Flashback On Moscow Visit -Padmini & Ragini (article on Sport and Pastime 1957)

   Padmini and her sister Ragini are back from Russia where they stayed for just over a month. They returned to Madras some weeks ago and have been meeting journalists and posing for photographers in between their work at the studios where they reported for duty almost straight from the airport!

    This writer was perhaps very much far behind in the queue of persons wanting to talk to the sisters about their experiences in Russia, but when his turn did come last week he found that their recollections and impressions were as fresh and buoyant as when they landed in Bombay. First indication that memories of the Russian visit were still having a powerful hold on them came when I found them talking in a strange language which their elder sister, Lalitha (who has retired from the arena of the film world after her marriage) later told me was Russian. 

From left: Ragini, officer holding grand prix won by Raj kapoor for Jagte Raho at
Karlovy vary film festival, padmini, Raj kapoor, mrs pritviraj kapoor and Prem Dhawan on extreme right 

  “So you have picked up Russian”, I remarked. “Oh yes”, said Ragini. “ I can speak Russian very well. I can give you a demonstration if you want”. And a torrent of words poured forth from her lips which Padmini tried to translate into english for my benefit. “I suppose you are entertaining your studio friends with your Russian”, I said to Padmini. “No”, she replied, “if I speak Russian, they cannot reply to me in Russian and so I practise my Russian with Ragi”.

“Going to Russia, a foreign country, didn’t you feel strange?” I asked. “On the contrary”, Padmini said, “we felt as though we were visiting some distant relatives of ours. We felt very much at home and we were overwhelmed by the hospitality and kindness of the people”.

 Typical of the warmth of affection shown to them was that of the famous Uzbek dancer Tamara Khanum who took them to her house, fed them with food which they relished and which they found nearer to the diet they were accustomed to in India, and taught them some pieces of Uzbek dance. She presented them with Uzbek dancing costume, the materials for which she specially secured from Tashkent. They became so much attached to each other, that the Indian visitors called the soviet dancer, “Russian Mummy”. Actually in our country Tamara Khanum would be called a grandmother for she was 55 and still at the height of her career. She, however, looks so young, said Padmini, that no one would suspect her real age.

 Most memorable experience of the sisters was the entertainment they provided to the hundreds of thousands who had gathered in the vast Moscow Stadium for the youth festival. On the opening day, Padmini and Ragini along with other indian delegates marched in procession for three miles holding aloft India’s tri-colour when the youth of the various countries participating in the festival paraded before the huge audience which included Russia’s top leaders. On the second day they were asked to give a performance for 15 minutes. They had gone ill-prepared. They could dance only two items and the tape-recorders providing the music for these which they had taken with them were found unsuitable. So they sought the help of the American Embassy and recorded the music in an other tape. The items they danced were Nadanam Aadinar in Bharatanatyam style and folk dance which represented a harvest scene. Sometimes they give two or three performances in one evening to different audiences and it was seldom that they were able to keep to the 15 minute time limit. For the Russians were irrepressible and they called for encore so often and there was continuous applause for many minutes that the dancers could but but oblige them with a repetition of their dance.

Padmini

The two sisters won first prize for the classical and folk dances in a competition organised by the youth festival committee. They did not know the result until four days after the performance and they were in jitters all the time. And it was a Korean dancer who  bruke the glad tidings to them in return for which they taught her something of Bharatanatya technique. The official announcement of the result came sometime later, but unfortunately they missed being present at the presentation ceremony because they lost the letter informing them about it.

 All the first prize winners, of whom there were 16, were given a reception at the hall of columns were they also entertained the Muscovites. Their performance were televised and the newspaper carried their pictures, so much so that the Russians easily recognized them in the streets and waved to them, shouting “Bravo”. They made them dance and sing in the streets and during festival time, in every street corner there was a stage, said Ragini. After every performance they were invited to walk through the crowd, so that they could see the visitors from India better and they showered flowers on them, crying “Pashli” (come).

 “The Russians like Indians so much that when I went shopping, I was deluged with presents because I came from the land of Nehru and Raj Kapoor”,Ragini said. One evening as Ragini emerged from a Puppet theatre she found herself shivering from cold since she had not taken the precaution to protect herself. Seeing her plight, A Russian woman took off her overcoat and threw it over Ragini and before the latter could realise what was happening she was snowed under by more overcoats which had been offered to make her comfortable. A taxi was hastily summoned and the sisters were safely taken to their hotel.

 On another occasion, the sisters went to Mosfilm studio, where the director Alaxandrov was filming a fashion show with French girls. When he saw Padmini and Ragini in their beautiful saries, he was so impressed that he desired them to come on the set and be included in the film. That was how they came to know about this famous director who has signed them to act in a Russian film, whose provisional title is ‘Family of Nations’. The film, Padmini said, would be based on the activities of the Youth Festival and they would have to dance as they did at the festival. They propose to leave for Russia in march and they might stay there for two months. This time they would visit the Asian republics of the Soviet Union from where they had received a number of invitations.

