Men, melancholy and Meena Kumari

“Tum kya karoge sun kar mujh se meri kahani

(Of what use is listening the story of my life)

Belutf zindagi ke kisse hain pheekay pheekay”

(The episodes of my insipid life have no flavour) … Meena Kumari

The first day of her life set the tone for the four decades of her existence. Her father, who could ill afford to pay the hospital charges at her birth, left her at the doorstep of an orphanage. When he did return to claim her, he found the tiny bundle infested with ants.

The feeling of abandonment and being preyed upon by predators became the blueprint of Meena Kumari’s life… Vinod Mehta’s Meena Kumari: The Classic Biography mentions, “That moment remained in her subconscious mind. Here was a traumatised soul… Life had decided that she will suffer.”

The longing for love and seeking validation through men is a common thread that runs through the chapters of her life… And though she gave copiously to each one of them – she only ended feeling emptier each time…

When a way younger Meena Kumari married writer/filmmaker Kamal Amrohi it was a classic case of mentor and muse. Dressed always in white churidaars (her maids also wore white) amidst white lilies, white curtains, white bathrooms… and white mogras adorning on her bed… hers was a white-washed universe. Till rumours of abuse, adultery and alcoholism tore every shred of the cloudland…

Seeking strength and shoulders to cry on in handsome recruit Dharmendra, Meena, it’s said Meena was in the throes of an all-consuming love. When the rumoured relationship lost out to his already-married status and her incorrigible addiction, it left her lonelier and loonier.

With young filmmaker Sawan Kumar Tak, it was perhaps just the reassurance of a compliant devotee. The high priestess of pain found an ardent audience, who indulged in her love for flowers and florid conversation.

With Gulzar, possibly the poetess in her found a co-poet, a soulmate, in whom her blank life found its rhyme and verse. Comparing men to books, she once told Sawan Kumar, “They are like books on the shelf of my life. Those I found interesting I read again and again. Those I didn’t like, I put back.”

Yet, these associations were just fleeting ripples. Like Marilyn Monroe, she perennially believed she was ‘unlucky and unloved’. The masochism found a sublimation on screen in a serial of tearjerkers (Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai, Kajal, Aarti… Pakeezah).

She’s supposed to have told Abrar Alvi, the director of Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, “I have become Chhoti Bahu in real life.” Thereby, likening her own addiction to melancholy and malt with the plaintive protagonist.

“She had begun to live the roles of the tragedy queen… Her face was also that of a suffering woman,” reiterated stepdaughter Rukhsaar Amrohi (Dawn) underlining the blurring of her reel and real identities.

Meena Kumari died at the age of 38 due to cirrhosis of the liver. But her heart had given away much before that.

Mahjabeen Bano (Meena Kumari) was born on August 1, 1932 in Meetawala Chawl, Dadar, Bombay. She was the second daughter of Ali Bux, a Muslim and Iqbal Begum (Prabhavati Devi), a Bengali Christian.

Ali Bux, who had moved from Bhera (Pakistan), struggled to make ends meet. A distraught Ali Bux left new-born Mahjabeen (Meena Kumari) at the door of an orphanage as he couldn’t afford to pay the hospital bills. He returned to fetch the baby only to find ants crawling over her soft flesh.

Mahliqa (also known as Madhu, first married to actor Mehmood) was born after Mahjabeen. Young Mahjabeen wanted to study but was compelled to act as breadwinner. She began working as Baby Meena in Leatherface (1939) at the age of six. As a leading lady, Meena shot to fame with Baiju Bawra (1952).

But by then her personal life had taken over…

KAMAL AMROHI

Filmmaker and writer Kamal Amrohi first cast Meena for Filmkar’s Anarkali. Unfortunately, Meena met with an accident and was hospitalized in Pune for five months. Kamal, drawn towards her, used to visit her during the weekends. To reassure her, he wrote ‘Meri Anarkali’ on her wrist and signed his name below. The film never took off but the ‘poetic’ gesture left her smitten.

One day Meena, after an altercation with her father, left home and reached Kamal’s in Sion. A midnight nikah was reportedly performed on 15 February 1952. But before that Kamal put forth conditions. That Meena wouldn’t act once the ongoing films were completed. That she wouldn’t wear revealing clothes. That she’d return home at 6 pm and never accept a lift from a co-actor.

