Who Is Meena Kumari ?
Meena Kumari’s name is still counted among the great actors of Bollywood. Meena was a different type of actress. Due to his acting, he is remembered even after nearly 46 years of his death. This actress, who left this world at a very young age, was as successful in her life as she had also suffered in her life. Her life was also filled with many types of tragedy and due to this she was also known as “tragedy queen”. Even after spending most of his life in misery, he never compromised with his work and acted in many excellent films.
Today’s youth are not so familiar with Meena Kumari’s life and very few people know about her life. Today we are going to introduce the life of this great actress of Indian cinema in this article of ours.
- Name – Meena Kumari
- Real name – Mahajabin Begum
- Birth Place – Maharashtra
- Date of Birth – 1 August 1933
- Place Of Death – Mumbai
- Date of Death – 31 March 1972
- Father’s Name – (Ali) Baksh
- Mother Name – Iqbal Begum
- Occupation – actress and singer
Meena Kumari Birth Details
Meena Kumari was born in the year 1933 in the state of Maharashtra, India. It is said that the family of Meena Kumari used to be very poor. Because of which, when he was born, his family left him in an orphanage. However, after some time, his family realized their mistake and brought Meena back from the orphanage to her home.
When he was born, his family members at that time named him Mahjabin Banu. But after appearing in films, he changed his name and named himself Meena Kumari. After which he came to be known by the same name.
Meena Kumari Education Details
Meena Kumari started working in films at a very young age. Due to which he could never get a chance to study. Meena could never study because of not going to school. But Meena got education from a private teacher.
Meena Kumari Family Details
Meena Kumari was from a Muslim family and her father’s name was Ali Baksh. His father used to be an artist and worked in the theater. His father also did a small role in a film called ‘Eid Ka Chand’. But Meena’s father could not become a successful actor. His father had done a total of two marriages during his lifetime and his second wife’s name was Iqbal Begum. Which was the mother of Meena Kumari.
Meena’s mother was from the state of Bengal and she was a Christian. His mother changed her religion and changed her name from Prabhati Devi to Iqbal Begum. Meena’s mother also acted and was quite famous as a stage dancer. Meena had two sisters, one of whom was older than her and the other was younger in age than her. These sisters were also related to Bollywood and their elder sister Khurshid Bano was also an artist. At the same time, his younger sister married actor Mahbood.
Meena Kumari Love life
Meena Kumari did love marriage and her husband’s name was Kamal Amrohi. Who used to be a well-known director. The two first met during the shooting of a film called Tamasha. After this meeting, Amrohi offered Meena to work in his film and the name of this film was ‘Anarkali’. Meena also agreed to act in this film. But even before the shooting of this film started, Meena had become a victim of a road accident. Due to which Meena had an injury in her hand and had to be admitted to the hospital for a few days. It is said that a small finger of his hand was cut in this accident.
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At the same time, as soon as Amrohi came to know about Meena’s hospitalization, he went to the hospital to meet Meena and it was from here that friendship started between the two. It is said that Amrohi used to visit the hospital daily to get the news of Meena. During this time, both of them also used to write letters to each other. After being discharged from the hospital, Meena used to talk to Amrohi via phone. The movie in which Amrohi offered Meena to work, that film could not be made due to any reasons.
Married in the year 1952 (Meena Kumari Marriage Life)
Meena hid from her father and married Amrohi on 14 February. The news of this marriage was only to close friends and Meena’s sister. At the time when both of them did this marriage, Meena was only 19 years old and Amrohi was 34 years old. There was a lot of difference in the age of these two.
After marriage, Meena went to her house and Amrohi to her. Actually, this was the second marriage of Amrohi and he had three children from the first marriage. Due to this, Amrohi also wanted to hide this nikah from the world. But after some time the news of this marriage reached the media and as soon as this news reached Meena’s father, he opposed this marriage and ordered Meena to get divorce from Amrohi immediately. Meena did not listen to her father. However, even after this news came out, Meena lived with her father.
