Eva
Gardner,
Elizabeth
Taylor,
Marilyn
Monroe
and
Vivien
Leigh…
These
are
four
of
Hollywood"s
legendary
beauties,
whom
director
Madhur
Bhandarkar
will
use
as
direct
reference-points
for
Kareena
Kapoor"s
character
in
Heroine.
And
to
make
Kareena"s
job
manageable
and
easily
accessible,
Madhur
has
prepared
a
3-hour
documentary
on
the
quartet
of
Hollywood
greats.
But,
where
on
earth
are
the
female
legends
of
the
Indian
cinema?
Nowhere!
Woefully,
Madhur
informs
that
he
couldn"t
get
ample
or
even
scant
visual
material
on
the
Hindi-Indian
screen
classical
beauties
to
put
into
the
documentary
that
he
has
put
together
for
Kareena"s
ready
reference.
(If
only
all
our
directors
were
just
as
helpful
we"d
have
more
researched
bio-pics).
Laments
Madhur,
“When
I
set
out
to
put
together
a
documentary
chronicling
the
lives
of
the
screen
legends,
I
was
also
simultaneously
enhancing
my
own
knowledge
of
them
to
make
Kareena"s
character
of
Mahi
Khanna
more
rounded,
complete
and
contemporary."
In
fact,
Madhur
has
just
returned
from
a
trip
to
Singapore,
where
he
discovered
loads
of
invaluable
footage
on
Hollywood
greats.
Says
Madhur
excitedly,
“For
example,
take
Vivien
Leigh.
Her
stormy
relationship
with
Sir
Laurence
Olivier
is
so
eventful
dramatic,
passionate
and
romantic.
Unfortunately,
there"s
no
valid
and
substantial
footage
on
Madhubala
or
Meena
Kumari
revealing
their
relationship
with
Kishore
Kumar
and
Kamal
Amrohi,
respectively."
Madhur
is
appalled
to
note
the
lack
of
visual
or
even
written
records
on
our
screen
legends.
He
says,
“When
a
director
wants
to
make
a
film
about
an
Indian
actor
or
about
our
movie
industry,
where
does
he
look
for
references?
On
the
other
hand,
there"s
no
dearth
of
material
written
and
filmed,
on
Hollywood"s
icons."
For
the
want
of
a
choice,
Madhur"s
3-hour
documentary
portrays
only
Hollywood
legends.
Says
the
director
anxiously,
“I
do
want
Kareena
to
refer
back
to
our
great
actresses
like
Madhubala,
Nargis
and
Nutan
(I
think
Kareena
has
elements
of
Nutan"s
personality).
But,
I
can
only
brief
her
verbally
on
our
screen
legends.
It"s
really
sad."
However,
the
sadder
fact
is
that
the
contemporary
actresses
have
hardly
watched
the
films
of
the
legends,
so
they
have
no
ready
references
in
their
psyche
either.
Kareena,
who"s
shooting
with
Shahrukh
Khan
for
Ra.1,
will
be
able
to
watch
Madhur"s
3-hour
documentary
only
when
she"s
free
in
September-October.
Madhur
adds,
“She"s
shooting
for
Ra.1
and
Golmaal
3.
Once
she"s
done,
she
will
watch
the
documentary
repeatedly.
I"ve
chosen
footage
that
represents
Eva
Gardner,
Liz
Taylor
and
others
most
tellingly.
Her
character
Mahi
Khanna
is
an
actress
of
today,
not
of
yesteryears."
The
shooting
of
Heroine
has
been
pushed
to
December,
so
that
Kareena
would"ve
time
to
study
the
3-hour
documentary
carefully.
Madhur
rules
out
that
he
is
doing
rehearsals
and
workshops
to
prepare
Kareena
for
her
biggest
challenge.
The
only
director
who
managed
to
get
Kareena
on
the
rehearsal
route
was
Sudhir
Mishra
for
her
streetwalker"s
role
in
Chameli.
No
one
else
would
be
able
to
extract
the
same
concentrated
energy
from
Kareena
today.
Not
even
Mishra.