SONG:MILTI
HAI ZINDAGI MEIN
MUSIC:RAVI
LYRICS:SAHIR
SINGER:
LATA MANGESHKAR
FILM:AANKHEN
Aankhen (The
Eyes) is a
1968 Hindi spy thriller produced and directed by
Ramanand Sagar. The film stars
Mala Sinha,
Dharmendra and Mehmood.
The music is by
Ravi and the lyrics by
Sahir Ludhianvi.
Mala Sinha (born
11 November 1936) is an
Indian actress of Nepalese ethnicity. She became one of the most popular female stars in Bollywood films from the fifties to the early seventies, starring in numerous blockbusters and hits.
Sinha was born to
Albert Sinha, in a Nepalese
Christian family. They named her Alda. Her friends at school used to tease her calling Dalda (a branded vegetable oil of
India), so she changed her name to
Mala.Sinha started her film career as child artist in
Bengali Films Jai
Vaishno Devi followed by
Shri Krishan
Leela, Jog Biyog & Dhooli. Noted
Bengali film director Ardhendu
Bose saw her acting in a school play and took permission from her father to cast her as a heroine in his film
Roshanara (
1952), her cinematic debut.
After acting in a couple of films in
Calcutta, Mala had to go to
Bombay to shoot for a Bengali film. There she met
Geeta Dutt, a noted Bollywood playback singer, who was charmed by her and introduced her to film director
Kidar Sharma. It was Sharma who cast her as a heroine in his film Rangeen Ratein. However, her first
Hindi film was
Badshah opposite
Pradeep Kumar, than came Ekadashia mythological film both films failed, but her lead role in
Kishore Sahu's
Hamlet fetched her rave reviews in spite of the film failing at the boxoffice.
Mala was also a singer of some repute and used to sing for
All India Radio, albeit she was never allowed to sing playback (even for herself) in the movies. In
1957, noted
Bollywood actor and film director
Guru Dutt (the husband of Geeta Dutt) cast Mala in his film
Pyaasa in a role originally intended for
Madhubala. Mala gave a memorable performance as the woman who chooses to marry a rich man (played by character artiste
Rehman) rather than a poor unsuccessful poet (played by Guru Dutt himself). The film remains to this day a classic in the history of
Indian cinema and a turning
point for Sinha.
After Pyaasa her major success was
Yash Chopra's directorail debut
Dhool Ka Phool(
1959) that elevated her into a major dramatic star, there was no looking back for Sinha than as she gave hits after hits in movies like '
Parvarish', '
Phir Subah Hogi', '
Main Nahse
Main Hoon', '
Love Marriage', '
Bahurani', '
Anpadh', '
Aasra', '
Dil Tera Deewana',
Gumrah (many critics believe her career best performance), 'Aankhen', '
Hariyali Aur Rasta', '
Himalaya Ki God Mein' and many more. What was most remarkable about Mala Sinha was that most of her
1960s hits were fuelled by her own star power as much as the heroes'. She did not mind working with newcomers as long as her role was worth. When she acted opposite big stars, she made sure her role was as good as theirs. She worked with many newcomers of her era including Dharmendra,
Sunil Dutt,
Sanjay Khan and
Amitabh Bachchan. In most of her films she got the first billing in the credits, even before the heroes.
In 1966, Sinha went to
Nepal to act in a
Nepali film called "
Maitighar" when the Nepali film industry was still in its infancy. Her hero in the film was an estate owner called
C. P. Lohani.
Soon after, Mala Sinha married C. P. Lohani with the blessings of her parents. From the beginning theirs was a long-distance marriage with Lohani based in
Kathmandu to look after his business and she living in Bombay with their daughter Pratibha. Mala continued acting in films after her marriage.
She has been a heroine in Nepali and
Bengali films. In Bengali films she has acted with
Uttam Kumar as well as
Kishor Kumar. Her last Bengali film was
Kabita(
1977) which featured
Ranjit Mullick and
Kamal Hassan. She is noted for her strong women oriented yet glamourous roles fuelled by her equal star power on par with the heroes giving blockbusters and hits like Dhool Ka Phool, Anpadh, Phir Subah Hogi, Hariyali Aur Rasta, Dil Tera Deewana, Bahurani, Aasra, Do Kaliyan, Gumrah, Aankhen, Himalaya Ki God Mein,
Maryada amongst others.
As she grew older she gracefully moved on to doing character roles that befitted her age. She was last seen in Zid(
1994). Though Mala evinced as much interest in her daughter Pratibha's career as her father did in her career, she was unable to achieve the same success for her daughter.
Sinha currently lives in Bombay with her now-retired husband and daughter
Pratibha Sinha, a
Bollywood actress.
- published: 04 Dec 2009
- views: 698996