R. K. Narayan, Guide, 1958: “…As they sipped their coffee, Rosie began her dance, to the accompaniment of a song that she lightly sang. I ventured to beat time with my hands, like a very knowing one. They watched in fascination. She suddenly paused, wiped the perspiration from her brow, took a deep breath, and, before resuming again, said to me, “Don’t beat time; it misleads me.”
“All right,” I said, awkwardly grinning, trying not to look snubbed. I whispered, “Oh, she is so precise, you know.” They shook their heads.
She finished her piece and asked, “Shall I go on? Shall I do ‘The Dancing Feet’?”
“Yes, yes,” I cried, glad to be consulted. “Go on. They will like it.”
When they recovered from the enchantment, one of them said, “I must admit I have never cared for Bharat Natyam, but watching this lady is an education. I now know why people are in raptures over it.”
The other said, “My only fear is that she may be too good for our function. But it doesn’t matter. I’ll reduce the other items to give her all the time she wants.”…”
R. K. Narayan, ‘My Days’,1974: “…Lord Mountbatten suddenly asked, “What’s the story of The Guide?” Pearl Buck began to narrate it, but could not proceed very far with it. I heard her say, “There was a man called Raju—he was a guide—”
“What guide?” asked his lordship, in his deep voice.
This question upset her flow of narration. She turned to me and said, “Narayan, you tell the story.”
I would not open my mouth. Dammit, I had taken eighty thousand words to tell the story; I was not going to be drawn into it now. Press announcements had given Pearl Buck credit for writing the screenplay, and it was said that she had been paid an advance of twenty-five or two hundred thousand dollars, and I was not going to help her out now. She looked pleadingly at me, and everyone there tried to egg me on. I sat tight. Pearl Buck meandered: “There was Rosie—the dancer. . . .”
“Oh!” exclaimed M. “Who is she? What happened to her?” he asked with a sudden interest, which made Pearl Buck once again lose track of her own narration. I must admit that I enjoyed her predicament, as she treated Mountbatten to a mixed-up, bewildering version of The Guide…”
ZIYA US SALAM, Frontline, November 2017: “…But not once did (Lekh) Tandon remind anyone that cinema was essentially a director’s medium where actors carry out the director’s vision. He was always happy to stay behind the scenes, happy to let others hog the limelight. He was like an industrious worker who did his job, collected his wages, and worried about the next day. In his case, the next film.
This ability to blend with the shadows is particularly praiseworthy when one considers Tandon’s body of work. Besides the hits with Shammi Kapoor, he gave us Amrapali (1966), which was selected as the Indian entry for the Oscars. A more self-obsessed man would have been hungry for the spotlight, but not Tandon. He let Vyjayanthimala and Sunil Dutt, the film’s lead pair, be the talk of the town. And as the media talked endlessly about the film’s stars, music and dance numbers, it seemed that the director was almost incidental. Tandon was happy to be anonymous. Amrapali, in the common man’s mind, was a Vyjayanthimala movie with five superhit songs by Lata Mangeshkar…”
Sukanya Verma , March 2004: “…As for the dances, Vyjayanthimala's training in Bharata Natyam came in handy. The actress made Gopi Krishna's highly complicated dance steps look so simple with her grace. Her sex appeal was tastefully showcased in Bhanu Athaiya's costumes, which later came to be known as Amrapali blouses.
…Despite all its splendour, Amrapali didn't get a favourable response at the box-office.
Director Lekh Tandon moved on to find success in light-hearted comedies like Prince, Jhuk Gaye Aasman and dramas like Doosri Dulhan, Dulhan Wohi Jo Piya Man Bhaye and Agar Tum Na Hote.
But the film's leading lady, Vyjayanthimala, who looked breathtakingly beautiful, was heartbroken. Soon after Amrapali's no-show, she quit films.”
ह्या वर्षी हिंदी सिनेमा 'आम्रपाली' ला ५५ वर्षे पूर्ण होत आहेत.
गाईड १९६५ मध्ये प्रकाशित झाला आणि असे म्हणतात की इंग्लिश भाषेतील गाईडच्या दिग्दर्शक पर्ल बक यांच्या मुळे रोझी (Rosie) ची भूमिका वैजयंतीमाला यांच्या ऐवजी वहिदा रेहमान यांना मिळाली कारण त्यांना आंतरराष्ट्रीय सिनेमासाठी बारीक रोझी हवी होती.
आम्रपाली मध्ये वैजयंतीमाला अशा दिसतात की त्यांच्या इतके सुंदर आणि आकर्षक हिंदी सिनेमाच्या आजवरच्या इतिहासात क्वचितच कोणी दिसले असेल. (मला स्वतःला लहानपणचे c1967 त्यांचे आवडलेले ह्या सिनेमाचे पोस्टर्स आठवतात!)
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