In 1953, Meena’s husband expressed his desire to take Meena in a film called ‘Dera’. But when Meena’s father came to know about this, his father did not give his approval to Meena to do this film. Meena’s father wanted Meena to work in the film ‘Amar’ instead of this film. Meena too agreed to act in the film Amar, obeying her father. But Meena had a fight with Mehboob during the shooting of this film. After which Meena left this film and started shooting for the film Dera. Out of these two conditions of the father, Meena left her father’s house after celebrating the second condition and went to her husband’s house.
Meena Kumari Life After Marriage
Meena Kumari did not stop working in films even after marriage and gradually she became a superstar. But his growth was bringing a rift in his married life. Actually, Meena’s husband did not like that Meena is working in films and meeting different types of people. Her husband allowed Meena to work only with the condition that she would have to finish her work by evening and return home by 6.30 pm. Apart from this, during the shooting of the film, there should be no men in their makeup room. Meena accepted these terms of her husband. But even then, she could not save her marriage.
Separation With Husband
Meena Kumari made every effort to maintain her marriage, but in the year 1964, being fed up with the terms of her husband, Meena had decided to separate from them. It is said that when Meena allowed Gulzar to come to her mockup room during the Muhurat of the film titled ‘Cage Ke Panchi’, her husband’s assistant, Bakar Ali slapped Meena Kumari. Was After this incident, Meena had decided to separate from her husband and she went to her house with her sister as soon as the film’s Muhurta program was over.
Meena Kumari Filmy Career
- This great actress worked as a child artiste in many films and at a young age Meena acted in more than 12 films. Meena’s father was an actor, so Meena easily found work in films.
- Till the year 1946, Meena Kumari was known as Mahjabin. But he did not work with his real name in this year’s film ‘Children’s Game’ and changed his name in this film. After this film, he came to be known as Meena Kumari.
- When he changed his real name, he was 13 at the time. Prior to this film, he did a total of 11 films with his real name ‘Mahjibin’.
- He acted as the female lead for the first time in the film Baiju Bawra. This film came in the year 1952. After this film, he also worked as a lead artist in the film named ‘Parineeta’ in the year 1953.
- Meena had worked in films like Chandni Chowk, Azad, Ek Raasta, Sharda, Sahara, Kohinoor, Prank and etc. and these films were well liked by the public.
- Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam movie was the most successful film of his life. This film took Meena Kumari to a new level. After this film, everyone wanted to take Meena Kumari in her film. Meena Kumari achieved a very big place in Bollywood at a very young age.
- Some other films made by Meena Kumari are: Main Bhi Girl Hain (1964), Kajal (1965), Phool Aur Patthar (1966), Bahu Begum (1967), Jawab (1970) and Pakija (1972) .
- Meena Kumari was very ill while shooting for the film Pakeezah. The doctors instructed him to rest, but still he worked in this film. The film was released on February 4, 1972 and Meena Kumari was accompanied by her husband at the premiere of the film.
Meena kumari death
Within a few weeks of the release of the film Pakeezah, Meena Kumari had departed from this world. The 38-year-old actress had been ailing for a long time. The actress breathed her last on 31 March 1972. He died in St. Elizabeth Nursing Home.
Cause Of Death
Meena Kumari started being very unhappy due to her separation from her husband and she had the disease of sleeplessness. Due to which he contacted a doctor. The doctor gave him some medicine and asked him to drink some alcohol if he could not sleep. At the same time, this advice of the doctor proved very dangerous for Meena and she got into the habit of drinking alcohol. His liver had worsened due to this habit.
After which Meena got her disease treated from abroad too. When Meena was ill, her husband offered her a film of hers. Meena’s health deteriorated further while working in this film called Pakija.
Awards And Achievements
- Meena Kumari was nominated in the Filmfare Award for a total of 12 films and out of these 12 films, she also won this award for four films. The films for the films for which Meena won this award are given below.
- Meena Kumari has done many awards in her name. He received his first Filmfare Award for the film named Baiju Bawra in the year 1952. In this film, she played the character of a girl named Gauri and for this role she was awarded the Best Actress.
- In 1953, this great actress won her second Filmfare Award for the film ‘Parineeta’. She also received this award in the category of Best Actress. Apart from this film, he also received this award for the film Kajal.