This unfathomable power of destiny to make and break lives! And sometimes at the same time! Isn't it cruel that life can make a person so successful and still take all the happiness away from them?
My salute to the memory of Meena Kumari, one of the most talented actresses of Hindi cinema, whose brilliant portrayal of many grief-stricken, tragic women gave her the name 'The Tragedy Queen'.
Strangely tragedy and drama ruled her personal life as well. It even began with drama, if you ask me. Born as Mehjabeen to struggling stage actors Ali Baksh and Iqbal Begum in 1932, Meena Kumari was left in a Muslim orphanage as her parents could not even pay the doctor's fee. But after a few hours her father came and claimed her back.
Little Mehjabeen wanted to go to school and have a normal life, but she was forced into acting from the age of 7. She made her debut as Baby Meena in Farzand-e-Watan 1939. In the fourties she became the sole bread-winner of her family.
Meena Kumari gained fame and recognition with the success of Baiju Bawra 1952. Her performance was critically acclaimed and she won the first filmfare award for an actress in 1953 for her portrayal of the self sacrificing tragedienne heroine.
There was a huge development in her personal life as well around this time. She fell in love with director Kamal Amrohi. Amrohi was already married and was 15 years older to her. Before we start raising fingers, lets just reflect over the facts. She was hardly even 20; life is nothing but an array of beautiful possibilities at that age and love is divine. She soon became his second wife and the 'choti Ammi' to his children.
The domestic responsibilities did not slow down her career. She was able to repeat her tremendous success in the movies like Parineeta, Ek hi raasta, Dil Apna aur Preet Parai to name a few. In 1956 she started working on Pakeezah with her husband. Though the fate of this movie was often indefinite through the ups and downs of their marriage, it would ultimately become her role of a lifetime.
She has made me cry in almost all the movies I have watched of her. My favourite is Guru Dutt's Saheb, Bibi aur Ghulam 1962. Her portrayal of 'choti Bahu', the orthodox Brahmin woman, who chained down her philandering husband, by turning herself into his personal drunken singing girl, is simply phenomenal. Here is a song from this movie. Just look at those eyes.
My salute to the memory of Meena Kumari, one of the most talented actresses of Hindi cinema, whose brilliant portrayal of many grief-stricken, tragic women gave her the name 'The Tragedy Queen'.
Strangely tragedy and drama ruled her personal life as well. It even began with drama, if you ask me. Born as Mehjabeen to struggling stage actors Ali Baksh and Iqbal Begum in 1932, Meena Kumari was left in a Muslim orphanage as her parents could not even pay the doctor's fee. But after a few hours her father came and claimed her back.
Little Mehjabeen wanted to go to school and have a normal life, but she was forced into acting from the age of 7. She made her debut as Baby Meena in Farzand-e-Watan 1939. In the fourties she became the sole bread-winner of her family.
Meena Kumari gained fame and recognition with the success of Baiju Bawra 1952. Her performance was critically acclaimed and she won the first filmfare award for an actress in 1953 for her portrayal of the self sacrificing tragedienne heroine.
There was a huge development in her personal life as well around this time. She fell in love with director Kamal Amrohi. Amrohi was already married and was 15 years older to her. Before we start raising fingers, lets just reflect over the facts. She was hardly even 20; life is nothing but an array of beautiful possibilities at that age and love is divine. She soon became his second wife and the 'choti Ammi' to his children.
The domestic responsibilities did not slow down her career. She was able to repeat her tremendous success in the movies like Parineeta, Ek hi raasta, Dil Apna aur Preet Parai to name a few. In 1956 she started working on Pakeezah with her husband. Though the fate of this movie was often indefinite through the ups and downs of their marriage, it would ultimately become her role of a lifetime.
She has made me cry in almost all the movies I have watched of her. My favourite is Guru Dutt's Saheb, Bibi aur Ghulam 1962. Her portrayal of 'choti Bahu', the orthodox Brahmin woman, who chained down her philandering husband, by turning herself into his personal drunken singing girl, is simply phenomenal. Here is a song from this movie. Just look at those eyes.
In the movie choti Bahu becomes an alcoholic and meets with a very tragic end. Ironically Meena Kumari's own life was also heading for the same direction.
Due to their personal as well as professional differences, she had separated from her husband and was turning to alcohol for solace. Her affair with actor Dharmendra, who was many years younger to her , and the subsequent break up also became a reason for her deterioration. She was rejected by both men she loved.
May be this is the right place to mention her accomplishments as a poetess. Poetry had always been natural to her, but the heart ache was adding fuel to the fire. I have been trying to get hold of the translations of some of her poetry, my Hindi is not all that good, but I have to say, the haunting quality of her poetry literally rendered me speechless. The expressions like 'Yaad ke Jugnu' ! well what can I say...
Meena Kumari was later diagnosed with liver cirrhosis, though she sought treatment in London, her condition continuously deteriorated. Irrespective of her disagreement with her estranged husband and her failing health she continued to work on Pakeezah. The film released in 1972 to lukewarm response, but the audience flocked in to the theaters in a month; it's heroine had the left the world of tragedy and drama and had succumbed to the ultimate salvation. Thus Pakeezah became a major block buster success, after Meena Kumari's death.
She still continues to haunt us with her brilliant portrayal of many lonely, suppressed women. And we are still mesmerized by that, unblemished beauty and that anguish-laden voice!
What is there in life after all, if there are no fireflies of memories!
I love this song of her :-)
