BLACK &WHITE
JH THAKKER takes Madhuri back to the golden age of Hindi Cinema...
His studio is a treasure trove of wondeful memories and movie magic. JH THAKKER, the veteran photographer who has shot some of the most unforgettable faces on the Hindi screen in his heyday as a glamour photographer, remembers each one of them vivdly...
But most of all, he remembers a beautiful girl called Madhubala "whom you could photograph from any angel, even without makeup, and still come away with a masterpiece." Thakker's regret is that he met her towards the fag end of her career, on the set of a film called Chalak, which he was assigned to shoot as a still photographer. She died before the film could be completed but Thakker hasn't forgotten the Venus of the silver screen. "What a figure! What lips!" he raves. sometime ago he was persuaded to come out of retirement and do special assignment. That's when he met the young beauty who brought back memories of Madhubala. The same expressive eyes. The same dazzling smile. The same frothy exuberence.
Madhuri Dixit had walked into his studio one fine day. Thakker used his magic box to ensure that the Madhuri of the nifty '90s metamorphosed into the Madhubala of the fascinating '50s. It was a challenging task but the ace photographer, who ahd not had any contact with the film world since 1968, was equal to it. He hasn't forgotten that day, nor that wonderful lady who wowed him with her looks and wooed him with her sweet talk, soft-spoken charm and unstarry ways.
"Not once was I made to feel that I was working with a star. She did everything I asked her to without hesitation," he compliments. "Ofcourse, Madhubala too had been a model subject. Usually she never went anywhere without her abba, Ataullah Khan, but she came to my studio alone with her producer. But things have changed since then. It's a new era today. A Madhuri earns a crore to Madhubala's Rs. 50,000. And money can make a big difference to a person'as attitude you know. However, it doesn't seem to have affected Madhuri. She never told me to hurry up and waited patiently while I played around with the lights and camera angles."
Ash him to commpare Madhuri with Madhubala and he says reflectively, "Madhubala was fairer, Madhuri's duskier. But her eyes are as expressive and her smile is equally electric. However, I'd say Madhuri is more independent. She knows her mind and gets her way. Madhubala was too much under the influence of her father. He watched over her with a hawk's eye and that made her slightly diffident."
Incidentaly, Madhuri had come to his studio with only one sari. Says Thakker, "I wanted to do more changes with her but there were no clothes. so I sent my daughter, who'd come to see Madhuri, back home to pick up some of her saris. Madhuri wore them without fuss."
Thakker was shooting a star after more than three decades but he claims his work was as good as ever. And it's not a tall claim. A few days later when he took the photographs to Madhuri's secretary, Rakeshnath, he was speechless for a moment and then asked Thakker if he could make him a 6 feet by 4 feet print of one of hte photographs. When Rikku showed the huge print to Madhuri, she was delighted and remarked, "No one has ever shot such beautiful pictures of mine."
ONE OF THE PICTURES SHOT BY JH THAKKER IS THE PICTURE OF THE MONTH FOR AUGUST! HOPE YOU LIKE IT!
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