Probashi- Cover Story
Probashi- Cover Story
The Tragedy of the Fallen Stars
The Tragedy of the Fallen Stars
In Hindi movies the ending always has to be perfect‐ the good triumphs over evil, the long lost brothers meet, the lovers unite and of course the police arrive in nick of time to take the villain to jail. The audience clap, the box office looks healthy and the starss take home heavy pay packets. But it is not always that the ending is perfect in bollywood. One such imperfect ending is of the film stars whose names which once moved million of fans across India
, suddenly become dismal flops and remain forgotten destined to the fringes of the film industry living in poverty and penury. These stars are victims of fate, their own reckless behaviour, lack of foresight and the ruthless industry where there is no place for those who do not ensure commercial success. Let us look at some such stars who once ruled the screen but their end was not perfect‐ poor, lonely, destitute and left to live with only faint memories of their stardom as company.
Her gorgeous looks inspired the
lyricist Sahir to write one of Hindi cinema’ s most memorable ode to a woman’ s beauty ‐‘ Kisi pathaar ki murat se, mohabbat ka irrada hai, parastish ki tamana hai, ibadat ka irrada hai.’
The woman who inspired these lines was Vimi( 1947‐ 1977), the Hindi film actress, who for a brief period in late sixties and early seventies was a ruling star of bollywood. Fame and glamour was soon to desert her and she died in her early thirties, a poor and helpless woman. The script of her life had gone horribly wrong. Born in a conservative Mumbai based Punjabi family, Vimi was a regular on All India Radio during her student days. She married Shiv Aggarwal scion of the multimillionare Amirchand Pyarelal family and shifted to Kolkata. With two children, a doting husband and high social status, life seemed kind to Vimi. A meeting with the music composer Ravi in Kolkata brought the couple to Mumbai where BR Chopra transfixed by Vimi’ s beauty signed her for the super hit film Humraaz( 1968) and overnight Vimi was transformed into a star. While professional success was coming, the homefront for Vimi took a nosedive. Her parents’ disapproved of her joining films and her inlaws disinherited her husband from the family business. The earning from her film career was now the mainstay for the family. With Humraaz a hit, producers qued up at her door and she started
Vimi the super star after Humraaz: script however went wrong commanding a staggering Rs. 3 Lakhs as fees. Though extremely photogenic with immense screen presence, Vimi lacked acting skills. Her somewhat wooden expression didnot go well with the audience and her subsequent movies started to flop. Unfortunately Vimi kept faith in her looks and never tried to polish her acting abilities
. If this was not enough, her husband by now an alcoholic would interfere in her career displeasing many big producers with unreasonable conditions. Despite these drawbacks her co‐stars recollect her to be soft spoken, punctual and hardworking. A clutch of movies came with her in the lead, but sank at the box office. With money flowing short, the couple shifted from their swanky residence at Juhu to a more modest locality. Desperate for money, her husband started to push her into the arms of dubious producers to which Vimi protested only to be beaten and
abused by her husband. At this time Vimi met a small time producer named Jolly who promised to make a film with her in the lead. Vimi saw in Jolly her last hope to resurrect her career. With her husband hopelessly alchoholic and abusive, she started living in with Jolly However Jolly’ s promised movie never happened and Vimi’ s dream of seeing herself again as a heroine was shattered. Vimi found solace in countrymade liquor, the only variety she could afford. Heavy drinking and emotional turmoil took its toll on Vimi. In her last years economically ruined she would allow herself to be exploited by men for earning a livelihood. Vimi once the most beautiful face in Hindi films died on August 22, 1977 after spending a few days in the general ward of the Nanavati Hospital. Heavy drinking was reported to be the cause. She was in her early thirties. Her dead body was wrapped in a soiled dhoti