dream.

Anjali got her first break with noted director Shyam Benegal’s Charandas Chor (1975), which was a kiddie’s fantasy film and produced by the Children Films Society Of India. Anjali had a small role in it which didn’t get noticed much. She went on to appear in short roles in films like Taxi- Taxie (1976) and Dillagi (1978).

Anjali also acted in a FTII short film titled Murder at Monkey Hill (1976). This film was directed by today’s bigwig- Vidhu Vinod Chopra – who was also her co-actor. This was Chopra’s final project while completing his diploma at FTII. The short film got Anjali noticed in the world of parallel cinema and some offers came her way.

Being a Marathi speaking Goan, Anjali signed one major Marathi movie titled Sarvasakshi (1978). The film had the likes of Smita Patil, Jairam Hardikar, Vilas Rakte in the lead cast. This was probably Anjali’s first major role in mainstream cinema, albeit in Marathi language. After the film released, her director Ramdas Phutane couldn’t stop praising her in interviews. The film did reasonably well in theatres and also travelled to various film festivals. Sarvasakshi remains Anjali’s only Marathi movie.

In the same year 1978, Anjali bagged her first lead role in Hindi opposite debutant Dilip Dhawan in Saeed Akhtar Mirza’s Arvind Desai Ki Ajeeb Dastaan. This art film had many talented actors like Dr Shreeram Lagoo, Rohini Hattangadi, Sulbha Deshpande, Om Puri and Satish Shah. But what caught everyone’s eye was Anjali Paigankar, who played the beautiful and charming Catholic girl Alice D’Costa. She is shown as secretary of businessman Dr. Lagoo, who is secretly dating his son Dilip Dhawan in the movie. Arvind Desai Ki Ajeeb Dastaan won Filmfare Best Film- Critics award in 1979 but somehow, couldn’t help Anjali’s career significantly.

Even after playing the lead in Sarvasakshi and Arvind Desai, Anjali was struggling to find a foothold in the film industry probably because she had no real mentor or ‘Godfather’ here. To make her ends meet, she started working as a lecturer at FTII and also assisted in a few movies.

Anjali had no films in hand for the next two years until Chakra (1981) came her way. Anjali played a courtesan named Chenna in this realistic drama. It was a pivotal role but the legendary and much senior Smita Patil playing the main lead, overshadowed her completely. Anjali had a bold lovemaking scene with Sudhir Pandey in this movie, which was edited out later during its video release.

In a career spanning less than a decade, Anjali Paigankar worked with big names like Naseeruddin Shah, Shreeram Lagoo, Smita Patil, Rohini Hattangadi, Amol Palekar, Dharmendra and Hema Malini. She got to be a part of the Bollywood parallel cinema trend of that time and appeared in many award-winning movies but still, didn’t gain the recognition she deserved.

The films she worked in were mostly art films and her dream to become a mainstream lead heroine was still unfulfilled. While her seniors like Smita Patil and Shabana Azmi easily transitioned to commercial Hindi cinema, Anjali had no takers on this front.

Finally in 1983, Anjali got an opportunity become part of a mainstream Bollywood when she signed the movie titled Yari Dosti (1989). Unfortunately, Yari Dosti got delayed and was in the making for close to six years. By the time, the film made it to theatres in 1989, it was considered a stale product and totally ignored by the paying public. Anjali had already disappeared from films, long before..

In fact, her acting career came to an abrupt end in 1984 after the release of the critically acclaimed Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho, which saw director Saeed Mirza repeating her again in a small role. It is said that around that time, Anjali appeared in a bold photoshoot for Debonair magazine which created a furore and ended her career forever. Anjali not only left the film industry after this infamous photo shoot but also distanced herself permanently from her fans. She just disappeared from public eye.

Till date, her whereabouts are unknown and she is nowhere on social media as well. The film industry has long forgotten Anjali Paigankar and even her colleagues from that era don’t talk about her.

In one of the interviews given before her sudden disappearance, Anjali was described as an “Angry Young Woman”, not happy with the film industry where her immense talent and gorgeous looks went unnoticed. Today, this once charming and elegant Goenkar would be more than seventy years old, wherever she is. We, through our Qamyab series, wish to turn the spotlight on this long-forgotten gem.