Golden Era of Bollywood: Many Dimensions of MEENA KUMARI

Legend Meena Kumari(Born on 1st August 1932),I look at various dimensions of Meena Kumari.She shot to fame with Vijay Bhatt’s Baiju Bawra (1952). She was born as Mahjabeen Bano to Ali Baksh and Iqbal Begum.Starting her carrier as a child artist she became the superstar in the 1950s and 60s.Unlike today's stars, she had many dimensions - she read poetry, had literary friends,a great voice sang for films, aspired to the higher life and was an alcoholic.she had a volatile love life .
She married Kamal Amrohi 15 years older to her who was already married having children,their marriage was not happy marriage.She threw herself in love with a series of men, most famously with a young and upcoming Dharmendra.She was a modern and emancipated woman.she never got true love.
She has been a part of several cult movies like Baiju Bawra, Sahab, Biwi Aur gulam, Pakeezah, Parineeta, Yahudi, Aarti, Kaajal and Dil Apna Aur Preet Parayi. Best remembered for her role as alcoholic Chhoti Bahu, in Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962).
Meena Kumari was also a talented Urdu poetess under the pseudonym Naaz. According to Naushad Ali, Kumari's poetry clearly reflected her angst. Haunting, crystalline, and precisely observed, Kumari's poetry reveals a side of her personality that was rarely on display in her films. It proved that she was a much more sensitive and self-aware woman than her fans tend to realize.Shortly after Meena Kumari’s death in 1972, at the age of only 39, the lyricist and poet Gulzar arranged for Hind Pocket Books to publish the matinee idol’s poetry.
Meena Kumari is the most written Actress of Bollywood,lots of Biography and books are written are on her.Naushad Ali’s short biography, Actress Meena Kumari: From The Cradle To The Grave, summarizes her life—her beginnings as a child actor, her debut in the stunt movie called (of all things) Leatherface), her rise to fame as an adult actor with Baiju Bawra, her unrequited love for a leading man, her marriage with, and divorce from, a leading director, her slide into isolation and alcoholism.Meena Kumari The Poet: A Life Beyond Cinema by Noorul Hasan a former professor of English with interests from Thomas Hardy to Firaq Gorakhpuri, has brought together several of Meena Kumari’s verses, published in English translation for the first time. Vetaran Journalist Late Vinod Mehta wrote a book on Meena Kumari-"Meena kumari the Classic Biography"
.She sang many great songs and earned her recognition in singing too. Merely at the age of 8 yrs, she sang a beautiful song with Beena Kumari "Tora Kajra Lagoon Mori Rani" from the film Bahen which released in 1941.She sang 3 songs in the movie Duniya Ek Sarai(1947)...Music was composed by Hansraj Behl.Then She sang around 7 songs in Piya Ghar Aaja(1947).Meena Kumari also sang few words for a song in Pinjre Ki Panchi(1966) with Manna Dey.
Music by Salil Choudhary and lyrics by Gulzar.

Meena Kumari worked with Khayyam Saheb for an album “I WRITE, I RECITE” in the year 1970.
There were total 8 Ghazals in this album.When she recited these ghazals, She was not well..
But, She rendered all the ghazals beautifully with her divine voice.

Here are my Favorite Songs of Meena Kumari