Meena Kumari was thrown out of the house she bought by her father, paid him Rs 2 lakh to get married; was treated as a ‘meal ticket' by her family

Indian Express

6 days ago

There's a certain sense of tragedy that haunts a child who starts facing the camera at a particularly young age. Even before they know their alphabets, they are mugging up paragraphs of dialogues; before they can make friends, they are required to be professional. The children are treated as employees by their parents and the guardian who is supposed to provide them with a safe space ends up pushing them in an environment which is generally regarded as unsafe. One wonders if it is just money, or the idea of fame and fortune that makes adults push their toddlers into a business which is infamous for more reasons that can be listed here; or if it is the sheer insensitivity that causes parents to look the other way as little kids collapse under circumstances that lead to harassment, sexual or otherwise. Documentaries like Finding Neverland, Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, Child Star examined how irresponsible parents conveniently ignored their kids as they were being swallowed by their unkind atmosphere. Closer home, actors like Daisy Irani, Rekha, Madhubala faced uncomfortable situations on film sets in their younger years, as their parents forced them to continue working in the movies. 'Tragedy Queen' Meena Kumari had a similar start as she started working in the movies as a 4-year-old, and soon became the sole caretaker of her entire clan.
Meena Kumari, who was born as Mahjabeen, to parents Ali Bux and Iqbal Begum in a chawl in Dadar, Mumbai (now Bombay) in 1933, was thrown in front of a camera at the age of 4. Her older sister Khursheed was already making a living wage as a child actor, as their father dragged them from one studio to another in search of the next job. Ali was a musician, and had moved from Pakistan to Mumbai, leaving behind his first wife and three other daughters. He married Iqbal Begum, who was previously a Hindu named Prabhavati, and was related to the family of Rabindranath Tagore, and had three daughters – Khursheed, Meena and Madhu. It is said that Ali was unhappy when Meena was born and some reports even claim that he left her outside an orphanage, but no one could ever verify that. Their chawl was next to an orphanage and perhaps, that led to this rumour.
Meena was an innocent four year old when she faced the camera for the first time and was completely unaware that she had gotten on a ride that would never stop. In the book, Meena Kumari – the Classic Biography, by Vinod Mehta, she was quoted saying, 'The first day I trotted along to work, I little imagined that I was saying goodbye to the normal pleasantries of childhood. I thought I would go to the studio for a few days and then go to school, learn a few things and play and make merry like other children. But that was not to be.' Ali was never in favour of sending his daughters to school as he believed that this was an unnecessary expense, and so he put all his daughters to work as kids. Before they knew it, the girls became the providers of the household and Ali continued to run a tight ship, where none of the three girls were allowed to make any decisions for themselves.
For her first film Leather Face with director Vijay Bhatt, Meena was paid Rs 25, and Ali knew that Meena was going to be the moneymaker. In a chat with RSTV, Vinod said, 'She became the meal ticket. She didn't have a normal childhood. And from the age of 6-7, she was just being hopped around from place to place as a child artiste and the money that she made, the family survived on that.' Three girls under the age of 15 made enough money that the family pulled itself out of their chawl, and moved into a house at Bandra's Chapel Road, and Ali had completely immersed himself in managing their careers. Iqbal Begum gave up her career as a dancer after she had a lung infection that eventually turned into cancer, and Ali gave up on his career as a musician.
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Ali and Iqbal had married for love but it went out of the window after the family faced abject poverty. As per Mehta's book, their marriage was successful, but only on paper. The parents were always quarrelling about money in front of their daughters, and from a very young age, they were made aware that one's existence was solely dependent on the money they made. Meena wanted to study but there was never enough money in the house to indulge her wishes. With the help of some tutors, Meena learnt to read and whenever she got a chance, she found a book and sat in a corner. She was quoted in Mehta's book saying, 'My one interest was to read and when other children in the studio went out to play in the compound, I moved into a corner and lost myself in the world of children's books.'
Meena started appearing in more films – Ek Hi Bhool, Pooja – and she also started her career as a playback singer. She recorded her first song in a film called Behan in 1941, and continued to work as an actor. While Meena was taught to be an obedient worker on set, she sometimes acted like a child on set. After all, she was one. 'I remember once I was 'shot' on the sets and asked to drop down dead. I refused to fall and they had to use force to make me obey,' she said.
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Meena's older sister got married and dropped out of the movies, and by this time, Meena was a grown up, who was starting to play the heroine. She had been financially independent for years, but she had never tasted independence for herself. The first time that Meena got a chance to be her own person was when she decided to marry Kamal Amrohi. She knew Ali would never agree to her wedding so she and Kamal decided to keep it a secret until she could gather Rs 2 lakh and present it to her father. When Ali got to know, he forced her to separate, but she relented.
Meena continued to live in her father's house for another year and he never asked her to leave for she was making the money that supported this family. Until one day, when Meena decided to work in a movie with Kamal Amrohi, while simultaneously rejecting a proposal presented by her father. He shut the doors of his house, which was bought by her, on her face, and never allowed her to come back. As per Mehta, she wrote him a letter which read, 'Babujee, whatever has happened I have left. Please do not talk about going to court. That would be childish. I desire nothing from your house except my clothes and books. This car I now have I will send to you tomorrow. My clothes, etc., you can send when you find it convenient.'
Meena's tragedies began when she was a little girl, and they always followed her like a shadow. Ali Bux pushed her into a world that completely consumed her and the good daughter that she was, she continued to support everyone around her until the end, even though those favours were never returned.
Sampada Sharma has been the Copy Editor in the entertainment section at Indian Express Online since 2017. ... Read More