When Kamini Kaushal passed away at 98, she missed being a centenarian by just two years. But there is very little else that she missed out on in her long, rich, creatively fulfilling life.
It is poignant that Kamini Kaushal passed away on Children's Day. The veteran actress and mother-of-five devoted decades of her later career creating juvenile-specific entertainment and television puppet shows for children.
Initially, Kamini Kaushal won fame as Dilip Kumar's leading lady in Shaheed (1948), the film that made both of them major stars.
She etched a place among the top three heroines of the late 1940s, alongside Suraiya and Nargis.
Kamini went on to do memorable romantic roles opposite Raj Kapoor and Dev Anand, and thereafter embarked on a long successful career as a character artiste, most memorably as Manoj Kumar's mother, in several films of the 1960s and 1970s.
Kamini sidelined the glamour world for Gudiya Ghar, her production house for children's fare.
Her voice had what her Godaan director, Trilok Jetley told her was 'a certain mithaas' which helped her connect to children in Doordarshan shows like Khel Khilone, Chand Sitare, Chaat Pani and Chandamama. Her dainty, exuberant persona and ready laugh also helped.
Kamini Kaushal remained child-like even as a senior, but she was not childish.
Years after I had interviewed the actress, I found myself sitting next to her at a film festival.
At the end of a film from the French New Wave, when I confessed my confusion, she painstakingly pointed out the semiotics and gave me her impressive interpretation.
After all, she was among India's earliest graduate leading ladies.
Her debut film, Neecha Nagar (1946) still remains the only Indian film to win the Grand Prix at the Cannes film festival.
Calling the anti-exploitation film her perennial favourite, Kamini said with characteristic candour, 'I was surrounded by intellectuals and found the arty, high-brow atmosphere of Neecha Nagar just right. The only problem was the tube make-up we used in those days would itch like mad. I would practically have to sit on my hands to stop myself from scratching.'
Kamini Kaushal's genteel worldview emerged from her childhood which she described as wonderful.
Her father was a noted botanist and she grew up as Uma in a privileged household, overflowing with greenery and laughter in pre-Partition Lahore.
'I would swim right from the time I was a child and one of my biggest childhood desires was to possess this very eye-catching swimsuit I had seen in a shop window in Lahore,' she said.
During her last year in college, Chetan Anand asked young Kamini, who dabbled in radio plays, to act in his debut directorial venture Neecha Nagar. In a progressive departure from conventional norms, Kamini's elder brother (her father passed away when she was six) actively encouraged her.
Partition and Kamini's nascent film career led to a move to Bombay.
Also, she was persuaded to marry her late sister's husband to take care of her young nieces whom she took on as her own.
Professionally, Kamini's star was on the ascendant. Her association with Filmistan Studios proved particularly fruitful with Do Bhai (1947), Shabnam (1949), Nadiya Ke Paar (1948) and especially, the 1948 superhit, Shaheed.
The last three films co-starred Dilip Kumar and they became a popular pair, appreciated for their histrionic abilities.
Kamini remembered Dilip Kumar as very hard working and committed and narrated this amusing anecdote: 'For a death scene, both Dilip and I were asked to hold our breath. It was an especially long sequence and I was cleverly started breathing softly after a time. But Dilip being the realistic actor that he was, held his breath for several minutes. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and choked 'Kya kar rahe hai aap log? I can't hold my breath anymore!'
Kamini played a college girl and one of Raj Kapoor's three loves in his directorial debut, Aag (1948).
She said, 'Raj was a real livewire. Nothing was more important to him than his films. When I saw Aag with him again at an RK function, I couldn't recognise myself as this thin girl! I had forgotten what I looked like.'
Dev Anand and Kamini did three films together, including his first hit, Ziddi (1948).
She said, 'Dev Anand used to be painfully shy in those days. He couldn't even lift his head to look me in the eye and look how he turned so suave and sophisticated later!'
Dev, Kamini and Suraiya formed a triangle in Shayar.
Kamini commiserated, 'Yes they were very much involved but poor things, Suraiya's grandmother was always around and she didn't like it one bit. So sad.'
Kamini's own life was also hit by turbulence.
Her growing association with Dilip Kumar necessitated her making a choice.
After one last film with Dilip Kumar Arzoo (1950), Kamini took an abrupt break from films to concentrate on her family.
Apocryphal film lore has it that the Ashok Kumar-Mala Sinha-Sunil Dutt starrer Gumraah drew some inspiration from Kamini's story.
Although Kamini soon made her comeback with her own production Poonam (1952) opposite Ashok Kumar, her career never regained the luminescence of those early years.
Primarily because every few years, she would take a break to have a baby (she birthed three sons).
'People would say if you go away now you will never get a film when you return. But I couldn't care less,' she asserted.
One highlight was Bimal Roy's Biraj Bahu (1954) for which Kamini won the Best Actress award from Filmfare.
Bimal Roy made her read the Saratchandra Chattopadhyay novel, from which the film is adapted, 20 times!
Biraj Bahu was a departure from her romantic roles but Kamini Kaushal was the picture of beauty and tranquility as the wronged wife.
Kamini said, 'It was a treat working with Bimal Roy. We understood each other perfectly and he almost always retained the first take of even the most difficult shot.'
Another film based on a classic novel was Godaan (1963).
When Kamini realised she was pregnant before shooting began, she told the director to replace her rather than wait for over a year.
She related, 'To my absolute astonishment, he said he would rather wait than cast somebody else.'
Shaheed (1965) marked Kamini's transition to character roles.
She brought a lump to my throat as patriot Bhagat Singh's mother who waits in anguish outside the jail when she realises he is being sent to the gallows.
Thereafter, she etched sympathetic characters as Manoj Kumar's mother repeatedly in Upkaar, Purab Aur Paschim, Roti Kapda Aur Makaan etc.
For 15 years till the early 1980s, Kamini was a busy character artiste, essaying both sacrificial maternal roles like in the 1969 blockbuster Do Raaste as well as springing a surprise as the villain in Anhonee (1973).
She was also part of the British TV show, Jewel In The Crown (1984).
By then a busy mother comfortably ensconced in her plush Malabar Hill residence in south Mumbai, Kamini shifted her creative concentration to writing stories for children and making television shows.
She continued doing the occasional film (right up to Laal Singh Chaddha in 2023), but would be feverishly excited about her television serials that revolved around her beloved habit of making puppets and lending them her voice.
When Kamini Kaushal passed away at 98, she missed being a centenarian by just two years. But there is very little else that she missed out on in her long, rich, creatively fulfilling life.
Photographs curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff
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