Author: Vinod Mehta
Publisher: HarperCollins India
Pages: 248
Price: Rs 350
Price: Rs 350
Genre: Non Fiction / Biography / Films
Rating: 8/10
Format: Paperback
I
read about this book somewhere and then chanced upon a chapter in The
Greatest Show on Earth. Life of a movie star is intriguing and there is a
dearth of such biographies about any Indian film star. I don’t know why I
wanted to read about Meena Kumari. I haven’t even seen too many of her films,
and it was from my mother. I first came to know that Meena Kumari was known as
the tragedy queen. In fact, people of her generation had started using the term
‘Meena Kumari’ as a word for ‘sad’ [in the way, the term ‘Devdas’ is still used]. So, when people would say “don’t be a Meena
Kumari”! They would mean ‘sad and melodramatic’. Whether she was one of the
best actors of all times is highly debatable, but certainly her life was intriguing.
This
book was written in 1972, immediately after her demise [republished in 2013]. The author confesses “I found that it was impossible to
collect even one ‘undisputed’ fact about this woman. Everything connected with
her life had atleast four versions" [quoted]. He never met the actor. He admits that facts and opinions were
piling up and weighing him down, and without being over-ambitious, what he sought
to achieve was to offer a few glimpses of who Meena Kumari really was; for who
can really claim to know a person completely.
The
book begins with everyone’s reaction on Meena Kumari’s death. The chapter is
interestingly titled “Lies” to connote how all the reactions by film industry
as well as media were superficial. The various chapters in this book tell us
about the circumstances she was born into, her family, her early life, her
romance with Kamal Amrohi, her journey as an actress [which started at the
tender age of seven] as well as her turbulent personal life, her various
relationships, her addiction to alcohol, her self-inflicted depression, the most
important movie of her life - Pakeezah,
Meena Kumari – the actress, Meena Kumari – the woman, and her death [few weeks
after Pakeezah’s release]. Even with
her disturbed personal life and poor health, she worked relentlessly and did
very well professionally.
“Despite unreliable lovers, despite
unreliable alcohol, despite unreliable dinner, despite unreliable friends, she
had Bahu Begum, Manjhli Didi, Noor Jehan, Abhilasha in various stages of
completion. All of which goes to prove that India’s No. 1 tragedienne did not
live by bread alone.” [Quoted]
Her
alcoholism is legendary. But surprisingly, she drank seriously only for three
years. What started as a small peg to cure her insomnia later became addiction.
This continued till she died of cirrhosis of the liver.
“The question is how could she stop
drinking. She had as she saw it, no emotional support; her family life was not
exactly ideal; and the possibilities for the future looked extremely grim. In
these circumstances she needed a crutch, and for people the world over in her state
the bottle has been the most potent, if disastrous, crutch.”
Meena
Kumari as a person was known to be generous, attentive and empathetic. The
author believes that most of her pain and depression was self-inflicted because
she felt she was let down by her relationships. She did not get love, and fell
into the trap of her screen image. Perhaps she always missed a part of her life
she never lived – a normal childhood. Isn’t it widely known the world over, the
fate of most of the child actors?
“The great tragedienne Meena Kumari
became the great tragedienne not only in front of the camera but behind it. And
this is the real sorrow, she aided the latter.”
I
liked the book. May be I haven’t read any outstanding biography to compare it
with, but generally speaking, I liked reading about the many aspects of Meena
Kumari’s life. There aren’t too many biographies or autobiographies of Indian
film stars, and if you like this genre, I certainly recommend it. It is always
interesting to know interesting people.
Read an excerpt from the book here.
Very few Child actors really get it right - look at what happened to the Home Alone kid... and what is Miley Cyrus doing (!) Meena Kumari's life sounds intriguing, and you have written a lovely review!
ReplyDeleteSomeone would think I am a huge fan of Meena Kumari. I reviewed books related to her back-to-back. Very valid point about child actors. You remember 'Different Strokes'? Apparently all its child actors had difficult lives. It had such a huge following back then.
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