25 Facts About Meena Kumari The Tragedy Queen Of Bollywood

Good looks and superlative talent personified. All this coalesced in a single personality, Meena Kumari is an actress like no other in Bollywood. Popularly known as the “Tragedy Queen” of Hindi Cinema, Meena Kumari was unmatched and incomparable. In a career spanning thirty-three years, she starred in more than ninety films, many of which have achieved cult status today.

Much like her screen characters, her life too was fraught with disappointments and upheavals. We bring you some unknown facts and accounts associated with this legendary actress, which most are not familiar with.

Here are some lesser-known facts about Meena Kumari that will amaze you:

1. Meena Kumari was born in a poor family

Born on 1^st August 1933 in a family of poor theatre artists, she was named Mahjabeen Bano.

2. Meena Kumari’s grandmother was a relative of Rabindranath Tagore

Her father, Master Ali Bux was a Parsi theatre veteran, who wrote Urdu poetry and did small-time roles in films. Her mother Iqbal Begum was a Bengali Christian converted to Islam. Her original name was Prabhawati Devi. Meena Kumari’s grandmother, Hem Sundari Tagore was the daughter of Rabindranath Tagore’s brother.

3. She was left at an orphanage by her father, who again took her back

Meena’s father had left her at the door of an orphanage as he could not afford to pay the doctor for her delivery. However, he changed his mind and came back to get his baby girl but was horrified to see ants crawling all over her body.

4. Baby Meena’s first role as a child artist

Her parents started taking her around film studios when she was just four years old, peddling her for a role. It was Vijay Bhatt who cast her in the costumed drama Leatherface (1939) as the hero’s daughter. He also gave her the screen name “Baby Meena”. She got Rs. 25 for her first day.

5. Baby Meena became Meena Kumari at 13

She did many films as a child artist between 1939 – 1944. It was in the film Bachchon Ka Khel (1946), at the age of 13 years, that Baby Meena became Meena Kumari and started doing adult roles as a heroine. She starred in many mythological and fantasy genre films. However, success still eluded her.

6. She won the Best Actress Award at the First Filmfare Award

It was her mentor Vijay Bhatt’s Baiju Bawara (1952) that transformed her into a sensation among the audience. She played the female lead in the movie and won the Best Actress Award at the First Filmfare Award in 1954.

7. Meena Kumari’s Husband was 15 years older to her

In 1952, in a secret nikah, she married filmmaker Kamal Amrohi, who was 15 years her senior and was already a married man. She was just 18 years old.

8. How Kamal Amorhi met Meena for the first time

Interestingly, in 1938, a young Kamal Amorhi visited Ali Bux’s house as he was searching for a girl for a short role in a film. There he was greeted by a 5-year-old girl with mashed banana all over her face. The little girl was Meena Kumari. Though she was not selected for the role, fate had something else stored for her.

9. Best Actress Award for her performance in Parineeta – 1953

Meena Kumari received the Best Actress Award at the Second Filmfare Awards too, for her role in Parineeta (1953). It was her stellar performance that made this version of the film to be the most faithful adaptation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay Bengali novel by the same name. Her co-star was Ashok Kumar, with whom she did 17 films between 1952 – 1972.

10. She was comfortable eating stale rotis even after achieving stardom

Meena Kumari was so used to eating stale rotis during her childhood, that she would even have them with raw onion, even after becoming such a huge star.

11. She had a tough marriage and went into depression

Her marital life was a turbulent one, fraught with stress and suffering. Amrohi suspected her of adultery and had her spied upon. He imposed too many rules and regulations on her to continue working and even mistreated her. All this led to her going into depression.

12. She used to play strong but vulnerable characters

The journey and tragedy of her real-life clearly reflected in her onscreen characters. She portrayed strong yet vulnerable women who made their own way in life, although lost out on love. She had the ability to convey such profound melancholy through her characters that it was hard to believe she was only in her 20s and 30s.

13. Meena Kumari was known as the ‘Tragedy Queen’ for her perfect portrayal of sadness and her real-life story

While performing her roles, Meena Kumari required no glycerine to cry. She was known as the “Tragedy Queen”. Her performances in classics like Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, Pakeezha, Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai, and Mere Apne are today appreciated as textbook perfection of poignancy and sadness.

14. She became addicted to drinking after her divorce

In 1964, after 11 years of troubled married life, she finally got divorced by triple talaq from Amrohi. By then depression had already taken over her. Her doctor suggested taking a small peg of brandy once in a while to help her sleep better. However, it became an addiction and she started to drink heavily.

