The talk-show queen Tabassum gone at 78

Although she wanted to be known as an actor, Tabassum never made the grade as a major performer in cinema. She started acting when she was only 4. All the major actresses of the 1950s doted on her. They would pamper her with chocolates  and in-between shots, she  would go to sleep in Meena Kumari, Madhubala or Nargis’s lap. Sleeping in the lap of luxury, so to speak.

Tabassum played the child version of all the above heroines. But somehow, she never found  success as an adult actor. This is known to happen to many child artistes. And with good reason. Actresses on whose lap Tabassum took naps couldn’t suddenly see her as a potential rival. Actors who treated her like a child couldn’t see themselves romancing heron screen

Tabassum’s last film as a child artiste was Bimal Roy’s Baap Beti at age 13. After this, she took a break before returning to play the heroine. But she hardly got  anything as an adult worth a mention. Tabassum was  heartbroken. She questioned herself. She questioned the mirror. Perhaps, she failed to see that many prodigious child artistes grow up to a dead end career. Shirley Temple and Macaulay Culkin in Hollywood, Raju Shreshtha and Master Satyajeet in Bollywood are prime examples.

Interestingly, Tabassum was a radio show hostess at the ripe old age of 3!!! It was a show called Phulwari on All India Radio. Tabassum was formally ushered into radio as an adult by the legendary Ameen Sayani on Radio Ceylon in a show called Maratha Darbar Ki Mehkti Batein. It was a jokes-based programme and Tabassum was good at telling jokes. She did the show for 18 years.

Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan, which Tabassum hosted for 21 years, was a precursor to  Karan Johar’s Koffee With Karan, naughty for its times, flighty and flirty. Mumbai Doordarshan was launched on October 2, 1972. Tabassum’s show began to telecast a week later. Her first guest on the show was composer Naushad. She went on to interview every major star of the  those times, from Raj Kapoor and Manoj Kumar to Shammi Kapoor and Shatrughan Sinha.

“No one would say no to me. I had virtually grown up in front of them all and they all loved me. The fame that I couldn’t get as an actress, I got manifold as a talk show hostess,” Tabassum said .

She was initially paid Rs 75 for every show. By the time Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan wrapped up she was getting the princely amount of Rs 750 per show.

Initially, Doordarshan wanted to call the show Guldasta. But Tabassum insisted on calling it Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan. The trademark rose in her air justified the show’s title. Even today, watching episodes of the show is a revealing experience. In the show featuring the ebullient Tanuja, the actress confesses she was cheated by producers.

“Just trust me, and do the film they’d say. I did, only to find my role wasn’t what it was promised to be,” Tanuja tells Tabassum.

I wish Tabassum, whom the stars trusted and surrendered themselves to her on her show, had  been more inclined to  probe  deeper in the stars’ psyche. Filmmaker Kamal Amrohi told Tabassum that his wife Meena  Kumar was a terrific actress but  a bad wife.

How I wish there were more such explosive moments on Phool Khile Hain Gulshan Gulshan. She had the power to probe the legends. Tabassum was just happy giggling with the stars.

Subhash K Jha is a Patna-based film critic who has been writing about Bollywood for long enough to know the industry inside out. He tweets at @SubhashK_Jha.

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