On Meena Kumari’s birth anniversary, we remember the soulful, poetic and timeless beauty, who symbolises love, loneliness and melancholy for generations of cinema lovers.
In his biography on Meena Kumari, journalist Vinod Mehta recounts that at one point of time, her income supported as many as 31 family members. But when she passed away, her relatives could barely muster up even Rs. 3,500 to arrange for her body to be released from the hospital.
The Chhoti Bahu of Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam (1963) wasn’t far removed from her real life character after Meena took to alcohol. The tragedy queen kept brandy in Dettol bottles in her bathroom, till her writer-director husband Kamal Amrohi found out.
Meena Kumari penned her pain, heartache and experiences of living a loveless life in these words.
Tum kya karo ge sun kar mujh se meri kahani, bay lutf zindagi ke qissay hain pheekay pheekay.Meena Kumari
(This story is from The Quint’s archives and was first published on 31 March 2015. It is being republished to mark Meena Kumari’s birth anniversary.)
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