15. Rumors surfaced about Meena Kumari and Dharmendra

Her name was associated with many leading figures in the Hindi film industry, most famously with a young and upcoming newcomer of that period – Dharmendra.

16. She created history by getting all the nominations for Best Actress by her name at the 10th Filmfare Awards – 1963

Meena Kumari’s histrionics prowess can be gauged by the rare feat she achieved at the 10th Filmfare Awards (1963). She created history, by garnering all the nominations for Best Actress. She won the award for her brilliant performance in Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam. This record has remained unmatched to date, with no actress coming close to it.

17. Meena Kumari was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis due to excessive drinking

Excessive drinking took a devastating toll on her health. By 1968 her condition had deteriorated considerably. She went to London and Switzerland to receive treatment. She was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis from which she could never really recover.

18. India’s first color film in Cinemascope, Pakeezah was her last film

Classic and critically acclaimed Pakeezah, directed by Kamal Amrohi, was her last film. Though the shooting of the film began in 1956, it was canned halfway through, due to their divorce in 1964. The film had such a special niche for her, that she accepted to resume shooting for it in1969, even though she was critically ill.

Pakeezah took almost 15 years to complete and was finally released on February 04, 1972. It was India’s first color film in Cinemascope.

19. Her record of winning four Filmfare Awards for Best Actress

Meena Kumari won a total of four Filmfare Awards for Best Actress in her career, which remained a record for 13 years until it was broken by Nutan in the 26th Filmfare Awards in 1979. She also held the record for most nominations (twelve) in the Best Actress category, which Madhuri Dixit overtook after 35 years in the 53rd Filmfare Awards in 2008.

20. Meena Kumari died when she was just 38 years old

Unfortunately, Meena Kumari could not live long to see the mega-success of her most loved film – Pakeezah. She passed away on March 31, 1972, less than two months from the release of the film. She was just 38 years old. Meena Kumari regarded the film as Kamal Amrohi’s tribute to her.

21. Meena Kumari was also an Urdu poetess and wrote under the pseudonym Naaz

Apart from being an extraordinary actress, Meena Kumari was also an Urdu poetess and wrote under the pseudonym Naaz. She also did playback singing for a few films, both as a child artist and then as a heroine. She also sang in Pakeezah, however, the song was not used in the movie but was later released in an album Pakeezah Rang Ba Rang in 1977.

22. Many prominent actors including Madhubala and Amitabh Bachchan were fans of Meena Kumari

Madhubala was a fan of Meena Kumari and had said that “she has the most unique voice that no other actress has”. Satyajit Ray described her as “an actress of the highest caliber”, while Amitabh Bachchan recounts that “no one, not anyone ever spoke dialogues the way Meena Kumari did..and perhaps never will”.

23. The uncanny similarity between Meena Kumari and Geeta Dutt’s life is shocking

There is an uncanny similarity between her life and that of Geeta Dutt, the famous playback singer. Both of them met their future husbands while working on a film. Both of them were very successful in their careers. Guru Dutt started a film titled Gauri with Geeta in the lead role, but the film got shelved after a few days.

Kamal started Pakeezah with Meena in the lead role, however, it got canned for many years before getting completed. Both had a very troubled married life and as a result, took to drinking. The melodious Na Jaao Sainyan Chhuda Kay Bainyan sung by Geeta in Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, and picturized on Meena, evokes the surreal feeling as if both of them are reliving their lives on screen.

Guru Dutt passed away in 1964 and in the same year, Meena divorced Amrohi. Both Meena Kumari and Geeta Dutt had liver cirrhosis and they both bid adieu to this world in 1972 within a gap of a few months.

24. Meena Kumari and Kamal Amrohi’s last wish

Meena Kumari had requested the following prose to be put on her tombstone: “She ended life with a broken fiddle, with a broken song, with a broken heart, but not a single regret”. Kamal Amrohi was laid to rest next to Meena Kumari on February 11, 1993, as per his last wish.

25. Meena Kumari carved out a niche for herself and would always remain the iconic “Cinderella” of Hindi Cinema.

As Javed Akhtar once put it,

“People like Meena Kumari are paradoxes. We try to understand them, we appreciate them, we criticize them, we pity them, we laugh at them, we admire them. But they remain paradoxes.”

These lines from the song Chalte Chalte in Pakeezah aptly echos her life:

“Jo kahee gayee naa mujhse, Woh zamaana keh raha hai…Ke fasaana ban gayee hai, Meree baat chalte chalte”

To sum it all she was a brilliant actress who ruled Indian cinema at her time. Comment down below your favorite Meena Kumari film.