Can Motherhood Kill An Actor’s Career?

Kareena
has
been
a
leading
lady
now
for
25
years,
Deepika
for
almost
two
decades
and
Alia
for
over
a
decade.
Dinesh
Raheja
chronicles
the
changing
ways
Bollywood
has
treated
actor-moms.

Cyclones
of
controversy
have
been
unleashed
by
Deepika
Padukone’s
reported


parting
of
ways
from
blockbuster
director
Sandeep
Vanga’s
upcoming
film,

Spirit.

Speculation
has
it
that
the
deal
fell
through
predominantly
because
of
the
new
mother’s
demand
for
regulated
working
hours.

This
has
whipped
up
an
impassioned
conversation
about
the
conditions
for
working
mothers
in
Bollywood.
While
Ajay
Devgn,
Mani
Ratnam,
Saif
Khan
and
Neha
Dhupia
have
argued
in
favour
of
shorter
shifts
for
new
mothers,
Genelia
D’Souza
pointed
out
that
marriage
itself
can
result
in
an
actress
being
overlooked
for
roles
by
the
film
industry.

Sadly,
it
seems
debate
still
exists
about
the
feasibility
of
actresses
plunging
back
into
work
after
marriage
and
motherhood.

The
cold
fact,
however,
is
that
working
mothers
in
Bollywood
have
been
a
reality
since
the
last
50
years
at
least.

Contrary
to
the
myth
that
actresses
of
yore
instantly
lost
their
stardom
once
they
became
mothers,
there
have
been
a
few
path-breaking
actresses
who
did
adeptly
juggle
films
and
motherhood.

In
the
1960s,
Nutan
became
the
first
to
smash
age-old
taboos
about
actresses
not
remaining
saleable
after
they
become
mothers.

The
actress
married
at
age
23
and
a
couple
of
years
later,
gave
birth
to
son
Mohnish
in
1961.

Remarkably,
the
nascent
mother
was
soon
welcomed
back
in
the
studios
with
open
arms
by
an
accommodative
film
industry.

Nutan
had
three
big-name
releases
in
1963
—
the
breezy
musical

Tere
Ghar
Ke
Samne
with
Dev
Anand,
the
love
story

Dil
Hi
To
Hai
with
Raj
Kapoor
(in
which
she
showcased
her
versatility
and
danced
to

Nigahein
Milane
Ko
Jee
Chahta
Hai)
and

Bandini
for
which
she
bagged
the
Filmfare
Best
Actress
award.

Subsequent
award-winning
landmarks
like

Milan,
Saraswatichandra
and

Saudagar
confirmed
that
Nutan
could
skilfully
balance
conflicting
demands
as
a
working
mother.

A
leading
lady
who
was
also
a
mother
was,
however,
still
more
the
exception
than
the
rule
till
the
more
liberated
1970s.

Sharmila
Tagore
gave
birth
to
son
Saif
Ali
Khan
in
August
1970,
within
months
of
scoring
an
award-winning
triumph
with
the
superhit

Aradhana.

The
glamour
icon
took
only
a
brief
break
before
resuming
work.

Her
flourishing
career
as
a
leading
lady
remained
uninterrupted
with
multiple
films
like

Amar
Prem,
Daastaan,
Chhoti
Bahu
and

Maalik
thronging
theatres
over
the
next
couple
of
years.

Moreover,
the
new
mother
signed
films
afresh
with
superstar
Rajesh
Khanna
(Daag,
1973)
and
showed
off
an
enviably
tiny
waistline
in
the

Aa
Gale
Lag
Ja
(1973)
song

Vaada
Karo
Nahin
Chhodoge
Tum
Mera
Saath.

Moushumi
Chatterjee’s
career
as
a
leading
lady
comfortably
encompassed
the
birth
of
her
two
daughters,
Payal
and
Meghaa.

Rakhee’s
career
got
a
second
wind
after
daughter
Meghnaa
was
born
in
December
1973.

Tapasya
(1975)
and

Kabhi
Kabhie
(1976)
made
Raakhee
an
even
bigger
star
than
in
her
pre-motherhood
days.

Hema
Malini
got
barely
a
breather
when
she
got
pregnant
and
delivered
daughter
Esha
Deol
in
1981,
the
same
year
as
her
hat-trick
of
superhits:

Naseeb,
Kranti
and

Meri
Awaaz
Suno.

