Meena Kumari (Mahjabeen Bano; 1932-1972)

was born in Bombay, India, to Ali Bukhsh, (a small time film musician and poet of low budget Bollywood movies in the 1930’s) and Iqbal Begum (a stage actress and dancer; stage name: Kamini).  Meena Kumari wanted to study but was forced by her mother to join the movie industry as a child actress at the tender age of 7. 

  It is said (Wikipedia and comments made by family friends of Meena Kumari on the YouTube videos of her ghazal recitals) that the young and highly educated film director and producer Kamal Amrohi met Meena Kumari on a Bollywood set in 1941 when she was just 9 years old.  He paid for her education at Army Public School, Delhi.  Later, when she turned 20, they got married although Kamal was 10 years older than Meena and was already married and had children.  In the words of Meena Kumari, “Kamal Sahib mayraa naseeb hain” (Kamal Sahib is my destiny). 

       They were deeply in love. Close friends say Kamal did not want children from his marriage with Meena because she was not a “Syed” (i.e. from a superior religious clan which claims direct descent from the Prophet Muhammad, Peach Be Upon Him).  So, they raised Kamal’s  youngest son, Taajdaar, from his first wife.  Meena thought that Kamal might be exploiting her acting talents to further his own ambitions.  They both had strong personalities which started clashing often.  The marriage lasted 8 years (1952 – 1960) when they separated and later got divorced (1964). 

        Immediately afterwards, Meena Kumari started drinking heavily and became an alcoholic.  The grand film project “Paakeeza” which Kamal and Meena had started together in 1956 was shelved and remained forgotten for many years.  Meena’s drinking affected her liver and her health started deteriorating.   

Eventually, 10 years after the split, Nargis and Sunil Dutt arranged a meeting between Meena and Kamal in 1970 where it is said that “not much was said but a lot of tears were shed.”   Meena re-married Kamal although they lived separately and the project “Paakeeza” was re-started and finally released in February, 1972.   A month later, Meena Kumari died at the young age of 40 and the movie Paakeeza drew huge crowds and has since become a classic of the modern Indian cinema.  The only biography of Meena Kumari was published in 1972 by Vinod Mehta.

Meena Kumari had a passion for Literature, Art and her association with Kamal Amrohi  groomed her literary talent.  She was an accomplished Urdu ghazal poet although few people are aware of this.  She even released an EMI album  (I Write, I Recite) featuring her ghazals and poems sung or recited in her own voice with masterly musical compositions by Khayyam.   Dareechah is proud to present these modern Urdu ghazals penned by Meena Kumari.  She was a true artist in every sense of the word.

Six of Meena Kumari's Urdu ghazals can also be viewed here as videos where Meena Kumari sings these ghazals  set to music by Khayyam.