No Actress Has Ever Been Able To Beat This Record Of Meena Kumari

Meenakumari or Mehjabeen Bano, which was her original name, was born into a family of artists of modest means. She started working as a child artist in films at the young age of 4 to support her family. For her first job in the film Leatherface she received a meager amount of Rs. 25 and at that time no one could have probably predicted that Baby Meena would one day grow up to rule the silver screen.

In fact, at one point 31 members of her family were being supported by her income alone. Although she had a tragic personal life, when it came to her acting career, very few actresses can claim to enjoy the success that she enjoyed in her filmy career. Apart from being immortalized on the silver screen with stellar performances in films like Saheb Biwi Aur Ghulam, Pakeezah, and Parineeta.

Meenakumari also had a special association with Filmfare. She was the recipient of the first Filmfare Best Actress Award for Baiju Bawra in the inaugural ceremony of Filmfare award in 1954 and maintained her winning streak in 1955 with Parineeta.

In a career that spanned over about three decades, there is hardly any peak of success in Bollywood that Meena Kumari has not climbed. But one of her achievements stand out even to this date. In the year 1963, she was the only nomination in the Filmfare Best Actress category as she was nominated for all three of her film in the year. She was nominated for her role in Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam, Main Chup Rahoongi, and Aarti. She ultimately won the award for her role in Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam which is still considered a masterpiece of Hindi cinema and her role is still remembered as one of the finest specimens of performance ever.