Vyjayanthimala Quotes

As it is, being a South Indian I used to say my own lines and everybody marveled at it, and then to learn Bhojpuri... Dilipsaab was very helpful.

I poured my heart and soul into the role of Chandramukhi. In my view, hers was the greater character (compared with Paro's). One scene that will forever be etched in my memory is the one in which Devdas takes leave of Chandramukhi, saying that he hopes he will meet her again, 'if not in this lifetime, then in the next'.

My first colour sequence was in what was then called ‘Geva Colour’ for the dream sequence in Nagin.

My dances were not like today’s, which have progressed with an Indian and Western combination or fusion which has become repetitive. You cannot tell one dance from the other. Everyone wants to be Michael Jackson. But I like some of them like that ‘Radha kaise na jale’ from Lagaan. I like classical stuff.

I was cast as a college girl and that wasn’t really hard to play as I was very young then. I was treated as a child on the sets. When the movies finally hit the theatres, all the newspapers carried reviews that said, ‘What natural acting.'

That's because I simply carried on dancing, [she said]. It was my first love, and thanks to my taskmaster of a grandmother (Yadugiri Devi), I had never stopped my Bharata Natyam.

I think I was born to dance. That’s what my grandmother told me. So it was always in my system.

She says she was the only south Indian actress who could speak Hindi without a South Indian accent, at the time.

I always cribbed about having such a long name and my grandmother would say that nobody else will be called ‘Vyjayanthimala'.

aAs a creative artiste dedicated to a spiritual art form I was deeply pained by the communal violence in Gujarat.

[[w:Raj Kapoor|Raj Kapoor was a true showman. He knew exactly what he wanted from me and Rajendra Kumar in Sangam, whereas Devsaab (Anand) had his own style his own mannerisms. I learnt so much from Dilipsaab especially mannerisms, like the way of delivering my Bhojpuri lines.

If Bharatanatyam helped my movies, I cannot say the same about films helping my Bharatanatyam.

I was surrounded by dance, music and religious chants, so it was that kind of a mood. Our family was very culturally-minded, especially my grandmother. She was also quite the disciplinarian. She made sure I practiced daily for hours.

There were so many different characters that I have played. Radha in Sangam was a very sophisticated woman and the setting was very refined, while in Dhanno in Gunga Jumna was rustic, a village belle. Even the language was different.

Of course, there's also politics — "though far less so than before," admitted the three-time MP, who now is a member of the BJP.