'Neecha Nagar' to 'Laal Singh Chaddha': Yesteryear star Kamini Kaushal dies at 98
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Mumbai (PTI): Actor Kamini Kaushal, one of Hindi cinema's earliest female stars who began her career with the classic "Neecha Nagar" in 1946 and went on to act in a host of films right till 2022, has died in her Mumbai home. She was 98.
Amongst the industry's highest paid actresses in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Kaushal starred opposite the triumvirate of Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor before moving on to character roles in the 1960s. Her last screen appearance was in Aamir Khan's 2022 film "Laal Singh Chaddha" at the age of 95, making for a remarkable 76 years in the movies.
"She died at her Mumbai home late on Thursday night. She would have turned 99 in February," Sajan Narain, a close friend of the family, told PTI.
Kaushal, who also crafted puppets and worked actively in storytelling for children, was born Uma Kashyap on February 24, 1927 in Lahore.
The youngest of two brothers and three sisters, Kaushal graduated with a degree in English literature from Government College in Lahore.
Her father, Shiv Ram Kashyap, was widely regarded as the father of Indian botany and taught as a professor at the University of Punjab in pre-partition Lahore.
Proficient in horse riding and swimming, Kaushal's movie career happened when family friend and filmmaker Chetan Anand approached her for his film "Neecha Nagar". The film, where she acted opposite actor Rafiq Anwar and Anand's wife Uma, won the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film at the inaugural Cannes Film Festival in 1946.
"Neecha Nagar" is considered a classic for its portrayal of the gulf between rich and poor. It also marked the debut of the late star Zohra Sehgal and music by renowned sitarist Ravi Shankar.
It was Chetan Anand who rechristened her Kamini Kaushal to avoid confusion between two Umas.
"My name also being Uma, he wanted a different name for me. I asked him to give me a name beginning with ‘K’ to match with the names of my daughters Kumkum and Kavita,” Kaushal told Filmfare in an interview in 2014.
After the success of "Neecha Nagar", Kaushal worked extensively with Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor in films such as "Jail Yatra", "Do Bhai", "Aag", "Shaheed", "Nadiya Ke Par", "Ziddi", "Shabnam" and "Arzoo".
“Each of my heroes were different from each other. Raj was very extrovert and always used to bluff a lot on the set. He was a fun-loving guy. Dev was sincere and passionate about his craft. Dilip, like me, was quiet and I was most comfortable to work with him. We did many films together," she told PTI in 2013.
She holds the distinction of being the first actor for whom Lata Mangeshkar lent her voice. The film was the 1948 "Ziddi", which featured tracks such as "Chanda Re Ja Re Ja, Piya Se Sandesa Mora Kahiyo Ja" and "Yeh Kaun Aaya Re, Karke Yeh Sola Singa". Kaushal played the lead role in filmmaker Bimal Roy's acclaimed 1954 movie "Biraj Bahu", adapted from renowned author Saratchandra Chattopadhyay’s Bengali novel. Her portrayal of devoted wife won a National Film Award and earned her a Filmfare award for best actress.
The actor took a break from movies but Manoj Kumar convinced her to come back. She transitioned to mother roles with Manoj Kumar's "Upkar" in 1967. Kaushal was just 40 at the time.
She went on to star in Kumar's other hit films such as "Purab Aur Paschim", "Sanyasi", "Shor", "Roti Kapda Aur Makaan", "Dus Numbari" and "Santosh", playing his mother in each of them.
Though selective in her film choices throughout her career, Kaushal worked right till the end. In the twilight of her life, she appeared in Shah Rukh Khan starrer "Chennai Express" and Shahid Kapoor's "Kabir Singh", which earned her a Screen Award for Best Supporting Actress and a Filmfare nomination.
She was 95 when she made a cameo as an elderly woman travelling in a train in "Laal Singh Chaddha".
Besides movies, Kaushal also featured in several television shows, including "Chand Sitare" on Doordarshan and "Shanno Ki Shaadi" on StarPlus.
She appeared as Aunt Shalini in the British serial "The Jewel in the Crown" in 1984.
Beyond the world of showbiz, the actor was known for her work with children. In her spare time, Kaushal wrote stories for the children’s magazine Paraag, and in the late 1970s chaired the Children’s Film Society of India. She also worked extensively in children’s television on Doordarshan, appearing in serials such as "Khel Khilone".
