/> The death of Begum Para on Tuesday has triggered off a reaction of renewable melancholy in Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the director who worked with her last in Saawariya.

"I wanted so much to work with her again. I wanted to cast her again after Saawariya. Moin Beg who has written Heera Mandi told me this project would be incomplete without Para Aunty. I agreed completely. In fact I had the perfect role for her in Heera Mandi ? Now I wonder how I'll make the film without her."

"She was mercurial. Kabhi para chadta kabhi para utarta. She was indeed Begum Para."

Sanjay's association with Begum Para went back to his childhood. "I remember my father would mention her very prominently among the beauties he admired from the 1950s. I had never seen her personally on screen. As a child I wasn't much of a moviegoer. For me she was a myth, a beauty men were fascinated by."

Then came the chance to cast Begum Para.

"When we thought of that particular character in Saawariya both my casting director Amita Sehgal and writer Moin Beg (who was a friend of Begum Para) suggested Begum Para's name. The minute I heard her name I remembered my father and I jumped at the name. Over the years I was intrigued by her."

Sanjay recalls his first meeting with the legend. "Para Aunty was immobile. She couldn't move out of bed. But she was so radiant and full of live. She had a sparkle in her eye. Her soul had not aged with time.

She tied a pony tail high on her head and it would swing as she spoke animatedly. Moin and she talked about the next party, and kebabs and drinks.

She celebrated life even if she couldn't move but she kept me entertained with her wacky anecdotes about all and sundry in the industry. Then she told me, 'The person you see over here in this bed is not Begum Para. Go over there and look at that picture.'

And she pointed me to a picture on the wall where she posed in her heydays in a bathing costume."

Says Sanjay, "Do you know she went to movies in theatres regularly on her wheelchair. That she had a wonderful family helped keep her spirits high till the end. Her daughter Lubna, son (actor) Ayub Khan and daughter-in-law Niharika were constantly joking and keeping her spirits high."

The director recalls her excitement when she came for the shooting. "She loved putting on the makeup after so many years. If I suggested a red lipstick she immediately went for it. She loved the kajal, clothes..... She was so happy to re-shoot at Mehboob studios where so many her memories were still alive.

It took her a great difficulty to come from her van to the sets. But she'd shoot the whole day without a word of complaint. Salman and she would be cracking up with mutual laughter the whole day. She got along with everybody.

There was no crankiness because of age or bitterness for glory-gone. It's very important not to get bitter in life. And I learnt that from Begum Para."

Sanjay gets emotional. "She was a storehouse of experiences. And she'd send biryani for all of us. The biryani from her house was outstanding.

One day she brought mutton biryani to the sets and I regretfully turned it down becauseI don't eat mutton. Many months later after the shooting was over one day my doorbell rang. It was a dabba from Para Aunty containing chicken biryani. She taught me to smile through life's adversities.

She got into the shooting so effortlessly. Maybe she was nervous for the first shot. But after that she was fine. Ayub and Niharika came to see her first shot. She did the scene so well. And she smoked the hukkah with such aplomb.

She was really stylish. She spoke English fluently. She was very articulate. There was an aura about her from the start. But when I saw her on the screen I realized the aura was much larger than what I thought."

Sanjay has one regret. "One month ago I asked Moin about Para Aunty. I wanted to meet her.

But it never happened.I've seen such mehmaan-nawaazi in Majrooh Sultanpuri. What a challenge it was for her to come back to movies after thirty years and still remember her lines.

After the first shot she just flowed. How sad that her performance was not recognized by any awards committee in India. In Hollywood Begun Para's performance in Saawariya would've been toasted for months."