Kamini Kaushal – a fine actress, now one of my favorites (she secured that status in my mind just last week, when I watched Nadiya Ke Paar)… Born in Lahore, British India, on January 16, 1927… Co-starred with every one of the great actors of the Golden Age (see below), and was legendarily Dilip Kumar’s first famous flame (not that I care about all that gossip, of course ;) )… Also a former radio star and trained bharatanatyam dancer, and prize-winning toy maker(!)… And lo and behold, still thriving today.
I do yoga and swim at 80: Kamini Kaushal (excerpts from excerpts from an interview in 2008, back when she was only 80):
Q: You are 80, my god!
A: It’s fun at 80. Gone through three generations, and still at it. Of course, things have changed. They always do. How can it ever be the same? . . .
Q: You’ve been witness to so many changes in the film industry.
A: Yeah, look at them! Most of my colleagues are gone. There’s no Nargis, Suraiya, Nutan, Meena Kumari, Raj Kapoor…you name them, they’re all gone. Yes, Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand are there.
Q: And Manoj Kumar whose mother you played in the maximum number of films.
A: That was during my third innings. I’ve had a very unpredictable sort of career. I’ve done what I wanted to do. Got married and left the industry when it was required and returned when it was okay. When I wanted to work, I did. When I was needed elsewhere, I didn’t. Cinema was never my be-all, end-all. When I worked, I did so with complete integrity. But work didn’t come above my family. For me, living a decent life is enough. Yes, I was passionate about acting, but not for the sake of making money. I like being creative. I love making toys as much as acting.
Q: So the family was always your priority?
A: You know, I’ve brought up five kids. . . . I continued to be creative from home. I designed so many toys, and won prizes. Toy making is as fulfilling as films, except that people don’t get to see your face. I don’t crave to see my face splashed everywhere. I once saw one of my colleagues literally adoring her reflection in the mirror. It was scary. I didn’t want that to happen to me. The temptation to become self-obsessive is very high in the entertainment business. Don’t get so sucked into stardom that you forget you’re human.
. . .
Q: Some of your biggest hits as a leading lady were with Dilip Kumar.
A: “Nadiya Ke Paar” was cute, like a little poem. Dilip and I got along very well. I shared an easygoing relationship with Raj Kapoor also. He was a prankster. We all had a whole lot of fun.
. . .
Q: Are you impressed by the work being done today?
A: Yes and no. Technically our films have really progressed, but the content is suffering. I’d like to see more content, but I’m sure youngsters feel differently. They aren’t aware of my films at all. To them it doesn’t matter whether actors from my era existed. Today’s generation knows so much. I grew up with a natural curiosity. Today’s generation have to grow up fast to face the competition.
Q: Are you in touch with colleagues?
A: When you’re working together there’s plenty of interaction. Some people maintain a permanent bonding beyond work. But I live in south Mumbai and the entire industry lives in Juhu and Andheri. To go to the other end of the city to meet friends isn’t possible. So I spend my free time swimming. I must do some exercise.
Q: Swimming at 80?
A: Why? What’s wrong with it? Either I do yoga or swim. I don’t have any vices.
——————
P.S. As I may have mentioned at some point, I got interested in Nadiya Ke Paar at first specifically because of the great soundtrack by C. Ramchandra. And for anybody who wants to hear or download that music, there are some MP3s at India Baja.
Wow! Great post :) Happy birthday Kamini Ji!
Have you seen her first film Neecha Nagar (1946)’s songs uploaded by vintagemelodies? Nobody is able to figure out who the main singer is. Mr. Surjit Singh of http://www.hindi-movies-songs.com told me that it could be (seriously guessing) Lakshmi Shankar…I liked the voice. Anyways, she made a great debut with the film, and no wonder she became so famous soon. Neecha Nagar was a true classic.