 The sisters were not happy about the food and practically most of the time they lived on bread and curds. They found chillies, an essential part of their diet at home, scarce in Moscow. When they did manage to secure one or two, they kept on nibbling at it in order to make it last as long as possible.

 The Russian journalists were interested in them and their art and held an exclusive reception for them at which they plied them with questions. Ragini answered most of them and demonstrated the many features of Bharatanatyam. After the 40 minute press conference, the journalists put their pencil and notebooks down and began to sing and dance in which Padmini and Ragini participated.

 “One thing about us which mystified the Russians”, said Padmini, “ was the tilak mark on our forehead, every Russians whom we met invariably asked us why we used the tilak and what it signified”. “In fact the questions were so numerous”, Ragini intervened, “that we wrote the answers in a piece of paper and displayed it to the curious”.

  “What is your impressions during your visit”? I asked Padmini. She said the impression she carried most in her mind was the extraordinary work of the Russian woman, either in the field or in the factory. She even felt that the women worked better than the men. With them work came first, pleasure afterwards.

 “Is there any concrete result of your visit?” I asked, “Well” she said, “ I have stopped working on sundays ever since I returned from Russia and that is perhaps one result”.

When I turned to Ragini and asked for her impressions, she bought a notebook in which she had written some notes and began to tell me about the Communist philosophy. “you know, what I would like to do”. She said after sometime, “ I would like to to Russia and settle down there”.

 “That is, if Mummy doesn’t object”, I put in.

 “Of course, there's the rub”, she agreed.

 

A beautiful Photo of Padmini from Pardesi 1957

Padmini in Indo-Soviet film Pardesi/Journey beyond three seas 1957

     

Padmini on Filmfare magazine cover 1953

Padmini on filmfare cover 1953

This was the first filmfare magazine dated 20 February 1953 with Padmini on cover page.

Shiv Bhakta 1955

   Shiv bakhta was a mythological film that came under AVM production, directed by H L N Sinha and music by Chitrgupta. Songs were penned by Gopal Singh Nepali.  Songs were considered evergreen.

 Padmini’s role was a vamp. There are excellent classical dances by Padmini in this film.

This was Padmini’s third hindi film followed by Kalpana 1948 and Mr Sampat 1952.

Padmini as Rani In Shiv Bhakta

Story:

   Manimantha and Alka, A husband and wife of gandharvaloka, are compelled because of a curse to return to earth as mortals. How they seek and find salvation is their story, and the story of Shiv Bhakta.

   

They are found as babies by the chieftain of a tribe hunters. He takes them home and brings them up. In course of time they both grow up. Deena (Shahu Modek) grows to manhood and Neela (Pandari Bhai) becomes his pretty wife. Heaven now takes a hand in their affairs.

Deena, himself a hunter and the chieftain’s favorite, is envied by his fellow who conspire against him and their plotting culminates in the banishment of the couple from the tribe. Deena, burning under these happenings losses faith in God.

  

 Husband and wife leaves for Kalahasti. Hard times befall them and Deena turns against God, though his wife’s faith remains unshaken.

  

 One stormy day, Deena loses his way in the rain and seeks shelter in the temple of Sri Kalahastishwar. He meets Kashi (Anant Kumar), thye nephew of the chief priest of the temple (Misra). Their meeting is a turning point in the young hunter’s life.

   

 Kashi teaches Deena a mantra which brings him success as a hunter. The mantra makes him think of God again and on his return he offers a rabbit to the temple God.

  

 When Kashi comes to the temple, he is happy to discover the offering. But his uncle, the chief priest, objects to the offering of meat and learns from Kashi that it is the hunter’s.

The chief priest recalls him (Deena) as the person who had insulted him once in front of the house of a temple dancer named Rani (Padmini). The dancer has a hold on the chief priest; both she and her mother (Rushyendramani) exploiting him for gifts of money and jewel.

   

Soon there comes an occasion when Rani asks the chief priest for a necklace from the idol of goddess Parvathi. The chief priest goes to the temple and removes the necklace and, as he makes off with it, he sees Deena there. He hies himself to Rani’s house, gives her the necklace and returns to the temple accompanied by the village headman before whom he accuses Deena of the theft.

   

The hunter is brought before the village panchayat to answer charges of desecrating the temple with the flesh of animals and of stealing the goddess’s necklace.

   

Deena’s wife Neela comes to the panchayat meeting to plead her husband’s cause, but in vain. The chief priest dominates the proceedings and the innocent hunter is condemned. In despair Neela goes to the Priest’s house and begs his wife Gouri to get her husband to pardon Deena. Just then the priest arrives and turns the unfortunate woman out.

Meanwhile Deena is chained and tortured. But he does not shake off his new found faith and, while he prays, the iron chain which bind him fall apart miraculously. Deena runs to the temple and there finds blood flowing ceaselessly from the eye of the shiva linga. Unable to bear the sight, he prepares to gouge out his own eyes and offer them to the image.

 

Deena offering his eyes to Shiva Linga

 The villagers come running to the temple where they find Shiva and Parvathi blessing the brave and faithful hunter. They all embrace him.

