Marathi Mermaid, 1938

Marathi Mermaid, 1938

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In 1938, for the song 'Yamuna Jali Khel Kheluya Kanhaiya' in Master Vinayak's Brahmachari,when Meenakshi Shirodkar (1916 - 1997) dropped her Sari for a swimsuit and dived into a studio pond, slicing and dicing water to tease a youngman whose mind was half-baked by moronic religious thoughts brought on by a political movement, a dangerous mix of both RSS and Gandhian thought, she became probably the first Indian woman to do so on screen. It was a loud revolution. But people probably flocked to the theaters for other reasons.

Years later, Master Vinayak and Meenakshi Shirodkar's daughter Nanda did the water gig in her 1965 film Gumnaam with Manoj Kumar in song Jaane Chaman Shola Badan. It was good, but people probably went to the theater for other reasons.

Meenakshi Shirodkar's grand-daughter Shilpa Shirodkar who spent most of the 90s in water. There were only other reasons by now.

Then suddenly it all stopped. The water act was dead. There are theories. Some thanked global warming and globalization. 'Muncipalty cut the water supply to film studiowallas and instead diverted all the water to them Bisleriwallas.' Some thanked economic liberation. 'No water-fall was remote enough anymore