Jubilee Kumar- Rajender Kumar

Rajender Kumar’s contribution to Indian Cinema

Rajender Kumar, better known as Jubilee Kumar, was one of the unsung heroes in Indian films, who entertained millions of film lovers with his soft style of acting during the golden age, but did not receive the recognition he deserved. Rajender Kumar, born on 29th July, 1929, made his debue in the film Jogan in 1950, where the main character was played by legendary actor Dilip Kumar. In the 50s he got recognition in Mehboob Khan’s film Mother India, 1957, where he played the role of the son of Nargis.

But his romantic image was created in the film Dhool Ka Phool, 1959, and Goonj Uthi Sehnai, 1959. He started moulding himself with the image of tragedian like Dilip Kumar, and songs in the film Goonj Uthi Sehnai, composed by Vasant Desai and sung by Rafi including “jeevan me priya tera saath rahe” created an immortal combination of Rafi with Rajender Kumar, which dominated bollywood films for another 15 years.

Rajender Kumar, was successful to portray the poetic community of Aligarh, Lucknow, etc. in the film Mere Mehboob, 1963, where he formed a new romantic pair with Sadhna, and the ghazals in the film “mere mehboob tujhe meri mohabbat ki kasam” reached the urdu speaking audience across middle east and stretched beyond India. He did not show any mannerism and sung the song with a microphone at the university hall. In Dil Ek Mandir, 1963 and Sangam, 1964, Rajender Kumar played the role of the central hero who was admired by Meena Kumari and Vaijiayantimala respectively in those films, but had to sacrifice his love for the benefit of the other friends. In both the films Rajender Kumar died at the end of the films. In Sangam, 1964, the film that gave the maximum revenue to showman Raj Kapoor, when Rafi’s song “ki tum naraz na hona” was played at the end of the film, when Raj Kapoor and Vaijayantimala immersed his ashes in Tribeni waters at Allahabad where river Ganges and Yamuna had met, the filmlovers were all in tears. His image of sacrifice in each and every film made him a legend and he received the title of Jubilee Kumar, as his major films from 1963 to 1966, all ended up in golden jubilees.


Shankar Jaikishan and Rafi had a great role to play in the success of Rajender Kumar. Probably other than Raj Kapoor, Shankar Jaikishan had not shown the amount of devotion towards rich, melodious music, the way it was displayed in each and every film of Rajender Kumar. Rafi’s songs in the film Humrahi, “yeh ansoo meri dil ki zuban hai,” “mujhko apne gale lagalo” were as majestic as Rajender Kumar’s lips and Shankar Jaikishan’s composition. With the advent of coloured films, majority of Rajender Kumar’s films were shot at romantic locations in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and his costumes, the songs, the colour and location synchronised with each other in most of the films. His soft, romantic films in that age include Chirag Kahan Roshni kahan, Aman, Talash, etc.

His film Aye Milan Ki Bela, 1964, Jhuk Gaya Asman, 1968, opposite Saira Banu, involved soft romantic stories, but the charm of Rafi’s songs composed by Shankar Jaikishan, like “to bura man gaye”, “tum khamseen ho”, “kaun hai jo sapno me aya” all had mesemerised the audience with romantic appeal. In Aarzoo, 1965, Rajender Kumar became handicapped by losing his leg, and tried to forget Sadhna whom he loved and never wanted to marry due to his disability, again the songs and the story telling impressed the viewers. Marriage was arranged with Feroz Khan, but he being a friend, ultimately helped Sadhna to marry Rajender Kumar. Rafi and Lata were at their best in Shankar Jaikishan’s songs “aji ruth kar ab kaha jaiyega”. Besides other songs like “chalke teri ankho se”, “ai nargisi mastana” were all hits.

In the film Suraj, 1966, Rajender Kumar played a royal character being the prince who never knew his background and grew up as a dacoit and the enter film hovered around the theme of finding his actual heritage. His performance opposite Vaijayantimala was well appreciated by film lovers. There were musical competitions in the film with the song “kaise samjhayun bari nasamajh ho” where Lata and Rafi faced each other in classical contest. All the songs in the film composed by Shankar Jaikishan became successful including “baharon phool barsao”, “itna hai tujhse pyar mujhe”, “titli uri”, etc.