  Having in the manner, undergone all their worldly sufferings, Manimathana and Alka once again attain peace, happiness and salvation.

Padmini's Association with Raj Kapoor

 The Nargis chapter closed like a heavy door, slamming shut the most intense and creative phase of Raj kapoor’s life. Nargis had been the centre that held his working life for a decade. Raj kapoor now needed another heroine. Padmini, one of the famous Travancore sisters, was a natural successor. When Raj Kapooer fell ill after Nargis’s sudden departure from Moscow, Padmini happened to be there. The south Indian actress nursed him through his cold and high fever. Raj Kapoor even told a few friends that he made ‘Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai’ as a thank you gesture to Padmini. Or was it on the rebound for Nargis. We know that until shree 420, nargis was the only heroine of films made in RK studio. After her exit Raj kapoor brought Padmini to there as a replacement for Nargis. Through Padmini’s entry a new stlye of film was seen, Raj kapoor brought sexuality and sensuality in padmini films.

 The voluptuous dancer-actress has hovered in his field of vision. When shooting for Chori Chori in Madras, Padmini has been on another set in the same studio. At their free time Raj and Nargis would visit Padmini’s set in the studio and also her home.

 

Raj Kapoor, Nimmi and Padmini

Padmini and Raj Kapoor got involved to each other well during the youth Festival in Moscow, where she had gone with her sister Ragini(In the youth festival Padmini was awarded as best classical dancer). Raj Kapoor went moscow to participate in karlovy vary award function. Both Padmini and Raj kapoor stayed in the same hotel Padmini was acting in russian film Khozdanie za tri morya. Padmini didn’t stand a chance. She was a leading star in the south when kapoor worked his charm and lured her to Bombay. The Madras film industry was up in arms when she headed north. She has been a popular star in Tamil, Malayalam, and telugu film. Padmini got many threatening letters when she became a raj kapoor heroine. So did Kapoor, from producers and directors who feared that she would no longer be available for their films and worse that she was going to become ‘second Nargis’. Padmini’s mother Saraswathi amma was equally apprehensive about the effect of Raj Kapoor’s seductive charms on her daughter. She watched over her daughter, scolding her more than once for any perceived intimacy with Raj Kapoor. She almost dragged Padmini from Jabalpur where where the famous waterfall sequence ‘O meine pyar kiya’(Jis desh..) was being filmed.

 Until Jagte Raho Raj’s films were not overtly sexual. In the post Nargis era they are: journey from sensuality to sexuality was a short sprint. Rakj Kapoor’s camera lingers longingly on Padmini;s curves and cleavages, the way it used to explore Nargis’s face. He may have put Nargis in swimsuit, slaped her and pulled her unruily locks of hair, but she was never a sexual object in his films. In Jis desh… camera has turned voyeuristic: it seldom strays from Padmini’s ample body, especially her large breasts which the cut of her choli and the embroidery on it accentuated.

Lps of Raj Kapoor Padmini Films-Jis desh mein ganga behti hai, Aashiq and Mera naam joker

In the song ‘O Meine pyar kiya’. Padmini oozes sexuality when suddenly aware of the fact that she is in love with character played by Raj Kapoor, she jumps into a pond and swims, exposing large expanses of luminous flesh as she keeps in and out of the water like a drunken mermaid. Her face is a study in sensual arousal, her eyes full of dreamy longing. She wears a black saree wound tightly round her body. There is no blouse, and of course there’s a waterfall. Padmini looks like a woman who had stepped out of Raja Ravivarma painting (the travancore painter who invented wet saree look in his painting and later Raj kapoor immortalized on celliloid).

Raj Kapoor makes her a sexual object in Mera Naam Joker as well. The screen sizzles in the song ‘Ang Lagja Balma’ when she sheds her male disguise and puts a saree for the first time in her life. A flesh colored saree is draped tightly over Padmini, once again without a blouse. When she goes looking for her hero-joker in the middle of the night she is drenched in torrential rain.

Obviously the onscreen chemistry between Raj Kapoor and Padmini worked. Jis desh mein Ganga behti hai did very well at the box office. Its success restored Raj Kapoor’s self confidence. After Nargis’s sudden departure he hadf begun to believe that he was finished as a film maker: Jagte Raho has been a miserable flop. He was so unsure of himself that he put down Radhu Karmakar’s name as the director of Jis desh mein ganga behti hai. She also acted with him in the film Aashiq, a film produced by bunney Reuben and V K Dubey. It was at the time of her pregnancy time, she acted in Aashiq.

Padmini faced many rumours while acting with Raj. Her pregnancy delivery in 8th month after marriage too created rumours(at that time she was acting with raj kapoor in Aashiq, but delivary in 8^th month is due to her over strain in dancing) .Raj and Padmini continued to be best friends. Whenever Raj Kapoor is in America he doesn’t forget to visit Padmini’s house.

source: Raj kapoor , Kapoors: the first family of indian cinema by madhu Jain, Filmfare magazine, Anantha vikatan magazine