Vyjayanthimala Quotes

Sangam had many firsts. The first technicolour film, the first film to have two intervals — in a way I was a part of history.

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

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

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

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

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.

Today’s dancers are not dignified. There’s a lot of talent but they are getting ample help. In our time you had to get the steps right, the words right and the movement right. Otherwise you had to start all over again. Today even if they miss a step it can be adjusted at the editing.

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.

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.

The need of the hour is to get people to talk to each other and to clear the air. I don't approve of fusion in art, but I definitely approve of it in the field of politics.

I don’t know if I am wrong, but singing slightly out of sur is also in vogue these days. And these pelvic movements and gestures are too much for me.

There were no acting schools or workshops then. What came naturally to you, is all you had. But Bharata Natyam taught me everything.

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.

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.

[[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.