OLD MAGIC: (From top) Shabana Azmi, Hema Malini, Sharmila Tagore, Jaya Bachchan and Rekha

The New Year is not only slated to ring in the new but also the old in the Hindi film industry. And this old wine is guaranteed to give audiences a bigger high than anything new that Bollywood can rustle up.

Sample this: Pritish Nandy Communications is eager to pair garam Dharam with the Dream Girl of yore, Hema Malini, in an untitled film. Cameras are set to roll once Dharmendra gives his nod to the script, which Hema Malini has already approved of. That isn’t all. The doe-eyed beauty, whose face can still launch a thousand films, is also going south to play a lead character role in Kamal Hasan’s next film Marmayogi.

If Hema Malini has her schedule for this year chalked out, so has Jaya Bachchan, who is starring alongside her son, Abhishek, in the fantasy action film Drona, slated for a mid-2008 release. And Shabana Azmi is toying with the idea of playing the late Benazir Bhutto. Azmi’s 2007 releases, Honeymoon Travels, Dus Kahaniyan and the satirical Loins of Punjab Presents, among others, had seen the actress, as always, in riveting roles, endorsing her versatility.

Now that Bhutto is no more, she could perhaps have yet another meaty role in her kitty. In the early Eighties, Azmi had begun to prepare for the part, intently studying Bhutto’s body language and mannerisms. But the proposed biopic on the Pakistan People’s Party chief to be directed by British-Pakistani author, playwright and film-maker Tariq Ali, had to be shelved because of the predictable Indo-Pak differences. Industry sources now claim that there are chances of the Shabana Azmi-Tariq Ali project being revived.

So what is it that makes these so-called actresses of yesteryear — Waheeda Rehman, Hema Malini, Rekha, Sharmila Tagore, Shabana Azmi and their ilk — all-time favourites, not just with audiences but also with film-makers? What makes young, top-notch actresses pale into insignificance in their presence?

In the past, dancing skill wasn’t mandatory, histrionics was. A show of skin wasn’t imperative; grace and elegance were the much sought-after traits. Film-maker Pradeep Sarkar, who had zeroed in on Hema Malini and Jaya Bhaduri to play “key roles” in Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, seconds that. “These senior artistes have grace, elegance and oodles of talent. That is why they are still in demand,” he reasons, adding, “Hema Malini’s role as a courtesan in Laaga Chunari… was important and it was by no means a cameo. Only she could have enacted it. The script demanded an actress of her calibre, which is why I decided on her. Ditto for Jaya Bachchan.”

But while Sarkar fell back on the demands of the script, film-maker Goutam Ghose had actually relied on Rekha to recreate the Umrao Jaan magic in his film Yatra. At the time of the release of the film Ghose had mentioned, “Rekha as Umrao Jaan is part of the collective memory of the audience.” Ghose, however, tailored the script to depict a metaphorical journey over the years but tried to retain the sense of mystery associated with the actress.

It is perhaps this sense of mystery that adds to the timeless appeal of these artistes. In fact, R. Balki, director of Cheeni Kum, baulks at the expression “yesteryear artistes”. “That’s unfair,” says the film-maker who had conceived of the May-December marriage between a 34-year-old woman and 64-year-old man with specifically Tabu and Amitabh Bachchan in mind. “I wanted to bring together that pair. But as far as actors like Sharmila Tagore, Hema Malini et al are concerned, they are still going great guns. If the script demands it, they can still play the lead and carry a film single handedly,” he says

Film-maker Sudhir Mishra agrees wholeheartedly. While his recently-released film, Khoya Khoya Chand, starring Soha Ali Khan and Shiny Ahuja, was based on Meena Kumari’s life, he is keen to work with one heroine in particular who had scorched the silver screen in her heyday. “Given a chance, I would love to work with Waheeda Rehman,” he says. “She is such a great artiste. She has aged so gracefully and is so talented. Unfortunately, today mediocrity rules the roost and not many producers would want to back a film with a senior artiste in a substantial role.”

While that may be partially correct, the veterans themselves are happy with the present state of affairs in Bollywood. “It’s fun to work with actors we were paired with when we were young,” says Hema Malini. “It’s a feeling of déjà vu.” Baghban and Baabul saw her being successfully paired with Amitabh Bachchan. And now that there is a possibility of her being able to work with Dharmendra after over two decades, Hema Malini couldn’t possibly have asked for more.

Old’s well that ends well.