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Image:Minakumari.jpg|framepx100|right|thumb|Meena
Kumari
Meena Kumari (August 1, 1932 - March 31, 1972) was
an Indian actress, whose name has become
synonymous with the tragedy|tragic heroine. She
shot into stardom in 1952 with the release of
Baiju Bawra.

She was born Mahjabeen Bano in what was then Dr.
Gadre's Clinic in Bombay. Ali Baksh, her father,
almost left her in a Muslim orphanage, but picked
her up after a few hours. He was upset that his
wife had given birth to another daughter. Ali
Baksh, variously identified as a Sunni Muslim or a
Parsi, was already a dabbler in cinema. A veteran
of Parsi theatre, he used to play the harmonium
and wrote Urdu poetry. He had done bit roles like
Id Ka Chand and also composed music for small
films like Shahi Lutere. Her mother, referred to
as Iqbal Begam, was apparently the second wife of
Ali Baksh. One tradition connects her to
Rabindranath Tagore's family. Meena Kumari's
grandmother, Hema Sundari (Tagore) was apparently
married into the Tagore family, but after her
husband's death she was compelled to give up the
use of family name by the powerful Tagore clan.
Her daughter, Prabhawati used to be a stage
actress and dancer before meeting Ali Baksh. 

Mahjabeen acted in her first film at the age of
six. She took on the name Meena Kumari for Vijay
Bhatt's immensely popular musical Baiju Bawra. Her
early films were rather unremarkable and
mythological. Meena Kumari entered the limelight
at a time when histrionics were taking over from
glamour (as epitomized by such beauties as Naseem,
Veena, Sofia and Jayshree). She therefore heralded
a new era of actresses that included Nargis,
Nimmi, Suchitra Sen and Nutan.

By 1953, Meena Kumari had starred in three other
commercially successful films: Daera, Do Bigha
Zameen and Parineeta. Parineeta became a turning
point in her career. Her evocative portrayal of
the perennially suffering Indian woman struck a
responsive chord in millions of women. She was
never really able to shake off this image of a
tragidienne, and at times this severely impeded
her in the exercise of the full range of her
histrionic talents. The following years saw her
appear in a number of films, where she played
many, largely indistinguishable, self-mortifying
women.

However, her studied reserve, chaste diction and
-- most of all -- extraordinary voice, that struck
the right balance between the erotic and the
pathetic, ensured her place in the hearts of the
Indian movie-going public. One reason for this
popularity was her private life, which at times
rivaled the plot of any movie. She married Kamal
Amrohi, who directed some of her best films in
1954.

However, her strong independent spirit would not
be subordinated by her husband's genius and they
eventually separated in 1964. She was also a poet
in her own right, and was able to lend to the
characters she played a certain poetic tenderness
and intensity. A collection of her poems in Urdu
under the pen name Naaz was published after her
death. She even recorded a collection of her poems
in an album named I write, I recite. The music for
this album was provided by the legendary music
director Khayyam. Ghazals featured in this album
include:

Akelay Pan

Tukray Tukray

Poochhtay Ho to Suno

Mera Mazi

Chand Tanha

Shama Hum Phool Hun

Aghaaz To Hota Hai

Abla Paa

Yeh Noor Kaisa Hai

Yun Teri Raah


Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (Master, Mistress and
Servant 1962) became in more than a symbolic way
the crossroads of her life. Like the heroine of
the film, she increasingly took to drink and
embarked on the road to gradual ruin. Her screen
image of a tormented, self-mortifying woman became
an extension of her own personality.

Pakeezah (1971), jointly conceived with her
husband, was completed shortly before her tragic
death on March 31, 1972 and was her last great
performance. The image of her limpid eyes and
tremulous voice remains to epitomize the tragic
heroine of the Hindi film.

==Sources==
*Rajadhyaksha, Ashish; Willemen, Paul.
Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema. London: British
Film Institute; New Delhi: Oxford University
Press, 1994
*Mahmood, Hameeduddin. The Kaleidoscope of Indian
Cinema. NewDelhi: East West Press, 1974

==External link==
*
http://www.3to6.com/final_retro/lmeenakumari1.htm
Meena Kumari biography
* imdb name|id=474932|name=Meena Kumari