A record of her craft

This writer remembers Dina Pathak as the strict disciplinarian matriarch from the endearing 1980 Rekhastarrer Khoobsurat For the lsquo80s kid in India veteran actress Dina Pathak was the quintessential Hindi film ma much the same way that Reema Lagoo was for the rsquo90s kid This month she would have turned 100From her most famous and superhit Gujarati play from 1946mdashMena Gurjarimdashabout a young girl who marries a tribal leader Pathak is on the extreme rightAlthough her career formally took off with the Gujarati movie Kariyawar in 1948 she had been acting way before that After graduating from Mumbai university she joined the Indian National Theatre and took to the Gujarati stage right away One of her most popular plays was Mena Gurjari where she played the lead role of simpleton Mena who is married to the chieftain of a shepherd tribe It was an example of Bhavai an openair folk theatre form from Gujarat whose primary aim was to spread awareness on social issues while providing entertainment She even formed her own group in Ahmedabad called Nat Mandal which produced plays by writers ranging from Bhavai Mena Gurjari to Ibsen Dhingli Ghar She continued to act on stage until her 40s when she returned to Indian cinema with landmark films like Shyam Benegalrsquos Bhumika 1977 and Hrishikesh Mukherjeersquos Golmaal 1979 She also made it to the credits of the cream of art house cinema including Ketan Mehtarsquos Mirch Masala 1985 and Govind Nihalanirsquos Tamas 1986 You might have last seen her in Sanjay Leela Bhansalirsquos DevdasIn an Indian Peoplersquos Theatre Association IPTA production in Mumbai Pathakrsquos association with IPTA dates back to the 1940sDinarsquos actress daughter Ratna Pathak Shah says ldquoMarsquos advice to us about acting was about the inner life of the charactermdashhow one can search for and communicate that She also took her work very seriously even when it was silly as it was a lot of the time and that made a deep impression on merdquo When we ask her about the veteranrsquos contribution to theatre and movies her answer is candid and bittersweet ldquoWhat does she have to show for herself after 100 years Memories of some path breaking work but unfortunately no record of those a body of some fairly good but largely mediocre films which are unfortunately on record a rapidly dwindling group of people who can testify to her contribution to theatre no theatre group to carry on the work a loss she felt deeply people who think of her with affection and admiration and Supriya daughter and I I wish she was around now when female actors are getting interesting work She would have loved to get her teeth into the roles that are being written nowrdquoSaratchandra Chatterjeersquos Vijaya produced by Dina Pathakrsquos theatre group Nat Mandal in the 1940s Here she is seen with Tarla Mehta her younger sister Pics CourtesyRatna Pathak ShahA still from the Gujarati film Malela Jeev which released in 1956 directed by popular Gujarati director Manhar Raskapur Itrsquos based on the romance novel written by Pannalal Patel Pathak played Jivi a woman born in a barberrsquos family who falls in love with Kanji an upper caste man