I was listening to an old Kishore Kumar and Meena Kumari duet the other day and it suddenly occurred to me that it’s been almost 48 years since she passed away! Almost half a century has gone by just like that, which is incredible to those of us still ticking and remember her days…

Meena Kumari (Mahjabeen Bano) was born in 1933. Actress par excellence. Died at the young age of 39! From what is known of her life, she endured several lifetimes worth of pain and suffering, as cognoscenti of Hindi cinema already know. Others only have to watch the wonderful documentary, Viraasat, to understand her unbelievably poignant childhood, rise to stardom, troubled married life, descent into the bottle, and the untimely tragic end, all encapsulated in a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions. Vinod Mehta’s Meena Kumari, Classic Biography, published in 2013, is a good resource about her life for those interested. That even to date she remains unmatched as the queen of tragedy is a testament to her acting prowess in classics such as Pakeezah, Bheegi Raat, Dil Ek Mandir, Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, Kaajal, etc., which are still eminently watchable after all these decades!

There were, however, a couple of tidbits about her life of which I was not aware until recently…First, I had no  idea that she was the great granddaughter of one of Rabindranath Tagore’s brothers! From what I heard, that whole saga of her grandmother leaving her ancestral home, converting to Christianity, and her mother’s move to Bombay and marrying Ali Bux, etc., is fit to be a whole Sarat novel by itself!

Secondly, what was also news to me was that she was a renowned shayar and that her nom-de-plume was Naaz! There is a book of her poems that has been mentioned, “तन्हा चाँद”, published by Gulzar, but this was a hard one to find (I am still searching for a copy)! Then there is “Meena Kumari, the Poet: A Life Beyond Cinema” by Noorul Hassan (available on Amazon). She even made an album called “I Write I Recite“, available on YouTube. Her voice is really very sweet! No wonder Ameen Sayani once called it ‘शहद में डूबी हुवी आवाज़!’

Here is one of her ghazals chaand tanha, recorded in her own voice. So full of bitter-sweet melancholy, it sums up her entire life…

Be that as it may, what I want to do here is try to remember some of her happy songs to commemorate her! Phenomenal as her other movies are, I would like to focus on some happy movie moments! I hope all the embedded videos work…

The very first happy song that comes to my mind is the one from Rukhsana (1955)…a wonderful melody with Kishore…yeh char din bahar ke…I really wish her own life had gone along the same lines as the song…
(there was no action clip of this song available on YouTube …)

This next one humsafar mere humsafar with Dharmendra is from the movie Purnima (1965), beautifully sung by Lata and Mukesh…she looks so lovely!

Here is one with Jubilee Kumar…raste mein do anjaane from the film Akeli Mat Jayyo (1963)…by the way, there are a few more really fun songs in this movie…

In this gem from Kohinoor (1960), you can see her doing a lively number…

Here is a very youthful Meena Kumari in Azad (1955)…

Another Azad song I just can’t leave out – kitna hasiin hai mausam, kitnaa hasiin safar hai – a melodious duet with an equally young Dilip Kumar…this movie has another to die for song, Tum pe marte hain. Do check it out…

And we really can’t forget the movie Yahudi (1958) with Dilip Kumar! This is a great song and Meena Kumari looks really beautiful…

Yahudi has a few more wonderful songs, for eg., aate jaate pehloo mein aaya koi and the famous Mukesh single, yeh mera diwaana pan hai…

And who can forget ajeeb daastan hai yeh from Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai…?

I fully agree with Pradeep Kumar’s sentiment in this next song ab kya misaal doon, from Aarti (1962)…this song also happens to be one of Rafi’s best…

And the unforgettable nazm ‘naghma o sher ki saugat kise pesh karun‘ from Ghazal (1964)! Not only does she look angelic in this, the whole song is worth memorizing just for the beauty of Sahir Ludhianwi’s words, especially the line -“मस्त ज़ुल्फ़ों की सियाह रात किसे पेश करूं… ” just blows me away!

Lastly, but not least, I have to mention Bheegi Raat and the song “dil jo na keh saka...” She was probably her most voluptuous in this song…and the lyrics by Majrooh are so priceless that they just leave me speechless!

दिल जो न कह सका
वही राज़-ए-दिल कहने की रात आई
दिल जो न कह सका
वही राज़-ए-दिल कहने की रात आई
दिल जो न कह सका
नग़मा सा कोई जाग उठा बदन में
झनकार की सी थर-थारी है तन में
झनकार की सी थर-थारी है तन में
हो प्यार की इन्ही धड़कती
धड़कती फिज़ाओं में
रहने की रात आई
दिल जो न कह सका
वही राज़-ए-दिल कहने की रात आई
अब तक दबी थी एक मौज-ए-अरमान
लब तक जो आई बनगयी है तूफ़ान
लब तक जो आई बनगयी है तूफ़ान
हो बात प्यार की बहकती
बहकती निगाहों से
कहने की रात आई
दिल जो न कह सका
वही राज़-ए-दिल कहने की रात आई
गुज़रे ना ये शब् खोल दूँ ये जुल्फें
तुमको छुपालूं मूँद के ये पलकें
तुमको छुपालूं मूँद के ये पलकें
हो बेकरार सी लरजती
लरजती सी छाओं में
रहने की रात आई
दिल जो न कह सका
वही राज़-ए-दिल कहने की रात आई

Phenomenal achievements in such a short life! Thank you Mahjabeen!