MEENA KUMARI : THE TRAGEDY QUEEN
The tragedy queen’s 40th death anniversary was on 30 March. She was born on 1 August 1932 and died on 31 March 1972,creating a void which todate has not been filled.by the time she died she became the gold standard for acting.
Though her maiden film in 1949 was ‘Veer Ghatotkuch’ she rose to stardom for her power packed performance in ‘Baiju Bawra’ in 1952 and the Filmfare award was launched that year and Meena Kumari christened as Mahjabeen won the first ever filmfare award in 1953 for her performance in Baiju Bawra and there was no stopping her for the next two decades. Bharat Bhushan too rose to stardom in Baiju Bawra.
An Actress par excellence, with none to match her for playing grief-stricken and tragic roles. She will be remembered as an actress who made the audience cry, while she smiled in grief. She saw poetry in pain.the greatest hallmark of Meena Kumari lied in her ability to depict the helplessness of Indian women existing specially in the 50s and 60s.
Her acting prowess was so great that Meena Kumari made history when she was nominated for Filmfare best actress award in 1962 for her roles in Aarti, Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam and Main Chup Rahungi, She won the award for Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam. She had acted opposite all the top notch actors at that time. Dilip Kumar, Bharat Bhushan, Raaj Kumar,ashok Kumar and Dharmendra to name a few.meena Kumari married film director Kamal Amrohi in 1952 who was 15 years elder than her and who was already married. But her married life was devastated when Kamal Amrohi spearated from her in 1960 and divorced in 1964. It was professional jealousy that was the cause for the separation. She was already at the top of her career by then. Amrohi produced Pakeezah with Meena Kumari in the lead role, but it took 16 years (1956 to 1972) to complete due to the broken marriage. Finally it hit the screen in 1972.She had a realtionship with Dharmendra as well.
She became depressed and found solace in drinking. She went to England and Switzerland for treatment but when she returned she was not the same. Because of her drinking she lost her good looks. She acted in nearly 90 films and won the Filmfare awards in 1954 Baiju Bawra, Parineeta 1955, Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam 1963, Kaajal 1966, and was nominated eight times for Filmfare best actress award and posthumous nomination for Pakeezah in 1973. Meena Kumari who was the tragedy queen on the silver screen ended her life like how she acted in some of her films.she died of liver cirrhosis and the most pathetic part is that no one had come forward to settle her hospital bill. Ultimately the doctor who attended on her settled it.