Mala Sinha Birthday: Mala Sinha is not counted up there among the all-time greats like Madhubala, Waheeda Rehman, and Meena Kumari.
One wonders why! Her prolificness and her versatile body of work are staggering. Early in her career, this extraordinarily emotive actress played an unwed mother in Dhool Ka Phool. In Guru Dutt’s Pyaasa, she was the woman who sacrificed love for a financially secure marriage. In B. R. Chopra’s Gumrah, she was an adulteress. In Anpadh, she played an uneducated woman who learns the lessons of literacy.
Mala Sinha looks back at her career with zero regrets. She tells Zoom, “I don’t think I was shortchanged in any way. I worked with the best of directors and the best of banners. There were filmmakers she was the best of, like B R Chopra Saab and Ramanand Sagar Saab, who made movies repeatedly with me in the lead. In the 1960s, I was working three shifts a day. There would be as many as 5-6 releases per year. I was exhausted by the time we came to the 1970s. I slowed down voluntarily to look after my husband and daughter.”
Mala Sinha’s name always came in the credit titles before the leading man. She commanded the highest fee among her contemporaries. And there was never any compromise on the fee.
Unlike her colleagues like Waheeda Rehman, Sadhana, Nanda, Asha Parekh, and Vyjayanthimala, Mala Sinha was never friendly with her contemporaries.
"I wasn’t here to make friends. I was in the cinema to work and make a decent income and a decent name for myself. I think I succeeded on both counts. I would go to the studios and return home with my Baba. Even when I went to the restroom, my father would stand guard outside the door. So yes, I didn’t make friends within the industry. My Baba was my friend, guide, and mentor.”
Which among her films does she consider her high points? “Oh, Dhool Ka Phool and Dharamputra at the beginning of my career, where I had author-backed roles. The two films changed mindsets on premarital pregnancy and communal issues. Later there were films like Anpadh, Himalay Ki Godh Mein, Hariyali Aur Raasta, Do Kaliyan, Bahurani, Jahan Ara, and Gumrah…all superhits with chartbusting songs. So no, I have no regrets. If someone like you still remembers me with such fondness, then I must have done something right.”