Actor Vinod Mehra who was who was born on February 13, 1945, and who passed at age 45 on October 30, 1990, was never an active advocate of his own talent. You would never hear this quiet, polite, affable actor talking about his own performances, let alone his turbulent personal life.
Unlucky in love and marriage, he married twice before settling down to a peaceful matrimony with Kiran Mehra. They had two years and two children together before he passed away suddenly in 1990.
Sadly, Vinod’s personal life made bigger headlines than his quiet, assured performance in a never-ending stream of films from 1955 when he made his debut as a child artiste. Vinod did eight films as a child. His debut as a leading man in Ek Thi Reeta was unremarkable. In an era when actors shouted to be heard, Vinod was the mute performer. His performances never screamed for attention.
He never felt threatened doing heroine-centric film. Right from Ek Thi Reeta (where Tanuja played the title role), the women dominated Vinod’s career. Moushumi Chatterjee and Vinod did a slew of films like Shakti Samanta’s Anurag, Basu Chatterjee Uss Paar, Mazaaq , Raftaar, Do Jhooth and Sabse Bada Rupaiya. Many of these were produced by Moushumi’s husband, Jayant Mukherjee.
Such was the Moushumi-Vinod camaraderie that they were rumoured to be a real-life pair. Moushumi stoutly denies this rumour, arguing that Vinod Mehra was more her husband’s friend than hers. They spent a lot of time together on and off sets. Hence, the wagging tongues. Vinod was an easygoing, hassle-free actor and a good friend to the film industry. His co-stars remember him with much affection. Hema Malini, who did one of her most important films Lal Patthar with Vinod, remembers him as “police,gentle and very chivalrous.”
“He was always there for all his friends. But I wonder if anyone was there for him,” Moushumi wonders.
Vinod was a very emotional man who lost his heart easily. His relationship with Rekha was the talk of the town in the early 1970s when they did Elaan and Ghar together. They were said to have married secretly . But the wedding was never confirmed by either of them .
Sadly, the women in Vinod’s life outraced his achievements as an actor. In a barrage of films in the 1970s and 80s, Vinod Mehra was the quiet achiever, letting his performances counter-dominate the film. In the three Amitabh Bachchan starrers of the 1980s, Khuddar, Jurmana, and Bemisal, Vinod counter-balanced the overweening mass-oriented central performance.
For Vinod, it was okay to be overshadowed. He was not afraid of being in the shadows.
Raakhee Gulzar who played Vinod’s wife in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Bemisal points out how vital Vinod was to the equation in the triangle , “Amitabh’s performance or mine wouldn’t have worked if it wasn’t for Vinod Mehra.”
A truly invisible actor, that was Vinod Mehra. The best kind of actor to be.
Vinod’s son Rohan Mehra, himself a mouldable actor seen in Four More Shots Please, recalls the unobtrusive actor that was his father with tremendous affection. “We all miss him. He was gone before I was born. However, I know he is always with me, guiding me to be the best person I can be. The more time goes by, the more I learn about him and understand who he was as a human and as an artist. Everything I do, I try to make him proud.”
The Songs Of Vinod Mehra:
’Geet gata hoon main muskurata hoon main’ (Lal Patthar)
‘Tere naino ke main deep jalaunga’ (Anurag)
‘Maaf karo baba maaf karo’ (Do Phool)
‘Nainon main darpan hai’ (Aarop)
‘Ae mere mann main hoon magan’ (Uss Paar)
‘Yaad rahega pyar ka yeh rangeen zamana’ (Umar Qaid)
‘Chalo bhool jaye’ (Do Jhooth)
‘Chatri na khol’ (Do Jhooth)
‘Dariya kinare ek bungalow’ (Sabse Bada Rupaiya)
KWada karo jaanam’ (Sabse Bada Rupaiya)
‘Phir wohi raat hai’ (Ghar)
‘Aapki aankhon mein kuch’ (Ghar)
