The Eyes Have it

Divas whose souls lit up the screen like flickering diyas...

- RAJEEV MASAND

Nutan

Her delicate face, half-hidden in the folds of her saree, turned away as her lover walks away—Nutan was eternal in the eponymous role in Sujata (1959), a woman struggling for identity against a brutal caste system. The role that defined her as an actress; we saw her vulnerability, the quiet ache of a girl seeking acceptance. She mined that delicate vein of silver in Seema (1955) and Bandini (1963), but there was also playfulness in Tere Ghar Ke Samne (1863), as she skipped down the Qutub Minar’s steps with Dev Anand, singing about the hum in their hearts. That blend of softness and steel flowed into a variety of roles over four decades, that unforgettable sweetness of her smile lighting up the screen even amidst the greys of life.

Smita Patil 

She played many incandescent roles in a short-lived career, but two stood out—both where she played, ironically, actresses. In Shyam Benegal’s Bhumika (1977), she was Usha, struggling to find her identity through abuse and emotional upheaval, succeeding as a star even as the men around her exploit and stifle her. In Arth (1982), she was the highly-strung, mentally fragile Kavita, in an affair with her much-married director. Smita interplays the high-voltage scenes with her contemporary Shabana Azmi beautifully—the ‘other woman’ so haunted by the ghost of ‘the wife’. Emotions chased across her face in films from across genres, whether Manthan (1976), or as she let her hair down and captured joyfulness and sensuality in Namak Halaal (1982). The image that stays with you, perhaps fittingly, is from her last year: the sheer rebelliousness as she hurls chillies in the face of her tormentor (Mirch Masala, 1986).

Waheeda Rehman