Mala (Albert) Sinha in for yaadgar-e-rafi
Surjit Singh
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20051126/cth1.htm#6
Down memory lane with Mala Sinha
Devinder Bir Kaur
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, November 25
Think of melodrama and you think of Mala Sinha. The actress dominated
the ‘60s and ‘70s with her highly emotion-charged roles. She could
easily hold her forte against her contemporaries Meena Kumari and
Vyjayantimala. She proved her mettle in film after film and was one of
the most in-demand heroines. Her name guaranteed success.
Mala Sinha is in town to grace the annual award-giving function of
Yaadgar-e-Rafi Society to be held at Tagore Theatre here tomorrow.
I met the actress, who has for some time been a recluse, today as we
drove down from the airport to the Punjab Bhavan in Sector 3 where she
will be staying till Monday morning. Mala agreed to go down the memory
lane and recall some of her films which had formed a part of the golden
era of the Hindi cinema.
Mala revealed how film maker Ardhendu Bose saw her perform in a school
play and approached her father Albert Sinha for permission to cast her
in his film. Papa Sinha agreed for a lark and Mala’s film debut was made
in Bose’s Bengali film ‘Roshanara’ in 1952. Next came an offer from
Amiya Chakraborty for his Hindi film ‘Badshah’. So the family shifted to
Bombay where the film was being made. Luckily she came in contact with
renowned actress Geeta Bali who introduced her to her mentor Kidar
Sharma. The director saw the fire in her and groomed her for ‘Rangeen
Raatein’, in which Mala played the lead.
Thus began Mala’s career in films. The next year, she played one of her
most memorable roles in ‘Pyaasa’ — of a girl who opts for marriage to a
rich man (Rehman) instead of an uncertain life with a struggling poet
(Guru Dutt).
Then followed ‘Parvarish’, ‘Phir Subah Hogi’, and ‘Love Marriage’. Soon
her father, who was fully in charge of her career (sometimes to the
annoyance of film producers), decided that his daughter would do only
strong, heroine-oriented roles. The result: Mala started playing central
roles. She played an unwed mother in ‘Dhool ka Phool’, an illiterate
girl in ‘Anpadh’, a wife betrayed by her husband in ‘Mere Huzoor’, a
bride who becomes a widow on her wedding night in ‘Bahu Beti’, a lawyer
who fights her ex-lover’s case in ‘Pooja ke phool’, Mughal Emperor Shah
Jahan’s daughter who sacrifices her love for a commoner to save the
royal honour in ‘Jahan Ara’, a village girl with a heart of gold in
‘Himalaya ki God Mein’, and so on.
But the creme de la creme was her role in B.R. Chopra’s ‘Gumraah’. It
remains Mala’s all-time favourite role. She plays a bubbly, vivacious
girl in love with a painter (Sunil Dutt). Due to a quirk of fate, her
sister dies leaving behind two small children and Mala is compelled to
marry her widower brother-in-law (Ashok Kumar). But her former lover
reappears in her life and she is drawn into an adulterous relationship
with him.
Mala, looking elegant in a printed sari and stylish bun, said she also
did several glamorous roles like in ‘Dillagi’, ‘Night in London,’
‘Aankhen’ ‘Neela Aakash’, ‘Lalkar’, ‘Paisa ya Pyar’ etc. It was amazing
how she looked younger in these films as compared to her earlier ones
and was comfortably paired with Rajesh Khanna in ‘Maryada’ and Amitabh
Bachchan in ‘Sanjog’.
Incidentally, despite having done creditable work in innumerable movies,
Mala never won the coveted Filmfare award. To this query the cheerful
lady replied that it was all a matter of ‘kismet’. She would win
nominations for the Filmfare award for several films like ‘Dhool ka
Phool’, ‘Gumraah’, ‘Himalaya ki God Mein’, ‘Jahan Ara’, ‘Aasra’... but
at the nth hour the tables would turn. But she felt duly rewarded by the
love and appreciation of her countless film fans.
Earlier in 1968 Mala had also done a Nepali film ‘Maithi Ghar’. Her
co-star C.P. Lohani, also an estate owner, impressed her and her father
with his pleasing manners. Soon an arranged-cum-love marriage took place
between Mala, a staunch Christian, and Lohani, a Hindu. An understanding
between them enabled her to continue acting in films in Bombay while he
stayed in Nepal to look after his estates. Besides, Bombay having better
facilities in education was good for their daughter Pratibha.
While in Bombay Mala planned to do just a few films on and off, but the
huge success of ‘Do Kaliyan’ wherein she played mother to Baby Neetu
Singh, brought more offers pouring in and she remained as busy as ever.
Gradually she moved over to more senior roles — her first won being
‘Rickshawallah’ as Randhir Kapoor’s mother. She also did ‘36 Ghante’,
‘Holi Aai Re’, ‘Sanjog’, ‘Zindagi’, ‘Daulat’ etc. In Rakesh Roshan’s
‘Khel’ she played grandmother to Madhuri Dixit. A few more such films
and Mala called it a day.
Mala today lives a contented life in her old home in Mumbai with her
husband who too has more or less retired. Her immediate plans now are to
get daughter Pratibha married off. She strictly believes in destiny and
feels God will do the needful. Pratibha has acted in a couple of movies
but bowed out quite soon. She is best remembered for her guest
appearance doing a graceful dance to the tune of ‘Pardesi, pardesi jaana
nahin ...’ in ‘Raja Hindustani’.
--
Surjit Singh, a diehard movie fan(atic), period.
http://hindi-movies-songs.com/index.html