As
the
reigning
queen,
Hema
had
dozens
of
assignments
on
hand
and,
like
many
everyday
women,
worked
through
her
pregnancy.

The
actress
resorted
to
imaginative
sartorial
solutions
to
hide
her
pregnancy
from
the
camera.

Hema
didn’t
apply
the
brakes
to
her
career
post
motherhood
and
continued
to
have
releases
until
the
middle
of
the
decade.

Satte
Pe
Satta,
Rajput
and

Aandhi
Toofan
released
after
Esha
was
born.

But
the
next
generation
of
Hindi
film
heroines
took
the
time-tested
maternity
break
once
they
started
a
family.

Sridevi
disappeared
from
the
screen
for
six
years
after
daughter
Janhvi
was
born
in
1997
before
reclaiming
the
spotlight
with
the
television
show,

Malini
Iyer.

She
then
bided
her
time
for
an
astonishing
15
years
before
she
made
her
cinematic
comeback
with

English
Vinglish
in
2012.

After
Madhuri
Dixit’s
elder
son
Arin
was
born
in
2003,
she
went
missing
from
the
screen
till

Aaja
Nachley
(2007).

Kajol
took
a
three-year
hiatus
between
the
birth
of
daughter
Nysaa
in
2003
and
her
next
film

Fanaa
in
2006.

Aishwarya
Rai
had
a
bitter
experience
when
she
lost
Madhur
Bhandarkar’s

Heroine
after
her
pregnancy
was
announced.

Once
daughter
Aaradhya
was
born
in
2011,
she
stayed
away
from
the
screen
for
nearly
half-a-decade
till

Jazbaa
(2015).

More
recently,
Kareena
Kapoor,
Deepika
Padukone
and
Alia
Bhatt
have
asserted
that
they
want
the
best
of
both
worlds.

They
demonstrated
that
they
can
be
loving,
nurturing
mothers
offscreen
while
also
retaining
their
status
as
glamorous
thespians
onscreen.

Kareena’s
career,
in
fact,
witnessed
a
marked
upswing
after
the
birth
of
son
Taimur
in
2016
—

Veere
Di
Wedding
(2018)
and

Good
Newwz
(2019)
proved
she
had
made
the
right
decision.

Deepika
did
take
several
months
of
maternal
leave
to
dote
on
daughter
Dua,
but
has
now
inked
deals
with
big-ticket
productions
like

King
opposite
Shah
Rukh
Khan
and

Jawan
director
Attlee’s
forthcoming
biggie
opposite
Allu
Arjun.

Alia
Bhatt’s
high
profile
marriage
and
motherhood
to
little
Raha
has
not
come
in
the
way
of
signing
and
working
in
plum
assignments
like
Yash
Raj’s

Alpha
and
Sanjay
Leela
Bhansali’s

Love
And
War.

There
was
a
time
when
heroines
had
their
work-life
equation
chalked
out
differently.

A
senior
actress
had
once
confided
in
me
the
mindset
of
her
generation:
“We
worked
in
films
for
a
decade,
and
thereafter,
once
our
careers
started
fading,
we
got
married
and
started
a
family.”

But
today’s
leading
ladies
enjoy
long
careers
as
romantic
leads;
this
screen
longevity
has
rarely
been
seen
before.

Kareena
has
been
a
leading
lady
now
for
25
years,
Deepika
for
almost
two
decades
and
Alia
for
over
a
decade.

There’s
no
way
these
ladies
can
wait
till
the
end
of
the
acting
careers
before
they
become
mothers.
Moreover,
there’s
no
need
to.

Post
motherhood,
Deepika
and
Alia
are
still
the
most
popular
actresses
in
Hindi
films.
And
a
pregnant
Kiara
Advani
can
triumphantly
walk
the
red
carpet
at
MET
Gala.

Stray
hiccups
notwithstanding,
it’s
a
happy
sign
of
changing
times.

Today,
the
sheer
number
of
top-tier
actresses
who
are
also
mothers
is
unprecedented,
establishing
that
motherhood
and
movies
are
no
longer
mutually
exclusive.

Photographs
curated
by
Manisha
Kotian/Rediff