Meet the actress who is a superstar, her father leaves her in an orphanage and becomes the third wife of the famous film producer, Dharmendra, who dies from…
Although Meena Kumari is one of Bollywood’s most successful and outstanding actresses, her personal life is rather miserable. She married director Kamal Amrohi and after her divorce, she became an alcoholic. Meena died of alcohol abuse at the age of 38.
Mahjabeen Bano was born on August 1, 1933 to her parents Ali Bux and Iqbal Begum. Her father was very disappointed with her birth because he wanted a son and had no money to pay, so Ali left her in the orphanage. But a few hours later, he changed his mind and brought Mahjabeen back to their home. As her family faces financial struggles, she started working as a child artist at the age of four. Mahjabeen collaborates with film producer Vijay Bhatt, his work on leather faces Adhuri Kahani and Pooja. When their film Ek Hi Bhool was released in 1940, Vijay Rechristenend Mahjabeen played Baby Meena. She finally played under the name Meena Kumari in the 1946 film Bachchon Ka Khel, her first film.
Meena Kumari became one of the most successful actresses in the next two decades in multiple super recruitment jobs including Baiju Bawra, Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, Parineeta, Do Bigha Zamin, Dil apna Aur Preet Parai and Phool Aur Patthar. She is also a poet, a singer playing and a costume designer, and she is considered one of the best and greatest actresses in Indian cinema history. Meena Kumari is known as the Queen of Tragedy and has appeared in more than 90 films in her acting career, spanning thirty years.
However, the superstar actress’s personal life is the exact opposite of her career. 18-year-old Meena Kumari married 34-year-old film producer Kamal Amrohi in 1952. Soon, the couple led to a difference between physical struggle and domestic abuse. The two separated from each other in 1964, and since then Kumari became an alcoholic. Kumari’s name was then associated with Dharmendra, who began his career in the film industry at the time. The actress is said to have brought a condition to several filmmakers to attribute him to their films, and thus was what led to Dharmendra’s rise in early Bollywood.
Due to her alcoholism, Meena was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis in 1968. When her treatment began in London and Switzerland, her financial situation began to decline. Two years after their marriage, Meena and Kamal planned to produce Pakeezah in 1954, but the film was delayed due to their relationship. Finally, in 1969, Kamal Amrohi revived the film with Meena Kumari, Ashok Kumar and Raaj Kumar. The musical romantic drama Pakeezah was released on February 4, 1972, and became the largest blockbuster in Hindi films at the time. Meena Kumari died on March 31, 1972 only a few weeks after the film was released, because she was only 38 years old.
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