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.
The ’80s and ’90s Bollywood witnessed some beautiful and relatively younger actresses playing mother roles. We have already covered Beena and Anjana Mumtaz earlier in this series. Today’s forgotten gem is also a well-known ‘maa’ from that bygone era!!
Like Beena, who is the daughter of Bollywood star Pradeep Kumar, this actress is also a star kid. She was never inclined towards acting but unfortunate circumstances forced her to take it up as a profession. We are talking about Aparajita, daughter of the veteran actor and 50’s superstar Bharat Bhushan.
Today’s star kids invariably, aspire to follow the path of their parents. But Aparajita never had acting in her mind. She was content being a homemaker.
Aparajita started acting much later in life and was part of Bollywood for close to a decade. She faced her own struggles in life and saw a lot of ups and downs on the personal front as well.
Born in 1954 in Mumbai to veteran actor Bharat Bhushan and his first wife Sarla, Aparajita was their second daughter and has a sister named Anuradha. It can be said that Aparajita’s struggle started since birth as her mother passed away shortly after delivering her due to child birth complications.
Bharat Bhushan was busiest actor of that time and naturally, couldn’t give enough time to his two daughters. But whenever he was free, Bhushan would spend quality time with Aparajita and her sister.
Aparajita grew up under the care of a governess. She had a rich and elite life those days and spent her childhood in the lavish bungalows of her father in Mumbai and Pune. Unfortunately, there came a time when Bharat Bhushan lost all his fortune when the films he produced, turned out to be box office disasters.
After completing her graduation from University of Mumbai, Aparajita married at a very young age. Her husband’s name remains undisclosed. Tragedy struck within few years of the marriage, when Aparajita’s husband suddenly passed away. She was only thirty-two years at that time with two small children.
Aparajita had no choice but to work for a living and raise her kids on her own. Bharat Bhushan had already lost his stardom as well as wealth and was reduced to playing small character roles in movies.
In 1986, Aparajita decided to start her career as a dubbing artist and would go to dub for noted producer- director Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan (1987). One fine day, Sagar offered the role of Queen Mandodari to Aparajita in this television series.
Few well known actresses had already auditioned for the role of Raavan’s beautiful wife, Mandodari. But Ramanand Sagar was keen to cast Aparajita and persuaded her to accept the role. Before getting her onboarded, Ramanand Sagar trained her in acting and taught her the basics of camera.
Ramayan became a huge success across India and every actor in it became synonymous with the character they played. Like Arun Govil (Shri Ram), Deepika (Mata Sita), Sunil Lahri (Laxman), Dara Singh (Lord Hanuman), Arvind Trivedi (Raavan), Aparajita also came to be known as Mandodari. The serial turned out to be the Sholay (1975) of small screen, where each character got an iconic status.
After the super success of Ramayan, Aparajita started getting movie offers. The first film she signed was Hatya (1988), which had Govinda and Neelam in the lead along with Baby Sujata. Aparajita played the mother of Sujata in the movie, who is murdered and the child remains the only witness to this crime.
Hatya became a box office hit and Aparajita got noticed even in a short role. It gave filmmakers the confidence to cast her in motherly roles.
Next, offers flowed in fast and quick and Aparajita went on to play the mother in many big films like Kala Bazaar (1989), Paap Ka Ant (1989), Zahreelay (1990), Jeene Do (1990), C.I.D (1990), Pyar Ka Devta (1991), Phool Bane Angaray (1991), Hum (1991), Phool Aur Kaante (1991), Vishwatma (1992), Khel (1992), Tirangaa (1993), Dil Tera Aashiq (1993), Mohra (1994), Dulaara (1994), Aao Pyar Karen (1994), Baazi (1995), Gupt (1997), etc.
Gupt remains the last film she shot for; after which she quit the film industry in 1997. A few of her delayed/ unreleased movies made it to theatres later like Jiyaala (1998), Humse Badhkar Kaun (1998), Mohabbat Aur Jung (1998) and Kartoos (1999). Her last Bollywood release remains Mahesh Bhatt’s delayed Kartoos.
Apart from Hindi, Aparajita acted in a few Gujarati and Bhojpuri films and also appeared in TV serials like Bharat Ek Khoj (1988) and Imtihaan (1993). Director Ravi Rai had convinced her to play the much-appreciated negative character in Imtihaan, which she wasn’t keen initially. It remains her only negative role till date.
After Kartoos, there was no news about Aparajita. In fact, she suddenly disappeared from the film industry after 1997 and there were no updates about her in the media for next two decades.
After completing Gupt in 1997, Aparajita had shifted base to Pune with her children and was leading a quiet life, away from the hustle and bustle of Bollywood. She revealed much later that she had never come in the film industry to become a star but only to secure her family and support her children. After her financial condition improved, she went back to spending time with them and do what she always aspired for.
After shifting to Pune, Aparajita started research on spiritual healing as she had seen many sufferings and obstacles in her life and wished to help people going through such trauma. She shifted from being an actor to a spiritual healer.
During this time, when Aparajita was away from the limelight of cinema, an imposter called Prabha Mishra, a self-proclaimed “Sadhvi”, claimed to have played Mandodari in Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayan. Prabha Mishra lived this fake identity for around fifteen years.
During the COVID lockdown in 2020, Ramayan was re-telecast on Doordarshan and attained huge success once again. Around this time, the news about Prabha Mishra broke out and some fans wrongly believed that Aparajita has turned a Sadhvi. When this fake news reached Aparajita, she instantly connected with Prabha and demanded her apology on email.
Soon enough, several newspapers clarified the matter and Aparajita herself, gave some online interviews and thanked the viewers and fans, who brought it to her notice.
Today, Aparajita spends her time writing, researching, conducting workshops and counselling people regarding the art of healing. She is also a well-known columnist for Times of India and has written many articles for its Sunday supplement called Speaking Tree. Recently, her article featured as part of a Times of India’s e-book titled 20 Lessons in Finding Acceptance.
After the death of her father Bharat Bhushan in 1992, Aparajita wished to keep the collection of his library books but her step mother Ratna refused for unknown reasons. Later, those valuable books were found in a second hand store outside Churchgate Station, which broke her heart.
Getting over her past hardships, Aparajita lives a happy life today with her son, who works in a multinational company and daughter Vishnupriya (Baby Bulbul), who acted earlier as the twin daughter of Rishi Kapoor and Padmini Kolhapure in Pyar Ke Kabil (1987) and presently, runs her own company called Awsmosis Learning And People Solutions.
Aparajita continues her noble work as a spiritual healer today and has no intention to return to acting. She is still in touch with few of her Bollywood colleagues and is thankful to the film industry for providing work during her bad phase. Her life, with its share of sufferings and hardships, has finally got a happy finale. Just like the Bollywood movies she acted in!!
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All images courtesy Internet
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