Waheeda Rehman’s Odisha link: When The Star Performed In Berhampur, Not Once But Twice

Berhampur: Did you know there was an Odisha link to Waheeda Rehman?

The veteran film actress, who will be conferred with the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Lifetime Achievement Award, actually did her first stage show as a dancer at Berhampur’s Ganjam Kala Parishad here – over seven decades ago.

Her maiden charity show was organised by her uncle Dr Ferose Ali, who was a famous physician and social activist in the Silk City. She performed Bharatnatyam, way back in 1952, when she was not a big star.

She returned to Berhampur for her second performance, eight years later.

‘‘Waheeda had the combination of beauty and talent. When approached by my parents, she immediately agreed to do a Bharatanatyam performance at Berhampur. A few thousands of rupees were collected and the famous ‘All India Fieaz Memorial Tournament’ for football was born in honour of my late grandfather,” mentioned Dr Ferose’s daughter Nargis Natarajan, in her book ‘Daddy – A Bouquet of Memories’.

Sporting activities in Ganjam district received a big boost in 1952 when “daddy donated a large six-feet black wooden plank shield for the ‘All India Fieaz Memorial Tournament’,” Nargis wrote.

Waheeda was a close associate of Nargis’ mother’s family in Waltair.

“She described Waheeda as one of the most ravishing and attractive beauties of the sixties,” Nargis said.

A famous Telugu film director saw Waheeda’s dance performance at Ganjam Kala Parishad and approached her for a brief dance sequence in his film ‘Rojulu Marayi’, which was released in 1955. Although the cast included famous south Indian stars Nageswar Rao and Sowcar Janaki, lady luck smiled on young Waheeda, and her dance sequence and the song shot into fame.

During the 100-day celebrations of her debut movie, legendary filmmaker and actor Guru Dutt was so charmed by Waheeda’s beauty, he offered her a lead role in his film.

In 1956, Waheeda was paired with Dev Anand in Guru Dutt’s ‘CID’. And the rest is history.

Dr Ferose, who became a life member of All-India Red Cross Society and was its organising secretary for a decade, organised another charity show in Berhampur for the construction of Red Cross Hospital in 1960.

“This time daddy’s approach towards Waheeda Rehman was a little apprehensive. ‘I wonder if she will accept the offer of a performance, after all, she has become a celebrity now’, he told mummy. ‘It will definitely be good for your funds… Why don’t you try asking her, she is a sweet person. As far as I know her, I am sure she won’t mind’, mummy told daddy. And Waheeda didn’t. The star artist not only agreed to perform the dance number that had made her famous, but also brought along with her another accomplished celebrity, the famous playback singer Manna Dey and assisted in the charitable acts for the people of Berhampur,” Nargis mentioned.

Waheeda and her troupe stayed at Gopalpur’s Palm Beach Resort for two days.

“The charity show was a huge success. Berhampur had witnessed a star par excellence and daddy managed to collect a whopping sum of over a lakh of rupees for the construction of Red Cross Maternity Hospital,” Nargis wrote.

A towering legend of Indian cinema, the 85-year-old Waheeda is known for her iconic roles in ‘Guide’, ‘Pyaasa’, ‘Kaagaz Ke Phool’, ‘Khamoshi’ and several other films. Later in her career, the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awardee played pivotal roles in ‘Chandni’ (1989), ‘Lamhe’ (1991), ‘Rang De Basanti’ (2006), ‘Delhi 6’ (2009), ‘Vishwaroopam II’ (2018) and ‘Skater Girl’ (2021) among others.

It was Asha Parekh who received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award last year.

Other recipients of the prestigious award include Rajinikanth, Amitabh Bachchan, Gulzar, Pran, Prithviraj Kapoor, Manoj Kumar, Shashi Kapoor, Manna Dey and Vinod Khanna (posthumously).

However, the people of Berhampur feel proud of Waheeda’s contribution to the film industry and her association with the Silk City.