Apart from Kamal’s poignant Daera (1953), Meena’s Parineeta (1953) and Sharda gave (1957) her the image of a ‘devi’. The superstar then refused to retire. “She couldn’t be a housewife or a child-bearing machine,” said poet/stepdaughter Rukhsaar Amrohi (Dawn).

The marriage was mired by ego. Once at a function, a producer introduced Kamal as ‘Meena Kumari’s husband’ to the governor. Reportedly, Kamal withdrew his hand and said, “I am Kamal Amrohi. She’s Meena Kumari, my wife.”

Allegations of Kamal being controlling and abusive grew strong as rumours of her alcoholism (it first began with prescribed brandy for insomnia) and proximity with her co-stars. Allegedly, she hid alcohol in the Dettol bottles kept in the bathroom.

Reportedly, on 5 March 1964, at the mahurat of Pinjre ke Panchi, Kamal’s assistant, Baqar Ali, had an ugly spat with Meena, when he didn’t allow lyricist and friend Gulzar into her make-up room.

Apparently, Baqar even slapped Meena.

After that incident, Meena moved into actor Mehmood’s bungalow in Andheri. Mehmood was married to her sister Madhu. Her stay there was not without rancour though. Apparently, no visitors were allowed to meet her and all her letters were screened. Later, Madhu left Mehmood and got married to barrister Kishore Sharma, who was Meena’s assistant in her last days. Eventually, Meena shifted to Janki Kutir, Juhu.

DHARMENDRA

There were rumours linking Meena with several of her co-stars including Pradeep Kumar, Bharat Bhushan and Raaj Kumar. But the strongest one was with newcomer Dharmendra, their first film being Main Bhi Ladki Hoon (1964).

“The boy will rise. He is not a routine entry,” she’s known to have remarked.

She insisted that producers sign Dharmendra opposite her. Purnima, Phool Aur Patthar, Chandan Ka Palna, Majhli Didi, Baharon Ki Manzil (between 19651968) … Meena backed Dharam professionally and personally.

While she was obsessed with him, the young actor was caring and gentle towards her. Being a married man, the relationship petered out. The setback apparently led Meena to drink heavily.

SAWAN KUMAR TAK

Filmmaker Sawan Kumar Tak signed her for Gomti Ke Kinare. He started the film in 1968 and it was released in 1972, given Meena’s failing health. But the two drew close during that period.

He shower her with flowers, though he could ill-afford it. She would spend hours decorating the flowers in Ikebana style. The remaining petals, she’d strew on the bed.

She even sold off her bungalow in Bandra to help Sawan financially and complete the film. “Meenaji faced much heartbreak in her life. Roses and handsome men could not take away her tragedies,” he summed up (Filmfare).

GULZAR

Theirs was a relationship that remains elusive. Meena first met Gulzar when he was assisting filmmaker Bimal Roy. Traumatised by her personal problems, she sought solace in his enlightened company.

Gulzar cast her as the old protagonist in his directorial debut, Mera Apne (1971). During the shoot she was suffering from fever and her legs were swollen. But once the camera was on there would be a ‘transformation’. After the shot was over, she would collapse into her chair.

Veteran actor Ramesh Deo reportedly recalled watching an ailing Meena ‘struggling to climb down the stairs all alone’ after the screening of Mere Apne.

PAKEEZAH

There were rumours of Meena’s interest in a newcomer from Jalandhar, Rahul (Raaz 1967). She recommended him to producers. Reportedly, she even planned to marry him… but the disapproval of those around her and her deteriorating health prevented the unlikely union.

Persuaded by friends Nargis and Sunil Dutt, Meena and Kamal came together to complete Pakeezah (conceptualised in 1954). They resumed shooting in 1968. Her stomach was bloated due to liver cirrhosis. To camouflage that, she was made to wear a lungi-kurta. After every shot, a unit hand would rush to her with a chair.

Pakeezah had a grand premiere on 3 February 1972, at Maratha Mandir theatre, the prints being carried in an ornate palanquin. Little did Meena know that around nine weeks later, her body would be carried on a flower-decked hearse.

Meena Kumari passed away penniless on March 31, 1972. Being still married to Kamal (contrary to rumours of a divorce), she was buried in Rehmatabad, Mazgaon at the family’s burial section.

The recently released Yeh Un Dinon Ki Baat Hai: Urdu Memoirs of Cinema Legends, written by cinematographer Yasir Abbasi holds the translation of the tribute titled ‘Meena — Maut Mubarak ho!’ penned by Nargis for the Urdu magazine Shama.

That says a lot about what remains unsaid.

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