Silent Worker

Dressed in a brown T-shirt with denims,she casually takes in the sights of the coffee shop. She refuses to divulge her age,but reveals that her son,Pratik,is 22. Her appearance does not give away her age,which she attributes to her athletic career. Having stood fifth in long jump at the deaf Olympics in 1985,she continues to follow a fitness regimen.

Born into a Mumbai-based Gujarati family,Gala’s disability was discovered when she was two years old. Her father thought she was “slow”,but her mother,Shantaben Maganlal Barot,was adamant that a doctor be consulted. “She was from a village but ensured that I got the best education despite the family’s dismal financial condition,” recounts Gala,who graduated in psychology from Jai Hind College,Mumbai.

Gala’s childhood dream,however,didn’t come true until much later. After college,she pursued a career in athletics,followed by social work. It was at one such session in 1996 that Bhansali’s assistant invited her to be a part of Khamoshi’s training team. “At a meeting in Nana Patekar’s house,the actor asked if we mind him smoking. I asked him if my opinion really mattered,and he laughed. The others were shocked at my frankness,but it endeared me to Nana,who chose me to train him,” says Gala,whose son played the role of Patekar and Seema Biswas’ son,Sam,in Khamoshi.

After the film was over,she moved on and Bhansali went on to make Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. When he started working on Devdas,their paths crossed again and the filmmaker asked Gala to join him as assistant director. It was not easy,for she would often be rebuffed by colleagues for her disability,who viewed Bhansali’s new hire as a case of charity.

“But Sanjay knew that I wasn’t a ‘Yes Man’ and worked hard. I learnt the ropes slowly and have worked on all his films ever since,” explains Gala,who brought trainers from Helen Keller Institute for Deaf and Blind,Mumbai,on board for Black,acting as convenor.

Black is also when she first met Kapoor,who was assisting Bhansali on the film before making a debut as the lead actor in his next,Saawariya. “He learnt some sign language when we worked together and remembered it when we met for Barfi!,” she says proudly. However,Kapoor’s character in the film mostly uses gestures for universal appeal.

Confident of Kapoor’s performance,Gala now awaits the film’s release. At the same time,she hopes for diverse projects to come her way — like Mani Ratnam’s Raavan where she trained the actors who played the deaf village chieftains and their sons,in both the Tamil and Hindi versions — and the silent National Anthem that plays in cinema halls.Life is good,but Gala has one regret. “I couldn’t meet Rajesh Khanna,the one man I so adored,” she signs off.