Devayani Tamil Actress Sex Stories
Rocki Stenger
For nearly 25 years her poison pen dented egos, driving cinema idols into a raging frenzy. Stung by her accuracy and bluntness, at least one star tried to beat her up at a party and scores of others attempted to sue her. But none could intimidate Chaubal, who strode majestically through film studios during the day and partied till dawn, collecting and corroborating stories.
Added to the woes of those who tried to humble her was the cannonade she let loose against them for weeks afterwards, for Chaubal had the memory of an elephant and was not afraid of being nasty and unpopular.
Chaubal's "Frankly Speaking" fortnightly column in Star and Style, India's popular film magazine of the Sixties and Seventies, and the equally well- circulated Eve's Weekly, generated fear in Bollywood heroes for her bluntness and insider information on who was doing what and to whom. She was embarrassingly politically correct in her reportage and created a new lexicon of film jargon which caught the imagination of her vast audience: she once referred to the new crop of actresses as "badans", or bodies, and to some of the newer Bollywood faces as "kachra", or garbage.
Chaubal was born in Maharashtra state, western India, into an opulent horse-racing family; her father was a rich barrister practising in Bombay. As a teenager she reportedly forced her way into the house of Meena Kumari, Bollywood's "tragedy queen" of the Fifties and Sixties, for an autograph.
While the beautiful actress signed Chaubal's autograph book, she also patronisingly told the shy teenager never to wear skirts as her legs were too long and stocky for her school uniform. That remark triggered off Chaubal's ambivalent relationship towards Bollywood's stars, lasting over four decades.
Chaubal's sources were credible and, though her writing was saucy and uproariously amusing, it was never malicious. She commanded respect amongst producers and is credited with launching the career of Rajesh Khanna, one of Bollywood's most successful actors in the Seventies and now an MP.
Chaubal's frenetic way of life, however, led to a paralytic stroke in 1985 which confined her first to a wheelchair and later to bed. But, barring a few weeks of indisposition, she continued to dictate her column, which lost none of its chutzpah.
Devyani Saltzman: When I sat down to write Shooting Water, I scribbled three words in my notebook political, personal and cinematic. I always wanted the memoir to balance the story of making Water with the politics of South Asia and my own emotional journey. In a sense, the emotional story is the backbone of the book. And it was definitely cathartic to write down my experience of divorce. It allowed me to deal with feelings I had neglected for a long time. There were moments while writing that the blank page stared back at me, and when I finally wrote down an emotional passage I was left with a strange feeling of both sadness as well as relief.
The haunting theme that runs through the book is the sense of betrayal that you feel because of having chosen to live with your father rather than your mother when your parents divorced when you were an 11-year-old, and the parallel feelings of rejection that your mother felt when you made your choice. Until that evening in the hotel room in Colombo, Sri Lanka, the two of you do not seem to have confronted these emotions directly. Once you did, there appears to have been closure for both of you. Why did this not happen earlier? Did you have to have that maturity (Oxford, the turbulent filming in India) before you could face that?
The issue of my choice was so raw for both my mom and I, that although we tried to face it over the years it inevitably became too painful. By the time we arrived in Sri Lanka I was 24 years old and we had come through such an amazing journey together in the 5 year struggle to make the film that it definitely contributed to our ability to communicate about the divorce. I had grown, and matured, through university and living on my own, and my mom had grown through her work. Sometimes we need distance and time to see our own history in perspective. And I believe Sri Lanka not only gave us the space to focus on filmmaking, but was also neutral ground for my mother and I to focus on our relationship.
The sense of personal identity, or the lack of it, appears in several instances in the book the walk with the actress Lisa Ray, eating alone in high school in Toronto, for instance. When, if at all, did you come to terms with your identity as a child of an Indian mother and a Canadian father (of Ukrainian origin) and living in Canada?
I think my sense of comfort with my background has grown with time. I felt more dislocated shuttling between two homes as a child of divorce than between two cultures and religions. We always celebrated Passover and Diwali, Hanukkah and Holi, so I was raised to respect all religions as different ways of connecting with God. Now I feel that my dual heritage has only enriched my life. I think its made me a writer. I like having a perspective that is informed beyond one cultural lens, and yet is in between worlds.
Your mothers Elements trilogy (Fire, Earth, and Water) are all controversial. Fire dealt with the topic of lesbianism, a subject that is ignored in India and considered taboo to be spoken about. Earth dealt with the wrenching partition of India, and Water with how the Hindu religion deals with widowhood. What drives Deepa Mehta toward these subjects? Do you see yourself in your mothers gravitation toward these topics?
Youd have to ask her about her own creative inspiration, but what I know, mostly from conversations on the road, is that she is primarily attracted to a story that interests her whether its Radha and Sitas love in Fire, or Shakuntala facing her own conscience in Water. She always rebukes any comment that she first and foremost pursues a controversial subject manner. She inhabits the stories she loves. Yet, they do push people to think and have a large degree of social awareness. And thats what I love in writing and hope to continue to pursue. Her sense of humanity and politics has definitely rubbed off.
When your stepfather, David, told you that you are the stills photographer for Water, what was your initial reaction? Was there ambivalence a sense of elation at doing what you wanted to do, and, at the same time, a sense of dread at the responsibility bestowed on you? How did it eventually come out?
I was really excited by the prospect of doing the stills for Water. I love photography and have always pursued it in both work and travel. But the stills for a film all of the images that represent it in press, reviews and the film poster were a big responsibility, and I didnt want to screw it up. But when I accepted I realized that I had not only accepted a job, but embraced another stage in growing up. I believed in myself more than ever before, and that allowed me to take on a new challenge.
Water has been a very important journey in all of our lives. The successful completion of the film really did coincide with the rebirth of our relationship as mother and daughter. I was so happy to stand next to her on the stage at the films premiere in Toronto. It was a long road, but it has ended in joy allowing us to move forward as two adults pursuing their own dreams in film and writing, and, more importantly, as a loving mother and daughter.
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