Bollywood industry has been established about 100 years ago by Dada sahab phalke .So far, many such films have been made in the Bollywood industry, which will continue to rule the hearts of people for centuries. But it is a matter of regret that such films are very few of us, whose each and every character is created so beautifully that the viewer never forgets him. One such film came in the year 1975, whose director was Ramesh Sippy and the name of the film was ‘Sholay’. The specialty of this film was that its songs, dialogues, story and each and every character has left such an impression in the hearts of the audience that people will not be able to forget even for centuries.
Whether it was the character of Surma Bhopali (Jagdeep), AK Hangal, Sachin, Sambha and Gabbar, all the characters of this film made a home in the hearts of the people. One of these characters was Basanti’s ‘Aunt’, if we don’t talk about it, it would probably be unfair. You all must be remembering the scene when Jai goes to his aunt (Leela Mishra) to get his friend Veeru married with Basanti. After this, instead of praising his friend, he starts doing evil to his aunt in a funny way. Here the dialogue between Aunt and Jai is still in the hearts of the people.
Leela Mishra, a famous actress of her time, was born on 1 January 1908. His father used to be a very big landlord of a village in Uttar Pradesh. Even after being born in a rich family, Leela could not get education. The reason behind this was the conservative thinking and thoughts of Leela’s family members. For this reason, Leela’s marriage was also done very soon. At the age of just 12, Leela was married to Ram Prasad Mishra, a person living in Banaras (Varanasi). Within a few years of marriage, Leela Mishra had become a mother. By the time she completed 17 years of her life, Leela Mishra had become the mother of two children. He had two daughters. She hailed from Jais Rae Bareli (Uttar Pradesh), she and her husband were from landlord families.
Ram Prasad’s nature was independent, he did not put much pressure on anyone. He had also given complete freedom to Leela to take her decisions. Leela’s husband Ram Prasad often used to visit Bombay (Mumbai). It was here that he used to act in Kashmiri plays. A friend of Ram Prasad also lived in Bombay, who used to work in the film company of ‘Dadasaheb Phalke’. One day when he came to Ram Prasad’s house, he saw Leela and advised Ram Prasad to work in films. At first Ram Prasad flatly refused, but later he agreed.
Both Ram Prasad and Leela left for Bombay. After reaching where both started their acting and started going to ask for work in films. The first film of these two came together in the year 1936, which was named ‘Sati Sulochana’. In this, Ram Prasad played the role of Ravana, while Leela played the role of Mandodari. For this, Ram Prasad got Rs 150 a month, while Leela Mishra got Rs 500 a month. The reason behind this was- women did not work in films during that period. It was such a period when talking films were made and in those movies women’s characters were also played by men.
Leela Mishra was often seen in films only in the roles of mother, aunt, grandmother and aunt. In such a situation, the question started arising in the minds of the people that why Leela is seen only in such characters? It is bound to raise this question in the mind, because such a beautiful actress had not done romantic scenes even in her youth, nor had she appeared in any film as an actress. It is said that she was offered a few films in the initial days in which her character was in the lead role, but when she started shooting for them, she did not like the touch of outsiders at all. After this, he never thought of doing lead role in life.
Leela Mishra, the ‘mausi’ of the film Sholay, had worked in more than 60 films in a career spanning nearly five decades. These include films like ‘Anmol Ghadi’, ‘Awara’, ‘Pyaasa’, ‘Lajwanti’, ‘Sholay’, ‘Paheli’, ‘Chashme Baddoor’ and ‘Prem Rog’. His work is alive in the hearts and minds of people till date. Apart from ‘Sholay’, his character played in the film ‘Nani Maa’ also made a lot of headlines. For this film, actress Leela Mishra was awarded the ‘Best Actress’ award for the first time at the age of 73. Apart from Bollywood, Leela Mishra also worked in Bhojpuri cinema and made a place in the hearts of people with her brilliant acting. Leela,devoted herself to films for almost 50 years.
