The Three Reigning Queens, Albums of Madhubala, Meena Kumari & Nargis Options

[swarapriya]

The Three Reigining Queens

One was a beauty queen. Madhubala was her screen name. The other was a tragedy queen. She was known as Meena Kumari to the movie fans. The third one was a romantic queen. She was known as Nargis. All three more or less came into the movie field just about the same time. All of them started as child artistes. They shaped the industry with their charismatic personalities. They showed how to smile, how to bear pain, and how to fall in love. Their personal lives were marred with tragedies. They died very young.

They set aside thier own problems to entertain us in their own inimitable way. They ruled the Hindi film world for nearly three decades, each in her own way. In the next few months we will take a look at the songs from their albums more closely.

This post has been edited by swarapriya: Mar 28 2010, 10:26 PM

[swarapriya]

Meena Kumari - The Tragedy Queen

Here is another legendary queen who lived to be only 39 years old. Yet, in a film career that began as a child star when she was only seven, she went onto act in over 90 movies.

She was born to a Muslim father and a Hindu mother and was named Mahajabeen Bano. She was renamed as Baby Meena for her first movie “Leatherface” that was directed by Vijay Bhatt who will eventually cast her in that great musical “Baiju Bawra (1952)”.

Baby Meena’s early career was dominated by either mythological or fantasy movies. But it was “Baiju Bawra” that got her name and recognition. She was the first actress to win the Filmfare ward for her role. The role of Baiju led to many more such roles where she portrayed a suffering woman. She did manage to act in few lighthearted movies like “Azaad (1955)” and “Kohinoor (1960)”.

But the movie she will be remembered forever is “Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962)”. As Chhoti Bahu, her landmark performance in the movie is considered to be one of the greatest by a professional actress in Indian cinema. Ironically, the role she played in this movie closely resembled her personal life, that of neglect, tragedy, and alcohol use.

Meenaji was married to the writer and director Kamal Amrohi who was many (15) years senior to her. Together they planned to make “Pakeezah”. They started working on this movie in 1958. But many things happened and the shooting was completely stopped. Meena Kumari and her husband got separated and eventually from each other.

Shattered with the divorce, Meenaji took to drinking. Soon she became addicted to alcohol as it was the only channel through which she was able to find some solace. To break the stalemate, Nargis and Sunil Dutt took the initiative and convinced Meenaji and Amrohi that they should complete the movie. Despite her failing health, Meenaji finished the film. After 14 years in the making, the movie was finally released in February 1972. Movie wasn’t a success when it was released. But a month after the movie hit the screens, Meenaji died in March 1972, from complications resulting in her heavy drinking that resulted in liver cirrhosis. After her tragic death, the movie “Pakeezah” took off. It became one of the biggest hits of her career.

In the next few months we will look at the songs from the movie albums in which Meena Kumari starred. I don’t have her most of her early work from 40’s but starting from late 40’s I do have albums in CDs that I can share. I am hoping that the Forum members can contribute songs for the missing albums.

Here is Meena Kumari's filmography ...