Mahjabben was born to a hindu mum and a muslim dad in bombay in 1930and died as meena kumari a victim of meena [wine ]in 1972 , the product of a true indian love story as beautiful as the mehtab herself and named mah jabeen [moon face ]appropriately
in 1973 at simla conference bhuttos requested to see only 2 indian movies
**pakeeza
sahib bibi aur ghulam **
one is a virginal muslim dancing girl sahib jan who is comparable to tolstoys natasha from war and peace as an ultimate romantic icon who is celebrated in the west in art festivals even today, while the other is a bored , languishing, alcoholic, aristocratic choti bahu of a famous bengali novel, both brought to life by her eternal talent and by the magical skills of the makers , kamal amrohi and asif naqvi in movies which are eternal masterpieces .
but none of her characters are simple, they are as varied as the rainbow, she is wrongly stereotyped as a sufferring woman who weeps at her woes, her versatility is on display
from her comedies with dilip
**azad
kohinoor**
to
**miss mary**
and the musical** baiju bawra** that made her a superstar to the child artiste she played in her initial movies she is an icon, her roles an inspiration for
shabana who remade **poornima** as lori by khayam sarhadi as
**rakhee** did in **dosra admi** as inspired from the **choti bahu** of sahib bibi aur gulam
and **pakeeza **is an eternal fave of mine as it is the best romance ever made in india with an immaculate script and a soundtrack and background musical score that is as matchless as meena herself
her pairings with **rajkumar and ashok** are legendary
**bahu begum
**a woman who elopes on her wedding night
**dil apna preet prai [rajkumar]
**a nurse who loves a doctor
**kajaal [rajkumar]
chirag kahan roshni kahan[rajendra, rajkumar]
bheegi raat [ashok, pradeep]
dil ik mandir [rajendra, rajkumar]
gazal [sunil dutt ]where she plays a poetess on screen too as she was in reality
baharon ki manzil
footpath
kinare kinare [dev anand ]are all good, as is NOOR JEHAN where she shines like the kohinoor,
**
the best portrayal of the woman genius queen in indian cinema, a great historical which was a superhit in pakistan in 1973 as it was released on special grounds .
the rajshris** cast her as AARTI** in 1964 with pradeep kumar again, which is another classic as is
**SHARDA **for which she won a filmfare award, her role in sharda is a unique to watch as are the great mythologicals she did earlier in her life,
isnt it strange to see a woman actress being giv**en** author based roles which also are the titles of the movies as the characters defined by the magical meena
but this isnt all her neoreal masterpiece **DAERA **with husband kamal is a artistic gem still shown in art cinemas worldover where she plays a young girl married to an impotent old man in the most subtle movie ever made on husband wife relationship in india .
her romance with **dharmendra** led to her seperation with husband kamal in 1964 and then delayed pakeeza from 1958 to 1972, but the elusive train which she keeps trying to catch herself in the great movie arrived just as she lay dying of liver failure induced by alcoholic cirrhosis, which she drank like a fish takes to water
meena was killed by meena ironically
her movies with dharamendra
**majli didi
poornima
phool aur pather **[dharmendras first hit which made him a star]
are just as good as her elderly portrayals like
**dushman 1972
**
a great movie where she kills **rajesh khanna** with her glare alone as the widow who is bereaving her dead husband
as was** goomti ke kinare** where she played sanjay khans elderly tawaif mother, in which
the rendition of the eternal song by lata
aaj to meri hansi uraayi jaise bhi chaha pukara
kal jo muje in galio me laya wo bi tha hath tumara
served as an inspiration for the **great raj kapoor **for** ram teri ganfga me**li theme songs picturisation as did her final swan song **MERE APNE** with gulzar and vinod khanna,
WHERE SHE ACTED FREE FOR HER BEST FRIEND GULZARS DEBUT MOVIE AS DIRECTOR
who wrote the script keeping her in mind and she plays the symbolic old wise woman representing the dying virtues of our degenerate society .
the song is immortalised in the movie as her death arrived in a wine glass of meena
**roz akeli aaya roz akeli jaye
sham ka dola liye bikharan raat
**
but as she was dying her movie pakeezah was released and initially criticised as wooden by the ignorant indian critics became an artistic block buster, un parallelled in indian cinema, as she died and the nation poured in to pay tribute to her ultimate masterpiece
the train from pakeeza had finally arrived at its final destination with latas immortal
**chalte chalte
yunhi koi mil gaya tha
sare rah
chalte chalte
**
a song which can make wayward travellers find their way in the darkness of night but meena was immune to it by now as she was in heaven
a tragic end to a brilliant actress and a poetess who has written some good poems as well but will always remain in peoples heart as the eternally pure symbol she played as sahib jan in pakeezah
the ending is controversial as the icon she plays must never find a physical reunion as the purity of true love is beyond physical and material world, but the alternate ending might emerge one day to dazzle us all as she dazzled us in real life
khuda hafiz to sahib jaan and choti bahu who is one of the golden chapters of cinema with her **eternal grace** with which she dances to **thare rahiyo** or her **awesome voice** which she uses to taunt the society in **gaumti ke kinare** or her **expressive eyes** which reflect her hatred in **dushman
**
wow what a woman
dedicated to cool water ava suri who wrote a beautiful review on pakeezah my fave movie
thanks for reading