Rosie, the paper flower
6. Waheeda Rehman
A simple Hyderabad girl got her doctoral dreams nipped in the bud by a lung infection. Then came Bharat Natyam and a dose of Telugu cinema, after which came the filmmaker in shining armour. Guru Dutt watched one of her early songs, brought her to Bombay to play a vamp in his production CID.
The rest is screen yore: Dutt, the most influential Hindi filmmaker of the 1950s, found his muse. And the pair played on, gloriously, with films like Pyaasa, Chaudhvin Ka Chand and Kaagaz Ke Phool, showcasing Waheeda's luminous, fragile beauty to the fullest.
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Then came what you call a reign. Waheeda Rehman's era stretched from the late 1950s to the 1970s, and her last hit film was last year's critical rave, Rang De Basanti. A versatile, stunning career, her great resilience and longevity is a great gift to followers of the acting craft.
And once you look into those eyes, there's simply no looking away.
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