Have you ever heard of a girl of 12 years whose mother wanted to see her to become a surgeon but she started composing her own poems insisted to be a literary persona. Looking her passion, mother agreed her to pursue literature.The girl has grown up, she has many hats, poet, story writer, film maker, actor, teacher, official interpreter for many Indian Prime Ministers,Head of Russian Language Services of All India Radio, TV Presenter et al, No Guess she is Dr Lavlin Thadani.
But in recent time Dr Lavlin is in news for her role of Amrita Pritam in the play 'Amrita -A Sublime Love Story'' directed by veteran theatre and film director M S Sathyu. The play has been staged in Delhi, Hyderabad, Banglore, Patiala, Chandigarh, Indore and received commendation from viewers and critics. She quips,'When the producer, Shri KK Kohli and Director Shri Sathyu chose me, they did not know that I was Amrita ji's neighbour and enjoyed a close relationship with her despite an age difference of almost 40 years .'
On her being chosen to play this role, she says,'I had worked with Shri Sathyu in two of his feature national award winning films : 'Sookha' in Hindi and 'Bara' in Kannada and enjoyed working with him.'
'What has made this play so special ?'
'This is based on real life of noted Hindi and Punjabi writer Amrita Pritam. Unlike her other contemporary literary persons, she never lived a dual life. She lived her life very honestly,never hid her intimate relationship with painter, designer friend Imroze, much younger to her. She stayed with Imroze under one roof for over forty years without any martial alliance. It was her honesty which is also reflected in her literary works, probably the reason behind her immense popularity.The play is an adoption heavily drawn from her autobiography, 'Rasidee Ticket.'
'Okay fine you talk about honesty. But people also sub consciously follow their favourite heroes, writers, celebrities and leaders as role models. Then what kind of example was she setting before them, a pervasive life style ?'
'Many people are not aware about her circumstances, she was engaged at the age of 4 years, lost her mother when she was 11, married at the age of 16, she was poles apart from her husband. She was a victim of circumstances over which she had no control, but she had chosen her path after giving due thought. She was a very sensible and a sensitive woman who empathised with her lot about pain of a woman, probably that gave her power to write so well . I agree that she did not fit into the mould of a normal woman,'
'Did you enjoy some special relationship with her ?'
' Yes. The fact is I was even younger than her daughter but still she used to share her creative work with me. She even did poetic jugalbandi with me which I used as the last chapter in my book of poems titled, 'Moments'. She is no more in this physical world, but she always referred to me as her soul-mate!
'Something creative you did and enjoyed most ?'
'I did a 13 episode serial on life of Maulana Azad titled 'Seher Hone Tak... for Doordarshan and it has been telecasted 4 times. Its abridged version 'Aashik-e-Vatan' in film format was made for DD'.
'You are so very active in creative work, how do you balance your work and family life ?'
'In fact, I give more space to my family. God has gifted me with organisational ability, I manage my work by delegating, I am fortunate to have a good creative team.'
' I was told that you started your business venture at a very early stage. How and when?'
' I was under 20 and one day, my maternal uncle told my mother that I would be very good in creative work but will never make it in business! I took it up as a challenge, I started my own modelling agency. I took my camera and prepared portfolios of good looking boys and girls in my college. With the help of my cook, who was incidentally good at art, we prepared hand made letter heads individually crafted and designed. We sent our introduction letters to clients on these individually crafted letter heads, which was appreciated by one and all.
In a short span of one year our modelling agency was doing roaring business and stood in the top league in Delhi. You would not believe that I was able to buy a business space in the heart of Delhi from my earnings!'
'You have achieved name, fame what next ?'
' I have written fables, stories, a new collection is due for publication, have produced about a 100 movies and serials for the small screen...time to move on to the silver screen and aim at getting an Oscar for India and nothing short of it! As for life, I want to become a great gift to life itself.'
Before she parted, she shared her poem which probably sum up her life philosophy :
'Let the wind halt or blow,
Let the clouds come or go.
Let them be grey
Let them be dry
You just watch
You be the sky'
Gopal Das Neeraj wrote about her :
Once Amrita Pritam commented about Dr Lavlin's poetic quality
.jpg "A Gumnam Actress Strips Nude to Protest Auto/taxi Fare Hike")
