Meena Kumari is considered iconic and one of the most remembered actresses of Hindi cinema. However, her death was tragic. She passed away early on at a tender age of 38 in 1972. Among the many mourning her departure was her dearest friend, actress Nargis, who penned a raw, searing tribute that still echoes decades later.Nargis had written a letter in Urdu after Meena’s death in it was translated in Un Dinon Ki Baat Hai by Yasir Abbasi. The actress had opened up on her grief in that letter. She wrote, “Maut Mubarak Ho Meena… Meena, today your Baaji congratulates you on your death and asks you to never step into this world again. This place is not meant for people like you.”It was less a goodbye, more a release—an acknowledgment that the world had never deserved someone as tender as Meena.In the same letter, Nargis unearthed a chapter of Meena Kumari’s life that remained carefully shrouded during her lifetime—her unspoken, all-consuming love for Dharmendra. “If Meena has ever loved anyone passionately, the person is Dharmendra,” she wrote. “If she ever turned mad in love for someone, it was him.” It was love without possession, devotion without a happy ending.For those not in the know, Meena Kumar was married to Kamal Amrohi. After she divorced him, it was rumoured that she’s in a relationship with Dharmendra. At that time, reports also suggested that Amrohi took revenge from Dharmendra by putting black paint on his face. Dharmendra is also known to have openly confessed his feelings for Meena Kumari and their chemistry in the films they did together was hard to miss. Kamal has directed some of the highly acclaimed movies like ‘Pakeezah’, ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ among others. According to reports, he had cast Dharmendra in ‘Razia Sultan’ as a slave Jamal-ud-Din Yaqut while Hema Malini was cast as Empress Razia Sultan. Kamal had insisted that Dharmendra apply a black paint over his body for the role and the actor had to do it amidst scorching heat of the sun and shoot in the deserts bare-backed while the black paint was running down his face and body.In death, Meena Kumari’s tragedy only magnified. Her family was so financially broken they couldn’t afford the hospital’s modest bill of ₹3,500. It was a doctor—not a relative, not the industry she gave everything to—who paid so her body could be brought home.
