“The wheel, having turned, will go on rotating, just like the film in the pro­jector, with new pictures, with new heroes and new directors,” said Anupama, the best actress award winner of Marathi films,, who is now heavily booked in Hindi pictures. “The wheel should not stop. Where there is movement there is variety and joy.”

“Though the first picture for which I was signed was Mohan Segal’s Sansar, the first to be released was Vasu Menon’s Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, a story of mother-in-law versus daughter-in-law. Critics first took notice of me in this picture and they were rather kind about my acting,” said pretty Anupama.

“The second picture in Hindi to be released was Sridhar’s Duniya Kya Jane which is a story of two girls and one boy. One girl loves the boy but he does not love that girl. He loves the other girl and I am that girl. It is a family drama. Bharati is the girl not loved and she ultimately sacrifices herself so that her lover may remain happy with his beloved. How the critics are going to react to my acting in this release will decide my future in Hindi films,” went on Anupama.

“I have great confidence in Sridhar, He is a brilliant director, keen on his business. He is also an impartial director-producer giving no importance to any particular person and giving equal opportunity to all. His relationship with me was absolutely business-like and working under him I learnt a lot about histrionics,” said Anupama.

“And I like the studios in Madras, so neat and so well organized, unlike Bombay studios. The people in Madras were all kind and courteous to me,” added Anupama. “The most important thing in Madras is the discipline which alone helps make artistes improve their performance.

“It is all chance that my first two Hindi pictures should be made in Madras. I consider myself lucky in this respect since I had such a calm atmosphere that I was able to give my best possible performance in both the pictures that were made there.

“The forthcoming release will be Mohan Segal’s Sansar. As the name indicates it is about a family. There are incidental quarrels in a family of two brothers who respectively are played by Navin Nischal and Abhi Bhattacharya. It is a serious picture with considerable emotion and I think this picture has given me scope to do something different from my two Madras-made Hindi pictures.

“I am now working in Nirman opposite Navin Nischal, Buniyad opposite Rakesh Roshan, Gehrai opposite Vinod Mehra, Mangeetar opposite Deb Mukherji, Kiska Daman Kiska Phool opposite three persons, Vinod Khanna, Pradeep Kumar, and new-comer Anand and Bees Saal Pahle opposite new-comer Rikesh. Quite a number indeed.

“I would like to mention one picture Kiska Daman Kiska Phool wherein I am heroine for three persons. First I act as the beloved of Vinod Khanna who seduces me and disappears altogether. Then there is the doctor portrayed by veteran Pradeep Kumar who, finding me pregnant, offers me hope and shelter but he does not know who seduced me. He does not know that it was his own brother who had done the mischief.

Pradeep marries me in spite of my being spoilt and adopts the child girl that is born subsequently. And then I act the teen-aged girl of Pradeep, born illegitimately. So there is vast scope, first as a misguided girl loving a bad man, secondly as the wife of a good doctor and then as the young daughter who is light­hearted and gay. Each one offers a different characterization in different environments. To have got such a complicated role is lucky and that too so early in my career in Hindi films.”

Asked to compare Marathi films in which she started her screen career and later in Hindi films, Anupama said, “There is more glamour and sex in Hindi films, whereas Marathi films have good powerful stories and are more real to life.”

About her entry into Hindi films Anupama said, “When I got out from Marathi films it was just like getting out of a shell. In Hindi pictures I have a chance to be seen by all-India audience. The scope for me here is wide. Who would not like to be hailed as an all-India star?” (This interview was conducted in 1971).