New Delhi: Today is the birth anniversary of late Bollywood actress Meena Kumari. She was known as the ‘Tragedy Queen’ of Bollywood. She had suffered a lot till the end of her life but still, she remained one of the greatest actresses in Bollywood. Meena Kumari ruled the Bollywood industry for over 2 decades but during this time she kept fighting with her loneliness.
Meena Kumari was born on 1 August 1933 in Mumbai. Her father Ali Baks was also a Parsi theater artist and her mother was a famous theater actress and dancer, who belonged to the family of Rabindranath Tagore. As soon as she was born, Abba Ali Baksh, frightened by the scarcity of money and the burden of two daughters already, left her in a Muslim orphanage.
Meena Kumari did not want to act, she started working in films at the young age of four, always cried while going on a shoot. Every time she used to request her mother and father that she wants to study just like other children but well, no one heard.
During the shooting of the ‘Tamasha’ movie, Dada Muni i.e. Ashok Kumar introduced her to filmmaker Kamal Amrohi. After this Kamal signed Meena for his movie ‘Anarkali.’ The actress was seriously injured in an accident in May 1951, just 5 days after the signing of the contract. In this one of her fingers was badly crushed.
At that time medical science was not so advanced, so no good treatment was possible. Because of this, as soon as the camera was turned on, she used to hide her finger with the dupatta or saree.
After this accident, Meena Kumari was hospitalized for several months, during which Kamal Amrohi often went to the hospital to meet her. While caring for the actress, Kamal had become emotionally attached to her.
On 14 February 1952, only 18 years old Meena Kumari got married to Kamal Amrohi, who was almost twice her age and was also the father of three children. Although this marriage did not last long, in the year 1964, Meena Kumari and Kamal Amrohi’s relationship broke down, both of them did not divorce but started living separately.
Meena Kumari took the name of Kamal Amrohi, after she went into a coma, she died after a few days, Meena was ill, but she continued shooting for ‘Pakeezah’. She died a few days after the release of this movie.