In the Golden Age of Hindi cinema, female characters stood shoulder-to-shoulder with their male counterparts. They played layered roles as teenage delinquents, lonely wives; Mother India herself. The legacy they left behind helped define the Golden Age.
There’s a legend that still does the rounds, about Guru Dutt’s classic, Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962). It was India’s official entry to the Oscars but, the legend goes, the Academy was so taken aback by the bold, audacious nature of Chhoti Bahu (Meena Kumari’s) grief, that they denied the film a nomination.
Meena Kumari’s character turns to alcohol to distract herself from the absence of love in her marriage. In one scene, she pleads with her husband (played by Rehman) to stop cheating on her. When she is ignored, she reminds him that she has debased herself and given up her morals because she craves his love. The scene remains a masterclass in acting (see image at top).
Nargis became an internationally recognised star after Awaara and Shree 420 with Raj Kapoor. But the film she is most remembered for today is Mehboob Khan’s Mother India (above).
Set in a pre-Independence India when most women had no agency, the film was seen as quite audacious even in the early 1960s, when it released. This alcoholic young wife wouldn’t give up hope, wasn’t afraid to demand more from her husband, and ultimately found some measure of companionship and solace with another man.
Directed by Abrar Alvi and produced by Dutt, the film was a modest commercial success. But it was lauded critically and not just because it was beautifully lensed by the great VK Murthy, and had evocative music by Hemant Kumar, and lyrics by Shakeel Badayuni.
Kumari brought a flash of genius to her portrayal of Chhoti Bahu; she was the film’s beating heart, a woman caged by the system but fighting for a better future. The film sealed Meena Kumari’s reputation as “the great tragedienne of Hindi cinema” and foreshadowed her own off-screen future as a lonely woman plunging towards an alcohol-soaked death at 38.
In the Golden Age of Hindi cinema, the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s, female characters stood shoulder-to-shoulder with their male counterparts.
Suraiya was perhaps the biggest female star for the first few years after Independence. With Noor Jehan and Khurshid having moved across the new border to Pakistan, she had an edge over contemporaries because she could sing her own songs. She delivered hits such as Pyar Ki Jeet (1948), Dillagi (1949) and Mirza Ghalib (1954). Her fans routinely caused traffic jams on Bombay’s Marine Drive, where she lived.
Meanwhile, a new generation was emerging. Nutan was just 14 when her mother, actress Shobhna Samarth, directed her in Hamari Beti (1950), for which she sang the track Tujhe Kaisa Dulha Bhaaye Re. Five years later, her nuanced portrayal of a rebellious delinquent in a correctional home, in Amiya Chakravarty’s Seema (1955), made her a star at 19. Nutan would be among the first A-list actresses to challenge the norm that married women couldn’t have long and successful careers
These were also the years of Madhubala, known for her ethereal beauty and prolific career. But it was a career that was painfully short-lived. Not unlike her contemporary Meena Kumari, it was tragedy that would be remembered as the dominant motif in her life. She began her career as a child artiste at the age of eight, spent her childhood as the major earning member of a large family, and struck stardom when she was cast opposite Raj Kapoor in Neelkamal (1947) as a teenager
Madhubala, known for her ethereal beauty and prolific career, was as much at ease playing the impish damsel-in-distress in Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (above) as she was in the tragic role of Anarkali in Mughal-e-Azam.
She was called the Venus of Indian cinema, and was as much at ease playing the impish damsel-in-distress Renu in Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958) as she was in that most tragic of roles, the star-crossed Anarkali in Mughal-e-Azam (1960).
Her legacy included films such as Mahal (1949), Mr & Mrs 55 (1955) and Kaala Paani (1958). But she died at 36, ailing in her final years.
And then there was Nargis. She was born into a family with roots in the entertainment industry (her mother Jaddanbai Hussain was a well-known Hindustani classic singer and one of the pioneers of Indian cinema). Nargis became an internationally recognised star with films such as Awaara (1951) and Shree 420 (1955), with Raj Kapoor. But the film that put her firmly in the annals of the greats is Mehboob Khan’s Mother India (1957).
A remake of his own black-and-white classic Aurat, Mother India is the story of Radha, who starts off as a young bride who shares her husband’s burden, and follows her journey as a debt-ridden middle-aged woman struggling to survive. It’s her transformation through the film that is still talked about, one that saw her go from a wise, caring mother to one who develops nerves of steel and fears nothing. The film’s poster, centered on Nargis lugging a wooden plough, was a rare public reminder that women, marginalised in far too many ways, have an equal role in our society.
