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.
Although not a huge hit, Ramesh Sippy’s love triangle Saagar is still remembered for the marvellous performance of Kamal Haasan as well as R.D. Burman’s soulful music. The film’s start had a song ‘O Maria’, where a Catholic wedding is taking place in a fishermen village in which the lead pair Kamal Haasan and Dimple Kapadia dance merrily to this scintillating number predicting the love story of the bride and groom.
The groom Johnny was played by comedian Mustaq Merchant while the bride Maria was the beautiful and talented Kiran Vairale. Though Saagar is not one of the best roles of her career, Kiran is invariably called Maria due to this famous song.
Kiran Vairale never got a chance to play a lead heroine in any of her movies but left her mark in supporting roles of the sister or heroine’s friend. Throughout her career, she worked in many art as well as commercial films but somehow, never got her due. After an acting career lasting about a decade, she left the industry to settle down in marriage but remained in the heart of her fans forever.
Born in 1958 in Akola, Maharashtra to Madhusudhan Vairale, a Lok Sabha member of parliament and Jayshree Vairale, a homemaker, Kiran studied at St Anne’s Girls School, Fort and St. Xavier’s College, both in Mumbai. In those days, most rich families like hers, would prefer their children getting educated from Delhi or Mumbai.
Kiran was never fond of acting but in 1972, when she was in Class X, things took an unexpected turn for her and pushed her in to the acting stream. One day, she saw a young and handsome man speaking to their school principal. He wanted to direct a play for this school. This handsome guy was none other than the talented actor Farooq Shaikh, who later turned out to be her mentor and best friend forever.
Farooq came to Kiran’s classroom and asked if anyone was interested to act in a forty-five minutes one act play. Though not formally trained in acting, Kiran enrolled for it and surprisingly, got selected to play the lead.
The play offered to her was based on the immortal love saga of Mirza- Sahibaan. Interestingly, Kiran Vairale was exactly opposite of this iconic character as she was a total tomboy in real life. She went to Farooq Shaikh and told him upfront that she can’t play a docile village girl. He gave her the whole bound script and told her to read it and then make up her mind.
Kiran ended up doing the role of Sahibaan and since then, Farooq kept in touch with her and later, recommended her to the famous radio announcer Ameen Sayani, who was producing plays for radio and television (TV) that time. After this, there was no looking back for Kiran as she slowly started enjoying acting as a profession.
In 1975, while she was still studying in second year college, Kiran Vairale joined Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA). Farooq Shaikh also suggested her to meet noted stage director Satyadev Dubey, who was looking out for young girls for his production. After meeting Satyadev Dubey, Kiran signed her first stage play ‘Sambhog Se Sanyas Tak’, thus commencing her journey in theatre.
Kiran started taking acting seriously now and would rehearse regularly after her college. She would always thank Farooq for discovering the actor in her and even got a chance to do a few plays with him.
After being a regular theatre actor, Vairale signed her first Hindi film Bhumika in 1977, where she featured alongside legends like Smita Patil, Amrish Puri, Anant Nag, Mohan Agashe, Amol Palekar, Sulbha Deshpande and Naseeruddin Shah. Bhumika began her Bollywood stint and Kiran was seen in films like Doosara Aadmi (1977) and Jeena Yahan (1979). But her first major role came in G.P. Sippy’s Ahsaas (1979). This film introduced newcomers Dina and Parvez alongside Rakesh Bedi and Kiran Vairale, who played his love interest in this teenage love story.
The best thing that happened to Kiran in Ahsaas was the chance to dance with the God of Bollywood Amitabh Bachchan in the song ‘Rootho na’. In this song, Kiran can be seen jiving steps with the superstar perfectly though she is just half his height, which Bachchan funnily measures when she gets selected to dance opposite him, making her boyfriend Rakesh Bedi jealous. Unfortunately, Ahsaas was a commercial failure.
The early ’80s saw many comedy dramas getting made and Kiran became part of them appearing in films like Saath Saath (1982), Namkeen (1982), Shubh Kamna (1983) and Lorie (1984) which had her mentor Farooq Shaikh playing the lead role. Sadly, none of these films could help her career.
Next, Kiran Vairale got the splendid opportunity to work with showman Raj Kapoor in his Prem Rog (1982), where she played the cousin sister of Rishi Kapoor and best friend of the heroine Padmini Kolhapure. Her character of Radha loves to live life on her own terms and seeks marital bliss in a man (Rajendranath) who is double her age. Prem Rog is considered one of her best performances.
Though Prem Rog was a big hit, Kiran could never do the transition to main lead in Bollywood and was reduced to just character roles in movies like Ek Jaan Hain Hum (1983), Hum Hain Lajawaab (1984), Jawaab (1985), Saagar (1985) and Saveray Wali Gadi (1986). In 1983, she made her Kannada debut by playing a lead role against then struggling actor Anil Kapoor in the film titled Pallavi Anu Pallavi. This movie sank without a trace.
By 1984, Kiran’s career graph had slid downwards and she wasn’t getting good movie offers. Around that time, she also parted ways with IPTA permanently. In the same year, she did participate in the grand festival of India event in New York, where Vijaya Mehta directed a play.
Finally, Kiran decided to quit films and settle down in her life. But at the fag end of her career, she got a role of a lifetime not in Bollywood but in the Marathi film Aaz Zale Mukt Mi (1986). This film was a horror thriller with legends like Vikram Gokhale, Madhu Kambikar and Mohan Gokhale along with Kiran Vairale. The film was based on the theme of reincarnation and was well received by the audience. Strangely, Kiran didn’t get more offers in Marathi and soon enough, quit acting.
Her final film was the much-delayed Galiyon Kaa Badshah, which was in the making since 1981. By the time it limped to theatres in 1990, Kiran had already quit Bollywood.
Kiran married Syed Fahd and settled in New York with him in the late ’80s. Fahd is the son of thespian Dilip Kumar’s sister Taj. Kiran and Fahd are blessed with a son Asad and now, she goes by the name Kiran Mumtaz.
After settling in New York, there was no news about Kiran until she gave an interview a few years back, to a leading website.
It seems Kiran along with her husband, started Adnet Advertising around 1995-96, which is one of the leading immigration based recruitment advertising agencies in America.
Kiran has been away from the camera for more than thirty five years and is said to be doing good in her business. She kept in touch with her mentor and close friend Farooq Shaikh right until his death in 2013.
Most people, particularly today’s generation, may not know Kiran Vairale but Maria of Saagar will be an instant connect for all!!
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All images courtesy Internet
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