Rajender Kumar acted in diversified subjects including relationship of poets in the film Palki, patriotic subject matters in the film Dharti, role of dacoits in Gora Aur Kala, etc. In the mid-seventies with the advent of action films, Rajender Kumar faded away from the film arena. His films at that period include Aap aye Bahar Aye, Do Jasoos, etc. He acted in character roles in few films where his son Kumar Gaurav played the central character. He did not receive the acclamation during the age for the strong dominance of Dilip Kumar who was unparallel in tragic roles and dominated the film world. His films should be preserved and restored in an archive to recollect the age when soft romantic films dominated bollywood.

Meena Kumari - The Tragedy-queen of Indian cinema

Meena Kumari – the tragedy queen of Indian Cinema.

Meena Kumari can be considered as the greatest actress of Bollywood during the golden age who had portrayed images and characters showing complexity of the mind of the Indian women and the social ostentations that they had faced during different periods of time. Meena Kumari, born on 1st August, 1932, known as Mahjabeen Bano, stormed into the Indian silver screen in 1952, with the sublime performance in Baiju Bawra. Although the film had been renowned for everlasting composition of Hindustani ragas by Naushad and supreme performance of Mohammad Rafi, with songs like “man tarpata”, “woh duniya ke rakhwale”, etc., Meena Kumari’s performance opposite Bharat Bhushan showed the filmlovers that she had come to conquer Bollywood with her soft style of acting.


In the 50s Meena Kumari’s performance in films like Parineeta, 1953, Footpath, 1954, Yahudi, 1958, etc. were appreciated by critics, but she had created her image of martyr in the film Sharda, 1957, where even after having an affair with Raj Kapoor, in the film she had to sarcrifice her affection to marry Raj Mehra, his father, who was much older than her. In Dil Ek Mandir, 1963, Meena Kumari after having affair with Rajender Kumar in her youth had to marry Raj Kumar, due to social pressure. But from the time she had married Raj Kumar, she fulfilled all the duties of a middle class Hindu woman, and brought her sick husband to the hospital at the mercy of Rajender Kumar. She prayed to God, for the recovery of Raj Kumar. Rajender Kumar sacrificed his life to treat her husband and died at the end of the film. The songs composed by Shankar Jaikishan and sung by Rafi and Lata, had not lost their significance even today.



In 1962, Meena Kumari, performed the role of choti bahu, in Guru Dutt’s Saheb Bibi aur Ghulam, the film showing the zamindari raj (dominance of Feudal lords) existing in the British capital in India, that is Kolkata. She was married to the youngest son in a family of zamindars who used to attend mujras in Jaan bazaar, in Kolkata, where performers from Lucknow, Benaras used to come and exhibit their skills of singing classical songs. She tried to retain her husband Rehman at home, and through her conversation, Guru Dutt, the observer came to know about the history of the family.



Meena Kumar’s performance opposite Pradeep Kumar, used to create a different dimension, as her pardanashin image had matched with royal style of acting of Pradeep Kumar. After the success of Aarti, 1962, Meena Kumari, acted in the blockbusters Bheegi Raat, 1965, and Bahu Begum, 1967, opposite Pradeep Kumar and Ashok Kumar. In Bheegi Raat, she loved Pradeep Kumar, yet due to an accident which made her legs paralysed she could not attend the engagement and worked in the house of Ashok Kumar as governess. When society boycotted Ashok Kumar, she agreed to marry her, but presence of Pradeep Kumar at the end of the film in the song “dil jo na keh saka” compelled Ashok Kumar to sacrifice his affair and go back to London. It was a film where, Rafi, Lata, Roshan and the actors all had provided their best performance possible. Meena Kumar’s other film with Pradeep Kumar titled Chitralekha was also successful.

Meena Kumari had become immortal with her classic performance in the film Pakeeza, 1971, opposite Raj Kumar, which took around 10 years to be completed. It was created on a subject related to women brought up in kotha and exhibited the class of women who could not give the recognition to their next generation as their father’s are not known. The music composed by Ghulam Mohammad, Lata and Rafi’s songs, Kamal Humrohi’s direction (the husband of Meena Kumari) all complemented each other, and the film became historical piece of document.



The greatest hallmark of Meena Kumari lied in her ability to depict the helplessness of Indian women existing specially in the 50s and 60s, when the patriarchal society dominated them and they had no independent income to live separately against the pressure of society. In her performances, beauty, aristrocracy, tragedy, personality all blended into one. Whenever we think about cine-classics like Dil Apna aur Preet Parayi, 1960, or Ghazal, 1965, Meena Kumari’s image automatically comes in our mind. She died in 1972, only at an age of 41. Meena Kumari’s films should be restored in an archive for future generations to learn the art of understanding the characters from the core of the heart the way Meena Kumari had done during the golden age of Indian cinema.