When Julie, a romantic drama hit the screens in 1975 (March 18), it swept the youth with its bold theme. The film, a critical and commercial success, released around the time of Emergency which had led to a bit of unrest in the country yet youngsters were too happy visiting theatres and catching up on the film that was making waves with its brave subject, outstanding music and most importantly the film’s female lead Lakshmi, an extremely attractive and successful actress from South who was making her debut in Hindi cinema with in an author backed role. Besides the other songs like Bhool gaya sab kuch and Dil kya kare, (composed by Rajesh Roshan) the youth was humming ‘My Heart Is Beating’, a mesmerising number then, sung by Preeti Sagar, who shot to instant fame with this English song and also won a special Filmfare award for the same. Julie was a remake of the Malayalam film Chattakari, with Lakshmi also starring as the lead in both versions, making it her Hindi and Malayalam film debuts respectively.
The film depicts the prejudice against inter-caste marriage and unwed motherhood in India. The plot revolves around a family in Goa who struggles with ‘Julie's’ decision to have a child with a Hindu man. The film revolved around the female lead, an Anglo-Indian girl who falls in love with her best friend's brother ‘Shashi Bhattacharya’ (played by Vikram), a Hindu boy, and a passionate encounter with him leaves her pregnant. Vikram’s character goes away for higher studies, not knowing the truth. Her ‘mother’ (Nadira) is distraught when ‘Julie’ tells her about the pregnancy. She thinks about getting her daughter an abortion, but a devout Christian talks her out of it and ‘Julie’ is sent away to have her baby in secret. Lakshmi still can’t believe her ‘luck’ in bagging this film, attributing it to ‘karma’, she says, “I feel very funny ...even now I feel so shy at times. When I walk around even today people ask, ‘Aren’t you Julie? We still remember Julie…’ A couple of days back I was in a parlour and an elderly woman from Sikkim was also there to meet her granddaughter who is working in the parlour. She tells me that she was aware that I would be visiting the parlour and she has come all the way to see me.”
Laxmi in and as JULIE : released today in 1975 pic.twitter.com/XeYOJ38P5W
— Film History Pics (@FilmHistoryPic) April 17, 2020
Talking about the bold subject in that era, the veteran actress believes that the content of Julie perhaps was much milder and diluted as compared to the reality and what was happening in the society. “These kind of problems between man and woman -- extra marital relationship or pre-marital relationships ...girls getting pregnant ...all this has been going on in the society but it was never brought out openly in other language films, whereas, such bold themes were already being shown in Malayalam cinema for a very long time. So, this was probably a shocker for the Hindi audience even as it wasn’t that extreme,” says Lakshmi.
However, the Malayalam version was a totally different one, recalls Lakshmi. “After Chattakari became a hit, Mr Nagi Reddy who was the proprietor of a studio and under whose banner I had done a couple of Telugu films told me that they were now making the Hindi version. He offered me the role saying they have already decided the female lead and rest of the cast will happen gradually. I was a bit reluctant and nervous as my Hindi was not all that good. I told him he can’t trust me completely on my language and that whatever I have learnt in school only that I can render on screen. Secondly, I didn’t have the dates because by then I was a big artist in Telugu, Tamil and Kannada and with Chattakari I became big in Malayalam as well. Also, I thought I may have to shoot in Bombay but the makers decided to shoot Julie in Chennai and they were hell bent on me playing the lead character," she says.
"Definitely, there was a little difference between the South and North movie industry. For Julie, they were going on correcting my style of acting and dialogue delivery and I had to concentrate a lot on me being the Hindi Julie ..the language, my behaviour ..” she says. While in Chattakari Lakshmi was seen in a deglam avatar, in Julie she had to wear a bit of make-up on director’s insistence. “In the Malayalam film they didn’t want make-up at all. All the actors were sans make-up..we didn’t wear any lipstick or mascara. I wanted that way even in Julie but the director insisted on light make up. Then they were very particular that I should not cut my hair and keep it long. My dresses were picked up in Bombay and my personal tailor stitched some of my dresses,” reminisces Lakshmi.
Lakshmi talks very fondly of her co-stars, including the male lead Vikram Makandar, Nadira, Jalal Agha, Om Prakash, Utpal Dutt, Rita Bhaduri, and Sridevi in significant roles. “Lots of people were making their debut with this film. Sridevi was already a child star, but Julie was her first movie in Hindi. She was such an obedient kid. It was director K.S. Sethumadhavan’s first movie, but we felt so comfortable working with each other, and that is because all of us were thorough professionals. Whatever was given to us, we would do rehearsals, work hard, and make it happen. That is how Julie started."
"In the same location in Kerala where we had shot the Malayalam version, I did the songs with Mr. Vikram. I was very comfortable with him, though he appeared a bit tense at times. Maybe because I was doing the scenes in the same way as I did in Malayalam, I felt that comfort. Forget about the language—luckily, I can pick up any language. I remember the great actress Nadira-ji; she used to watch me perform, and one day she told me that she, too, would like to do a Malayalam movie. I asked her, ‘Aunty, will you learn Malayalam?’ and she said, ‘Give me money and I will learn any language. Even the language of Timbuctoo, but pay me advance.’ That was a great attitude."
"Om Prakash Saab was so friendly. He was insistent that I play the lead in the film he was producing then called Charandas. He was ready to give me an advance fee, but I politely refused as I had my hands full with several projects. He loved South Indian food, and I would carry food for him that was cooked by my mother. Utpal Dutt had a terrific sense of humour. Even in serious scenes, he would drop funny lines, and we would all start laughing and forget acting. After Julie, Vikram and I would have acted in two Kannada movies, but it didn’t happen. We all used to sit together for our meals and share childhood stories, learning from the older actors in the team. None of them treated me like a new face or that I was from the South. They made me feel as if I was one of them. Rita Bhaduri and I became good friends, and our friendship continued for many years,” says Lakshmi.
Julie had a lot of positive impact on Lakshmi’s flourishing career but she couldn’t take up Hindi projects then primarily due to her busy schedule in South and also because she didn’t find the roles in Hindi movies meaty enough as compared to South films where a lot of female-oriented films were being offered to her. She remembers refusing Manmohan Desai who had approached her immediately after the success of Julie. “He had even narrated the story and Rajesh Khanna was supposed to play the male lead. He told me to sign a contract and put the condition that I should not get married during the film’s making. I told him, ‘Sir I will not get married again’. I was a divorcee with a three-year-old child. He was shocked and he asked, ‘You are a mother!’ I said, ‘Yes, I am a young mother and now I am working’. About 25 years later when I was shooting for a Malayalam film in Cochin somebody came from behind and was holding my shoulders very tight. I turned to see that it was Manmohan Desai who was scouting a location. He said, ‘I wanted to sign you 25 years back but I wasn’t lucky. Now once I finalize the location, I will finalize my heroine. Are you free to work ..it is a young and old role’. I told him, ‘Sir, forgive me, I am not all that lucky to work with you …still my hands are full’,” reminisces Lakshmi.
Lakshmi still can’t believe how she landed Julie which became a major landmark in her career. “Why me? I was overflowing with South offers. I believe I got Julie for some purpose. Maybe the script is written by someone else up there. I strongly believe there is god, there is karma and fate …when I am walking on streets even now…50 years later …if somebody calls out Julie, I turn. That Julie might be a dog! If I gifted a dog or a pup to someone those days, they would name it Julie. I would say, ‘Please don’t call the dog when I am around and they said ...’We are not naming the dog Lakshmi, we have named it Julie because we want to remember that Julie gave us this lovely gift’. Now whether I should take this as a compliment or what…" she laughs signing out.
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