shammi kapoor: mala sinha bollywood actress

Mala sinha bollywood actress

date of birth : 11th november 1936 in kashmir,india

real name : aida sinha

religion : chirstian

family background: spouse: cp lohani- nepali actor

daughter: pratibha sinha

she is in indian actress of nepalese ethnicity,she became one of the most popular female stars in bollywood films

from the fifties to the early seventies,starting in numerous block busters and hits lik pyaasa 1957,dhool ka phool 1959,anpadh 1962,himalaya ki godh mai 1965,aankhen 1968,and maryada 1971.....

Early Life:

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.

career:

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 bali, a noted Bollywood Actress, 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', 'haryali aur raasta, '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 dutt and amitabh bachan. 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 kathmandhu 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 kishore kumar. Her last Bengali film was kabita(1977) which featured Ranjit Mullick and kamal hassan. She is noted for her strong women oriented yet glamorous roles fuelled by her equal star power on par with the heroes giving blockbusters and hits like dhool ka phool, anpadh, phir subha hogi, haryali aur raasta,,dil tera deewana, bahurani,aasra Do Kaliyan, gumrah,aankhen,himalya ki godh mai,maryada amongst others.

Of her rich and varied repertoire of films, she mentions she is rather partial to jahan ara (1964), a historical that meena kumari passed on to her as she says,"Meenaji turned down the role saying that she would not look the part whereas I would. Given my ignorance of Urdu, I was rather skeptical but Meenaji was convinced that I could do justice to the role. Playing Mumtaz Mahal's eldest daughter entailed grueling Urdu classes and learning royal tehzeeb. It was hot on the grand sets erected at Ranjit Studio and the film had madan mohan s haunting music. It was a film replete with lyrical moments"

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..