Hi, Vidur. Glad you liked the post! I’ve seen a couple of songs from Neecha Nagar uploaded by Vintagemelodies and they are very good (I especially like the dancing!), but embedding was disabled, and I felt I had enough clips to show without asking people to jump over to YouTube to see them. Besides, I did want to leave room for Shair and Aag :) as well as Nadiya Ke Paar, because those are the movies that made me aware of Kamini Kaushal. (Plus many song clips, of course… I still need to see the other films represented above.)
I wish I could tell you who the main singer is, but I don’t know at this point either. It could be Lakshmi Shankar, I guess. (I saw you say under a YouTube post that it could be Kamini Kaushal herself. Hm, do you still think that’s a possibility?)
Excellent post!The last film I saw of her was “Uphaar”, and liked both the film and Kamini Kaushal’s role in it. In films I remember she always seemed to play the evil mother-in-law or such-like, so it is nice to see this collection of clips with her as the leading Nice lady!
No, Kamini has a much shakie and a bit squeaky voice (she had recorded some song with Premnath in her later time in films!) BTW, Iam not sure who this Lakshmi Shankar is in films, I heard a couple of great Bhajans by her just now although! She has a really powerful voice.
Thank you for this post, Richard! That interview was very interesting – I didn’t know, for instance, that Kamini Kaushal was a prize-winning toy maker (which begs the question: who awards these prizes? And on what basis? So intriguing….)
Just four days back, I bought Nadiya ke Paar and gifted it to my father. Will be borrowing it someday soon to watch it! The only other film of Kamini Kaushal’s as a heroine that I’ve seen is Night Club, but that was too long ago for me to remember much of it. She was also in a very offbeat role in an early 1970′s film called Anhonee, starring Sanjeev Kumar and Leena Chandavarkar.
Bawa, glad you liked the post. But this “evil mother-in-law” role is news to me. Maybe you’re thinking of Lalita Pawar?
Vidur, I was thinking myself that Kamini Kaushal had kind of a squeaky voice. But I thought you had suggested somewhere that maybe she did the singing, and sometimes, you never know what someone’s singing voice will be like. :)
Dustedoff, Nadiya Ke Paar does have a wonderful soundtrack :) … And that one, just like the other films that I vividly recall seeing Kamini in (Aag, Shair…) was made in 1948 or ’49. There a quite a few more with her that I want to see now, including some that I posted clips from. (I’m drawing up that list right now…)
I did see a little of Kamini Kaushal in one early ’70s film… I watched some of Roti Kapada Aur Makkan – one of those films in which she played Manoj Kumar’s mother – but I never got through it; I thought it was awful. (I actually thought I would like it because it was another of those movies about a guy with a college degree who can’t get a job. :) But I think there must have been at least a few people involved in this movie who shouldn’t have gotten the job…)
My memries are hazy but I remember Kamini Kaushal as playing the nasty person in the movie. It might be evil sister-in-law instead of mother-in-law though.
I am also intrigued by the toy-making prizes….
Roti..was awful, full of cliches of the worst kind and Manoj Kumar at the height of his “bharat” affliction.
Oh this is a nice tribute to Kamini Kaushal on her birthday. I wish she could see it and realise there are people who do know her and watch her films.
I saw one of her films some months ago with Dilip Kumar and just can’t remember the name.
It’s a tragedy. She dies in it (after getting married to someone other than Dilip).
Pacifist,
The name of the film is “Arzoo” (1950)
Bawa, yes, Roti Kapada Aur Makkan was full of clothes of the worst kind., Manoj Kumar was difficult to take here, and I must admit, I’m not a big fan of Zeenat Aman either.
I am also curious about those toy making competitions. Were all the competitors contented parent types, or were there any grim philosophical toy makers, like the guy pushing the cart in Anmol Gahdi?
Pacifist and Mr. Jinx, I haven’t seen Arzoo yet, but I added a really nice song from that as the third clip above. (Lata Mangeshkar, Anil Biswas…)
Do you know that Lalita Pawar started off as a wamp? She also sang in a 1938 film, she did quite well.
Thank you Mr Jinxs. ‘Arzoo’ it was.
