In Memoriam
Vijaya Mehta (1934 - 2026)
Bhawana Somaaya |
I was introduced to Vijaya Bai by Anupam Kher when he was shooting for Rao Saheb. Vijaya Mehta directed the film and played an important role in it. Anupam was fascinated by Bai and narrated delightful anecdotes about her unique style of working both on and off the sets. Those days, he was part of a creative committee where Vijaya Mehta was the chairperson, and he spent all his time minutely observing her.
He said she always came thoroughly prepared for the meetings, all her points diligently listed in her diary. She addressed the minutest issues and noted down every feedback from the team in her overcrowded pages of the notebook.
I met Vijaya Bai again when Shabana Azmi was shooting with her for Pestonjee. Shabana has time and again credited her extremely complex character, Jeroo, to her outstanding director and regrets they did not get to work on more films together.