Shoma Anand

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 post ’80s television boom in India proved to be a boon for many actors, whose filmy career was almost over. Former Bollywood actors like Shekhar Suman, Shafi Inamdar, Swaroop Sampat, Satish Shah Tiku Talsania, Rakesh Bedi, Archana Puran Singh, Neena Gupta, Anjana Mumtaz, Alok Nath, etc transitioned successfully from Hindi movies to TV serials. On the other hand, a young man called Shah Rukh Khan, who started his career on TV that time, went on to rule the film industry in the coming years.

Our forgotten gem for today also started her second innings on television with then newly launched Balaji Telefilms. From the late ’70s to most of ’80s, she was a regular in Bollywood films but her career never really took off as lead actress. Yes, we are talking about Shoma Anand.

Shoma was born on 16th February, 1958 as Neelam Arora in Amritsar to a Punjabi family and was the youngest amongst her siblings. When she was ten years old, her father moved to Mumbai where she completed her education.

Shoma was fond of dancing and learnt classical dance as a kid. She was also good at studies but her mother always wanted her to be an actress. Shoma’s father became friends with character actor Jankidas, who would often visit them and once asked a young Shoma if she wanted to be an actress. At that time, she did not have anything particular in mind but her mother encouraged her to become an actress.

Jankidas told Shoma about noted producer- director Pramod Chakravorty taking auditions for his new film Barood (1976) and suggested that she should try for it. Shoma gave the audition and successfully got the lead role. This was indeed a dream debut for her as she was cast opposite the charming and handsome Rishi Kapoor, who was a craze amongst her college gang. Moreover, the film was to be shot in New York.

Barood had an ensemble cast comprising Rishi Kapoor, Ashok Kumar, Ajit, Prem Chopra and reigning superstars Dharmendra and Hema Malini in special appearances. The film also had another heroine Reena Roy, who was not a big star in those days. An eighteen-year-old Shoma, who was just out of college, caught everyone’s eye in between this stellar cast. She was presented in a glamorous way wearing long neck short outfits and swimming costumes.

Despite the hype and expectations around it, Barood didn’t do that well and was just an average grosser. However, Shoma got noticed in the movie and was approached by a few filmmakers who cast her in their projects.

Shoma Anand went on to act in movies like Azaad (1978), Prem Jaal (1979), Patita (1980) and Judaai (1980). But none of these films could benefit her career in any manner. In 1980, she was cast again with her debut hero Rishi Kapoor in Aap Ke Deewane, which also had Rakesh Roshan in a pivotal role. But in this film, her character ends much before interval and Tina Munim takes over as the lead after that.

The early ’80s saw a decline in Shoma Anand’s career where she was seen playing the lead heroine in lesser-known films, getting relegated to supporting roles in big films like Himmatwala (1983) and Main Awara Hoon (1983) and generally getting overshadowed by other actress.

In 1983, Shoma was paired again opposite Rishi Kapoor in Manmohan Desai’s blockbuster hit Coolie (1983). Shoma featured in the song ‘Lambuji Lambuji’ where both superstar Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi try to woo her hilariously. But eventually, Coolie was regarded as Amitabh- Rati Agnihotri starrer and Shoma hardly got any credit for it in spite its massive box office success.

The following year, Shoma Anand was seen in her last lead role in mentor Pramod Chakravorty’s Jagir (1984), which was in the making for a long time. Jagir turned out to be a surprise hit at the box office. But by this time, younger heroines had made space for themselves in Bollywood and no big filmmaker wanted to cast Shoma Anand in lead roles.

The ’80s decade was also notable for family dramas in Bollywood, invariably featuring Mithun Chakraborty, Govinda or Meenakshi Seshadri in the lead. The usual plot of these movies would feature a happy joint middle-class family in the first half, which would be broken later due to the arrival of the newly married vampish ‘bhabhi’ in their home. Shoma Anand made a new career for herself as that evil bhabhi.

Interestingly, Shoma was most often paired with actor Raj Kiran as her husband and together, they would play the joint family breakers. Shoma and Raj worked in fifteen films together and played the home breakers in around ten movies. Finally in the climax, Shoma would always be repenting her snobbish attitude and asking the family members (including the hero or heroine) to forgive her.

Some of her successful family dramas include Ghar Ek Mandir (1984), Ghar Dwar (1985), Swarag Se Sundar (1986), Ghar Ka Sukh (1987), Aurat Teri Yehi Kahani (1988), Dariya Dil (1988), Pyar Ka Mandir (1988), Bade Ghar Ki Beti (1989), Jaisi Karni Waisi Bharni (1989), Ghar Parivar (1991), etc. Shoma got lot of appreciation for these vampish roles and finally, her talent started getting noticed in Bollywood. But at the peak of her career, she decided to settle down in life, got married and reduced her movie assignments.

After completing her pending films in the early ’90s, Shoma Anand took a sabbatical from acting. Her delayed movies like Naseebwaala and Professor Ki Padosan released right till 1994.

In her comeback, Shoma Anand decided to try her luck in television, which had turned lucrative by mid ’90s with launch of satellite channels like Zee TV. Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Telefilms was a newbie then and they decided to try their luck with a family comedy in form of Hum Paanch (1995).