Deepa Mehta remembers the Amazing Comedienne-Vamp, Manorama 
By Subhash K. Jha, February 19, 2008 - 12:06 IST
In Indra Kumar's Raja, Madhuri Dixit had done a takeoff on Manorama. It was easy enough to mimic Manorama. With puffed cheeked, super-arched eyebrows and broad mannerisms she was a perfect candidate for caricature.
Beginning as a child artiste in 1926, Manorama acted since childhood and did nearly 150 films. She was known for her vampish image and outlandish personality. In recent times, she slowed down considerably and was very much out of the groove, emerging once in a while as she did Mahesh Bhatt's Junoon in 1992.
Mahesh Bhatt told a poignant story of Manorama's impoverished state. When Manorama was paid for her work she sighed and said, "Today I'll be able to take a bath." A casualty of Bollywood's heartlessness towards those who are seen as no more useful to the entertainment business, Manorama's last celluloid work was for Deepa Mehta's Water in which the actress played the leery raunchy and vulgar head- widow of the widows' ashram.
Deepa Mehta is shocked when informed of Manorama's death. "Is she really gone? I didn't even know. Nobody told me." Deepa chokes back the tears. "What an amazing woman! She was so thrilled when she was recognized at the Kerala Film Festival in Thiruvanthipuram last year for her contribution to Indian cinema. …She suffered a stroke about six months ago. My partner David Hamilton had gone to see her. I spoke to her last about four months ago. She was slurring a bit. But she said she felt much better. I took her word for it. And now, this…."
Interestingly, Manorama was the first and final choice to play Madhumati in Water. "We aborted Water in Varanasi. The entire cast changed. Only Manorama survived from the original cast. Five years later, she was on again…I'm so shocked…what a great trouper at that age! Such spirit. She shot at 40 degrees temperature in Sri Lanka, no joke for a woman her age. She was so lovely. And full masti for her. My daughter Devyani really bonded well with her. Devyani was totally fascinated by Manorama's history, her half-Irish parentage and her beginnings in Bollywood as Baby Iris, then being a heroine in Lahore and then a villainess in Mumbai….it was fascinating! And Manorama was so well-spoken, erudite and very intelligent. Sometimes she's get bitter about how Bollywood shunned her in her later years. But most of the time, she'd say, 'God is great. Deepa, never forget that'
Deepa recalls a heartwarming incident with Manorama. "After Water got truncated in Varanasi, I had gone to Mumbai. Manorama told me, 'You'd be happy to know I've got money to buy myself a second-hand Maruti. And I've also got a driver. So, rather than run around in three-wheelers, I want you to have my car and driver whenever you're in Mumbai.' Can you believe this! During all this time no one in Mumbai has offered me a car and driver. She loved the chance of working in Water. That got her accolades.
International audiences were shaken by her performance. They felt she was very organic. Very real."
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Manorama of Seeta Aur Geeta died last Friday
