When Vidhubala bid adieu to the silver screen with her 1981 release Abhinayam opposite Jayan and chose a life of domestic harmony, she was the heartthrob of a generation of moviegoers. Three decades later, she began facing the cameras again, this time for a reality show Kathayallithu Jeevitham, and she has been conquering the hearts of a newer generation ever since. The show, which first aired on May 2010, has been garnering a steady stream of responses and is still a favourite with television audiences even as it completes six years.
The former actress is undoubtedly elated at the success of the show, which features real families caught in domestic turmoil trying to work their way towards a solution. “I doubt that any reality show in India has had such a long run. Responses keep flooding in about how the show has impacted several families when it comes to the way they deal with issues in their own homes.”
The show has also had its critics, she recalls. “Sometimes I get responses saying that at a certain point during the show, this is what I should have done. They may be right, in a certain way, so all that feedback does help when dealing with the next episode.”
A show dealing with domestic trouble is bound to be rife with high-voltage drama, and there have been instances when the situation went out of hand. Vidhubala recalls one particular incident where a man had deserted his wife and was living with another woman. “We brought the two families for the show in the hope that we would bring about an amicable solution to the issue. That was when a few members of the wife’s family attempted to take him by force. We then had to call in the security guards to prevent things from going out of hand,” she recalls.
Thankfully, her training in psychology has helped her anticipate the moment a participant is on the point of breaking down, purely by reading their body language, so she mentally prepares herself to deal with the situation. Presence of mind becomes very crucial here, she says.
Daughter of magician K Bhagyanath and sister of cinematographer Madhu Ambat, showbiz was in her genes. Yet Vidhubala, who made her screen debut at age eight as a child artiste in the 1962 film School Master, decided to call it quits when she was at the peak of her career.
“It was not only acting that I was involved in at the time. There was dance, modelling and occasional stage shows with my father, in the midst of which I was pursuing my studies. Being a celebrity was not something I enjoyed, and I felt I had reached my saturation point when I quit the industry for good.”
When asked if she was planning a comeback to tinsel town, her answer was a firm ‘No’.
set for show
The show, which first aired on May 2010, has been garnering a steady stream of responses and is still a favourite with television audiences even as it completes six years. And, for Vidhubala, training in psychology has helped her anticipate the moment a participant is on the point of breaking down, purely by reading their body language, so she mentally prepares herself to deal with the situation