Bindu on being slotted as vamp in films, how she was ‘conscious’ of wearing cabaret dancer costumes in Kati Patang: ‘Had never worn such clothes’

“I had a great time working with everyone. Including Dilip Kumar ji, unke saath kaam karna matlab… Oh my God. I had never even thought, because he would do only one-two films a year, his films were all high quality. I thought meri kaha baari aane waali (when would I get such a chance), I was already established as a vamp by my producers, directors and distributors. I had no clue (I’d be slotted as a vamp),” said the actor.

“When Do Raaste had released, it didn’t get enough good word of mouth, and I thought, ‘Oh my, this is my first film and I wanted to be established’, I was extremely sad. But after one week, the word of mouth picked up and the film went on to do golden jubilee. I quickly started signing films,” she added.

Bindu said among the string of movies she signed was Kati Patang, which offered her a role that she had never done before– a cabaret dancer. The veteran said when director Shakti Samanta called her for the role, he asked her if she could dance as the part required her to excel in it.

“I thought why not, this can be a challenge. He said ok then, you will have to do rehearsals and I said I would definitely do it. I had seen Helen ji, Kuku ji dance so I knew what kind of steps to do, but it does get difficult when you are performing for the screen. Back then, they would have nylon clothes but I was a bit conscious of it. Shuru shuru mein maine kabhi pehna nahi tha (Had never worn those kind of attires before). On top of it, you would have to do those steps, with all background dancers. But kar diya maine jaise sikhaya tha! (I somehow managed to do it),” she concluded.

Bindu started her career in the early 1960s and went on to work with the biggest of the stars through the decades. Her last memorable performance was in Shah Rukh Khan starrer Main Hoon Na, in which she played a Hindi teacher who is not fluent in the English language.

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