Remembering Meena Kumari: 20 Unknown facts about the iconic actress

By Rajiv Vijayakar -

March 31, 2022 - 10:10 AM IST

The iconic Mahjabeen Bano, known to the world as Meena Kumari, was an incredible actress, billed for assorted reasons as the Tragedy Queen. The truth was that this brilliant Diva, who passed away 50 years ago on 31^st March, was equally adept at lighter roles and excelled in comedy (Miss Mary), dances (Pakeezah) and character roles (Mere Apne) as well.

Remembering Meena Kumari: 20 Unknown facts about the iconic actress

She also sang in some of her movies (her last song was in Pakeezah again, but not used within the film and released many years later as a part of the album Pakeezah Rang Barang). An excellent and published poet, she had also been a model and a fashion trendsetter and acted in over 90 films, about 15 of which were either as child artiste and supporting actress or second lead.

But all these are commonly-known aspects of the star-actress. Here are 20 rare or not commonly known facts that add charm and tang to her interesting professional and personal journey.

1. Meena Kumari’s father Ali Bux wanted a son when she was born. He therefore dropped the unwanted child at an orphanage. But for reasons best known to him, he went and picked her up from there within hours. This was just as well, for when he fell on really bad days, at the age of 4, young Mahjabeen Bano began acting in films to support the family. Her first film was Leatherface, directed by Vijay Bhatt.

2.The name of Meena, as Baby Meena, was again given by Vijay Bhatt, when he next directed Ek Hi Bhool. The name stuck when she turned adult, with the word Kumari added with Bachchon Ka Khel (1946).

3. Meena Kumari was also distantly related to none other than Rabindranath Tagore. Her maternal grandmother, Hem Sundari Tagore, was closely related to Tagore’s cousin, though the exact relation is not known.

4. Veer Ghatotkach (1949), Shri Ganesh Mahima (1950), Hanuman Patal Vijay (1950) and Laxmi Narayan (1951) were four mythological movies in which Meena Kumari acted in on the way up the ladder to be an A-grade star. In those days, mythological movies were classified along with fantasies as largely B-grade projects by the trade. It took Baiju Bawra (1952), her 25^th film, for her to make the grade!

5. In 1963, Meena Kumari achieved the distinction of winning all three Filmfare nominations for Best Actress that year! The films were Aarti, Main Chup Rahungi and Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, which were also her only releases in 1962! This achievement remains unique in any awards worldwide to date. She was awarded for Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam.

6. She was Bimal Roy’s first choice as Paro for Devdas after she did Parineeta with him. But the deal fell through as by that time, Kamal Amrohi had a role in her choice of assignments.

7. The challenging role of Raj Kapoor’s lover, who ultimately ends up being his stepmother in Sharada was taken up by Meena Kumari after several heroines rejected the unconventional story.

8. After Dharmendra and Hema Malini (over 25 films) and Raj Kapoor-Nargis’ 16 films together, the most frequent star combination in Hindi cinema was of Ashok Kumar with Meena Kumari in 15 films from Parineeta (1953) to Pakeezah (1972). And it was Ashok Kumar who introduced Meena to Kamal on the sets of Tamasha.

9. The song ‘Roz Akeli Aaye’, written by Gulzar, sung by Lata Mangeshkar for Mere Apne, could not be filmed on her as she fell very ill while shooting for the film, which was the last movie for which she actually shot. The music was by Salil Chowdhury.

10. This maverick composer also directed and wrote Meena Kumari in the 1966 Pinjre Ke Panchhi besides scoring its music.

11. Meena never needed glycerin to shed tears on camera and was the first actress to drink openly at parties instead of disguising it as a cola.

12. When Meena Kumari married filmmaker Kamal Amrohi secretly in 1952, because her father would have objected as Kamal was already married with three children, one of the witnesses was Aman, known best later as co-writer of Mughal-E-Azam and Zeenat Aman’s father!

13. When Kamal’s first wife Sayeda Al-Zehra Mehmoodi’s father was suffering from a terminal disease, the latter was floored by Meena Kumari’s caring approach. He told Kamal’s son Tajdar Amrohi, “Ussne to mere beti se bhi zyaada seva ki (She took better care of me than my daughter could).” Before that, Tajdar revealed that his mother too “had succumbed to her charms.”

14. Though Meena Kumari was addicted to alcohol after her traumatic split from husband Kamal, this fatal habit had an innocent beginning. As a chronic insomniac who needed sleeping pills, her physician had suggested a peg of brandy instead!

15. Tajdar stated that when the song ‘Inhi Logon Ne’ (Pakeezah) was shot, Meena Kumari told his father that the song deserved to be shot in color. This was said to be the main reason why Kamal scrapped the black-and-white portions and decided to make the film in color. When Cinemascope came in, he even discarded the color portions he had shot and reshot the film again. But at that time the domestic discord between Kamal and Meena Kumari led to the film coming to a halt. It was resumed in 1968 when Sunil Dutt convinced Meena Kumari to complete the stalled movie.

16. Kamal is said to have sketched all the set designs (though the art director was N.B. Kulkarni) and camera movements for Pakeezah, and personally selected every costume. But Meena Kumari was also credited with the costume designs.

17. Meena Kumari was ailing in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and some long shots were taken by Kamal with duplicates—in the song ‘Aaj Hum Apni Duaon Ka Asar Dekhenge’ Padma Khanna stood in for her!

18 Meena Kumari was a voracious reader of English fiction, and her favourite author was Agatha Christie. The actress was known to be a bookworm on sets and it is surmised that her sense of scripts became refined because of this habit.

19. It is said that on her deathbed, Meena Kumari’s last wish was nothing more than “Ek oomda paan (A delicious paan).”

20. Reportedly, Filmfare did not award Meena Kumari for Pakeezah, as also composer Ghulam Mohammed and cinematographer Josef Wirsching because all three had passed away. But Pran turned down his own Best Supporting Actor award in protest when the Best Music award went to Shankar-Jaikishan for Beimaan, in which he also had a role, instead of to Ghulam Mohammed! Meena, however, did win a Special award posthumously for the film at the prestigious Bengal Film Journalists’ Association and also the award started by the popular Sushma magazine, the Shama-Sushma award for Best Actress.

Also Read: 7 Unknown facts about the late Meena Kumari