The tragedy queen of the yester-years

By: Smitha Nambiar
Friday, November 24, 2006
She was called the Chinese doll! With her curl dropping on her face, and the anguish-laden voice, she was the epitome of uncontrollable tragedy. This unblemished beauty made Meena Kumari the ultimate tragedy queen in Indian Cinema. One of the greatest beauty of the yester-years, it is only too appropriate for us to step back and have a look at the life and experience of this beautiful lady that was responsible for the image she carried-of that of a sorrowful lonely woman whose desires remained suppressed by the cruel world.

Meena Kumari's childhood:

Meena Kumari's original name was Mehajabeen Bano and was born on August 1, at Dr Gadre's clinic in Bombay. Ali Bakhsh, her father, left her in a Muslim orphanage, but picked her up after a few hours. He was upset that his wife had given birth to another daughter. Ali Baksh was a Parsee theatre actor and use to play the harmonium and wrote Urdu poetry. Faced with tough times, Ali Baksh got his daughter Mahjabeen into films at the age of six. Mahjabeen is believed to have cried and shouted that she did not want to enter the films. Her never-ending love-hate relationship with films thus took a start. Mahjabeen was renamed Baby Meena and was cast in Vijay Bhatt's LEATHERFACE (1939). As Mehajabeen grew older, she acted in many mythological movies such as VEER GHATOTKACH (1949), SHRI GANESH MAHIMA (1950). Unfortunately, none of these films did well at the box-office.

Meena Kumari in BAIJU BAWRA:

The movie that brought her acclaim was "Baiju Bawra", based on the life of the legendary medieval singer of Central India, Baiju Bawra. The heroine in the film sacrificed her desires and dream for the material and spiritual advancement of the man she loves. It was a very strong performance. With this, Meena Kumari bagged the Best Actress award at the inaugural Filmfare awards in 1953. The film, released on Oct. 5 1952 made waves and the music composed by Naushad was greatly appreciated. Baiju Bawra was a huge musical hit and was directed by Vijay Bhatt, the same director who had given the first break. The film ran for hundred weeks in Bombay eventually becoming a diamond jubilee hit. Meena Kumari became one of the greatly paid stars.... her price shot up from 15000 to 1 lakh and she was flooded by offers.

The tragedy of her life:
She became Film Director Kamal Amrohi's second wife. Her personal life also depicted the same tragedy as her films. While her professional life was soaring with hits like Guru Dutt's SAHIB BIWI AUR GULAM, AARTI, MAIN CHUP RAHOONGI, all in the year 1962, her personal life was a dismal failure. Meena became excessively dependent on the kindness offered by younger heroes like Dharmendra until finally her marriage with Kamal Amrohi ended in 1964. With excessive drinking, her looks diminished and her image grew as a martyr.

Her film PAKEEZAH, released on February 4, 1972, and initially declared a flop, became an instant hit after her death on March 31, 1972. The movie took fourteen years to complete. Jointly planned by Meena and husband Amrohi in 1958, the filming had stopped when the couple split. However, Meena was now determined to complete it. She had great hopes from this movie and the song "chalte chalte mujhe koi mil gaya tha" is still sung by thousands of Indians. In death she had found her fulfillment!

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