Meena Kumari started working in films at the age of four. She was very good at acting. She worked in many successful films during her lifetime. Through this article, you will know about the biography and death of Meena Kumari, known as the tragedy queen of Bollywood, apart from this, you will also know about her husband Amrohi through this article.
Meena kumari biography
Meena Kumari was born on 1 August 1933 in Bombay (now Mumbai), British India. Her name was Mehjabeen Bano . Her father was a Sunni Muslim named Master Ali Bux.
Meena Kumari’s mother Iqbal Begum’s real name was Prabhavati Devi, she was a Christian. After marriage, she converted to Islam. However, Iqbal Begum was Ali Bux’s second wife.
It is said that when Meena Kumari was born, her father Ali Baksh was not happy because he wanted a son. Meena also had two sisters, her elder sister’s name was Khurshid and younger sister’s name was Mahalika (also known as Madhu).
Meena’s father Ali Baksh was also disappointed at her birth because now he had three daughters and no son. His financial condition was not good.
Education and Career of Meena Kumari
Meena loved going to school in her childhood like any other child. But due to poor financial condition, her parents started taking her to film studios for work.
Director Vijay Bhatt selected her to work in the film Leatherface and Mehjabeen Bano aka Meena Kumari was paid Rs 25 on the first day of work.
After working in this film, she became the breadwinner of Ali Bux’s family at a very young age. She started helping her family financially at the age of just four.
Her film Leatherface was released in 1939. Due to her work, she was never able to complete her schooling properly. However, she learned many things by reading on her own. She was fond of poetry and had knowledge of several languages.
Mehjabeen Bano initially worked mostly for Vijay Bhatt. When the film ‘Ek Hi Bhool’ was being shot, Vijay Bhatt named Mehjabeen ‘ Baby Meena ‘.
She was cast in the 1946 film “Child’s Play”. Her name in that film was Meena Kumari. She gained fame with the film Baiju Bawra directed by Vijay Bhatt in 1952.
She played the lead actress in this film. After doing this film, her career took off. After this, she did many films which were very successful.
Meena Kumari’s luck was not as good in real life as it was in films and career. Her real life was full of storms. She saw so much sorrow in her life that people started calling her Tragedy Queen.
love life of meena kumari
Even though Meena Kumari had a love marriage, her married life was not good. Her marriage with Kamal Amrohi also remained a secret for some time, about which very few people knew.
Both of them met while working in the film industry. It is said that they first met in 1938, when Kamal Amrohi was looking for a child artist for the film Jailer.
Then after a few years, Ashok Kumar introduced Amrohi to Meena on the sets of the film Tamasha. After this, they kept meeting each other and both of them also worked together.
While working, both of them fell in love with each other and wanted to marry each other. Both of them got married secretly from the people.
This marriage was kept a secret from the public, although Kamal Amrohi was already married and had three children from his first wife. After a few months, the news of the Nikaah came to the public.
After this, Meena Kumari started living in her husband Kamal Amrohi’s house in Sion and her husband allowed her to continue her film career with some conditions.
Kamal’s son Tajdar (Kamal’s son from his first wife) revealed the conditions Kamal had put in front of Meena during an interview. According to him, Meena has to return home before 6 pm, cannot go out with any co-star, cannot sign any new film and cannot wear tight and short clothes.
There were quarrels between the two over many things. Kamal did not like Meena working till late night. Due to Kamal’s conditions and restrictions, Meena started feeling like a prison.
When Meena asked Kamal Amrohi to work in films, Kamal put a condition that he would first read the script of the film himself. The fights and distance between the two increased and after divorce in 1964, both got separated.
Know about Meena Kumari’s husband Kamal Amrohi
Meena Kumari’s husband’s name was Kamal Amrohi. Meena Kumari and Kamal Amrohi got married secretly on 14 February 1952. Only Kamal Amrohi’s friend Bakar Ali and Meena’s younger sister Madhu knew about this marriage.
Kamal Amrohi’s full name was “Syed Amir Haider Kamal Naqvi”. He was born on 17 January 1918 in Amroha, British India (presently located in Uttar Pradesh).
Amrohi was a film director and producer, screenplay and dialogue writer in Urdu and Hindi languages, as well as a poet. He married four times in his entire life.
His first wife’s name was Bilkis Bano. After Bilkis’ death, Kamal married Saida al-Zahra Mahmoodi. After Mahmoodi, he married Meena Kumari. Amrohi married his doctor for the fourth time.
Kamal Amrohi’s last film was Razia Sultan in 1983. He died on 11 February 1993 in Bombay (Mumbai) at the age of 75. He was buried in Rahmatabad cemetery.
Death of Meena Kumari
After separating from Amrohi, Meena Kumari moved to her sister Madhu’s house and never returned to Amrohi. She suffered from insomnia for a long time.
On the doctor’s advice, Meena started taking a small peg of brandy before going to sleep, but due to her separation from Amrohi in 1964, she increased the quantity of brandy.
In the year 1968, Meena Kumari came to know about her liver cirrhosis. She got treatment for it in London and Switzerland. When she started feeling a little better, she returned to India and continued her work.
Meena Kumari was immersed in acting since childhood. Due to which it was impossible for her to stay away from the film world. However, when her death came closer, she started cursing the same film world.
A few days after the release of the film Pakeezah, her health deteriorated and after a few days she went into coma and finally Meena Kumari died on 31 March 1972 at the age of 38.
conclusion
In this article you read about Meena Kumari. After reading this article you must have come to know that her life in real life was not like what is shown in the film world.
In an interview, she said that she gets immense satisfaction from the fact that she helped her family financially from a very young age. Let us tell you that Meena Kumari started working in films at the age of just four years.
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Read further: Poonam Pandey: Know her biography, family, husband, career, facts and events
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions about Meena Kumari)
How did Meena Kumari die?
Meena Kumari died due to liver cirrhosis.
Where was Meena Kumari buried after her death?
As per the wish of Meena Kumari’s husband Kamal Amrohi, Meena was buried in the Rahmatabad cemetery located in Narialwadi, Mazagaon, Bombay (Mumbai).
What is the real name of Meena Kumari?
The real name of Meena Kumari is Mehjabeen Bano.