I hastened to comment before having heard the songs Richard :)
Thanks for this post richard , i love Kamini as well though i haven’t seen a lot of stuff she did in her prime. One of the few i’ve seen and blooged about is the camp drama fare Aas
http://bollywooddeewana.blogspot.com/2010/07/aas-1953.html
I’m not surprised she is a toy maker, in Aas she seemed good with kids and even was fun as a kids party entertainer in the mere sapno ki rani song
I forgot to add Happy Birthday to Kamini Kaushal, here’s wishing her plenty more glorious years ahead
Bollywooddeewana, thanks – I love that song clip! (More words later – I just wanted to mention that…)
So, anyway, Bollywooddeewana, that was a good writeup of that film. (So I see this was another old movie with the bad mother-in-law theme? But Kamini was NOT the bad mother-in-law!) I will have to see it sometime. I agree with the part where you said Kamini Kaushal looked very beautiful there (great screen cap on your post!). Notice also that I just got a better copy of the song from Nadiya Ke Paar. Wow! There might be more shakeups on my favorite actresses list :) … And if I could go by just a couple of films, I’d give Surinder Kaur second place on my singers list (but she just didn’t do that many films – too bad…).
Vidur, I meant to get back to you too, about Lalita Pawar. I knew she’d played some beauty’s roles (whether heroine or vamp) before the unfortunate accident gave her the permanent squint. Didn’t know she’d sung. Can you tell me which film?
I’m not necessarily asking for the e-mailed song, though. :) I’m reluctant to ask for such things from you, because I am just not good about e-mailing or sharing files myself (as you know). But if you feel like sending any music along (e.g., the last time you offered…), certainly I won’t turn you down. :)
Duniya Kya Hai (1938) is a known film, I will email you 2 mp3s of her songs if you want.
P.S. Please check out my latest YouTube uploads. Also go to
http://www.youtube.com/user/lovehumanity and check out his latest upload of Noor Jehan film Zeenat (1945), he had uploaded a bad version on mediafire, and when he got this good version, I requested him to upload it on Youtube. Enjoy! (It was because of my first request that he got it)
Vidur, sorry I took so long to get back to you on these comments.
Yes, of course, send me the Duniya Kya Hai songs if you like, but no need for you to go out of your way to do that. :)
Now that i’ve taken so long to respond, I’m not sure which latest YouTube uploads you might be referring to. I do check regularly, and it’s often my favorite stuff.
Many thanks for the link to Zeenat. Yes, I watched it, and it was great to be able to see that film. It would be better for me with subtitles, but it’s not hard to follow, especially if you get a plot summary. (Pretty simple tragic plot, and that’s just fine.) But I am wondering what the bad-quality upload was like, because the quality in this is not so great either. Of course, understanding it’s an old film not so easy to find… I think it would be nice if a copy of that film could be acquired by someone who would be able to clean up the quality a little. Well, maybe that will happen sometime. :)
Sorry for taking such a long time to reply,
Maybe someone might help, what about Mr. Tom?
I assume that you liked the songs? :) They had the stalwarts Noor Jehan, Zohrabai, Kalyani, Menaka, Mohammed Rafi, Amirbai as singers and among them Noor Jehan (all of hers in the film except Aahen Na Bhareen), Zohrabai (Dulhan ban jao and aahen na bhareen), Kalyani (dulhan ban jao and sakhi aaya sawan aaya), Menaka (dulhan ban jao, no playback) appeared in songs as well as did playback (except Menaka, as mentioned).
On Menaka, little is known of her and is available, but she was an excellent singer and seems to be classically-trained. Here is a fantastic number from Pukar (1939) which I love; she acts since it is the playback-less 30s:
Another song from the film by Naseem Bano, who was also a fantastic singer and mother of Saira Bano, unfortunately later got playback:
Please see these songs, I will send you Lalita Pawar’s songs today :) Please check that too.
Very Happy, spiritually rewarding BirthDay to Kaminijee…How nice it’s to view and read in details regarding such an icon like Kamini Kaushal…Hearty thanks and best wishes to all those who keep the pot of sweet remembrance boiling….