She never acted in school plays and the first time she had to sing on stage at an awards function, Padmini Kolhapure was so nervous that her mentor, Raj Kapoor, who was in the audience, had to clap to the beat to boost her confidence. However, since then, the actress has worked in over 70 films and done several plays, including the emotional Kaash, a story of two sisters with her playing a call girl to support the family, madcap comedies like Aasmaan Se Gira Khajoor Mein Atka with brother-in-law Shakti
Kapoor and Abhi To Main Jawan Hoon with Naveen Bawa, also Baap Ka Baap with Asrani and Bawa again which she describes as “full-on Bollywood with song, dance, drama and comedy”. More recently, she’s been in the news for the play Ammi… Akhtari, written by
DR M Sayeed Alam, which celebrates Dr Begum Akhtar’s life, times and contributions in the 50th year of her passing.
Padmini shares that when director Saif Hyder Hasan approached her to play Begum Akhtar, her immediate reaction was, “No way!” She pointed out that she would have to speak in chaste Urdu and he would expect her to sing like the legendary ghazal queen. “No way!” she reiterated.
Unfazed, Saif coaxed her to read the script, promising her that they would get a professional singer to sing the ghazals and dadras which intersperse the narrative at crucial points. He eventually got not just Padmini on board, but also her sister Tejaswini Kolhapure, who plays Begum Akhtar’s shagird, Sukhi.
“It was Tejaswini who pointed out that any female ghazal singer he got on board would invite comparisons so why not get Talat Aziz to sing Begum Akhtar’s ghazals live on stage instead. It was a brilliant idea!” she exclaims, sharing that Begum Akhtar was one of her father Pandit Pandharinath Kolhapure’s favourites singers. “He admired her gayiki, and I’ve grown up listening to her ghazals, like Woh jo hum mein tum mein qarar tha. So, every time Talat Aziz sings the first ghazal in the play, and the last, I get gooseflesh.”
Padmini points out that Ammi… Akhtari has great recall value for those like her who grew up listening to the ghazal queen and admiring the phenomenon that she was. It is also an introduction to those, mostly from today’s generation, who didn’t know her at all. Padmini herself didn’t know anything about Begum Akhtar except for her ghazals. “But while watching her videos as part of my prep, I discovered how she never looked stressed on stage. Also, the quality of her voice cannot be imitated. She was one of those rare singers born to sing while still in her mother’s womb so it’s gratifying when people applaud spontaneously at certain moments when I’m on stage,” she exults, informing that a lady drove down to Mumbai from Pune just to see the play and after watching it exclaimed, ‘What a powerhouse performer you are!’ I felt good hearing that,” she laughs, pointing out that theatre is an actor’s medium because once on stage, it’s just you and the audience. “The responsibility is huge, but the feedback is instant and you rediscover yourself as an actress.”
She is delighted that her diction and pronunciation has passed muster with her Urdu-speaking friends and remembers Tinnu Anand’s Yeh Ishq Nahin Aasaan with Rishi Kapoor which had required her to speak chaste Urdu too. “It’s not all that difficult, just that if you forget a particular word, it’s difficult for me to come up with an instant replacement,” she smiles. She admits that working with Shakti or Tejaswini make it easier because you can have frank discussions and advise each other without worrying about it offending anyone.
Even though Padmini hasn’t sung in this play, singing is in her genes thanks to her grandfather, Pandit Krishnarao Kolhapure, an exponent of Natya Sangeet, and her father, a vocalist and veena player. She was just a kid and had to stand on a stool to reach the mike when, with elder sister Shivangi, she joined her aunt, Lata Mangeshkar, to sing the title track of Yaadon Ki Baaraat. Her Didi Aatya also gave playback for her in films like Souten, Prem Rog and Woh Saat Din. Prem Rog was Lataji’s favourite film and she would say, “No one can cry better than Padmini on screen.”
Her aunt’s song, Yeh Galiyan Yeh Choubara from Prem Rog, is Padmini’s favourite and years later, she recorded it for her son Priyaank Sharma’s Dhamaka Records with Lata Mangeshkar herself asking the music company Sa Re Ga Ma (previously HMV) which has the rights for permission. She picks Raj Kapoor’s social drama in which she played a young widow, along with Ahista Ahista, and the coming-of-age Anubhav, as her most challenging performance “for the mixed emotions I had to portray”.
This year, on Janmashtami, Padmini recorded a bhajan with Chitralekha Devi, Mere Kanhaiya, for Priyaank and Paras Mehta’s music label and it’s being played a lot at ISKCON. There will be more songs and her producer-husband Tutu Sharma is also working on a couple of films.
Maybe one day, we will also see Shakti, Tejaswini and her on stage together? “Yeah, why not,” she smiles, delighted that niece Shraddha Kapoor has delivered the year’s biggest blockbuster, Stree 2, even though the horror-comedy gave her the shivers.
You can watch Ammi… Akhtari at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Chowpatty, Mumbai on December 14, 2024, 8 PM.