Under her banner Gudia Ghar Productions (1989–1991), she hosted puppet-based programmes like "Chand Sitare", "Chaat Pani" and "Chandamama". She crafted the puppets herself and would modulate her voice to fit each character.
Kaushal married brother-in-law B S Sood, the chief engineer at the Bombay Port Trust, in 1948 after her sister's death in a car accident and became an adoptive mother to two daughters. The couple had three sons -- Rahul, Vidur and Shravan.
"I loved my sister deeply. I feared my nieces, who were just around two and three, would flounder without a mother... It seemed an ideal solution. It was not a sacrifice. I feared whether I’d be able to live up to the responsibility. More so, my husband was a genteel and decent human being," she told Filmfare.
She defied convention by balancing the demands of a leading lady career with the responsibilities of a home -- a choice that in her era often worked against women in the film industry.
Kaushal and Dilip Kumar were in love but the affair did not last long.
“We were both shattered. We were very happy with each other. We shared a great rapport. But what to do? That’s life. I can’t dump people and say ‘Enough now, I’m going!’ I had taken on the girls. I wouldn’t be able to show my face to my sister. My husband, a fine human being, understood why it happened. Everyone falls in love," she said in the Filmfare interview.
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UT with dual power structure 'worst form of govt', says Omar Abdullah
Srinagar (PTI): Terming the current administrative structure in Jammu and Kashmir the “worst form of government”, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has called for an urgent shift toward full statehood while acknowledging that significant progress has been made in narrowing differences with the Centre over the transaction of business rules.
The chief minister also hit out at vested interests making efforts to create a political wedge between Jammu and Srinagar, saying “they have failed and they will continue to fail”, and highlighted the restoration of the traditional biannual shift of the capital known as ‘Darbar Move’ as a vital bridge in narrowing the emotional divide between the two regions.
Speaking with PTI, Abdullah argued that the logic behind treating a territory with 90 elected legislators on par with smaller regions like Puducherry, which has only 30, remains incomprehensible, and reiterated his earlier stand that a dual power system where two power structures exist is a "recipe for disaster”.
“Can you not see the difference between a tiny one with 30 MLAs and one with 90 MLAs? And you still believe that this current system is beneficial to Jammu and Kashmir after everything that happened last year?” the chief minister asked while referring to the Pahalgham tragedy, pointing out that keeping elected representatives out of the law and order situation was doing no good.
He specifically noted that the size and scale of Jammu and Kashmir demand a governance model where the elected representatives are fully responsible for administration.
“I continue to maintain that view. I continue to believe that a system of Union territory with an assembly is by far the worst form of government that you can come up with,” Abdullah told PTI here recently.
The chief minister highlighted that several key institutions, including universities, the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, and the Power Development Corporation, should have automatically come under the domain of the elected government.
“I am not even arguing on the central services, law and order, and police. As a Union territory, those are automatically within the domain of the unelected government. But these were institutions that were previously the responsibility of the elected government. And they should be,” Abdullah said.
Despite these friction points, Abdullah expressed optimism, stating that his government and the Government of India are close to reaching an agreement on the rules of business and that a formal proposal for the appointment of a new advocate general has finally been dispatched to the appropriate authorities.
“Again, as I said, we have made significant progress on these issues,” he said.
On the long-standing issue of summary dismissals of government employees without judicial inquiry, Abdullah described the process as arbitrary, opaque and unlikely to withstand judicial scrutiny.
This practice did not originate with the current lieutenant governor's administration but was initiated during the previous BJP-PDP coalition government, he said.
“Look, everyone has the right to prove their innocence. For some reason, these employees were not given that opportunity. And I have no doubt that going ahead, many of these people will return to government service on the back of relief from the court.
“We will not be able to defend the dismissal of these employees in the courts. It will happen, you mark my words, because the process is arbitrary. The process is opaque. There is no clarity and transparency in the process. Ultimately, we will not be able to bear up to judicial scrutiny," he said.
Referring to the promises made by his party, the National Conference, Abdullah detailed the operationalisation of his poll promises, including 200 units of free electricity and six free cooking gas cylinders for the poorest households, underlining that power subsidy is being provided to the poorest of the poor.
He argued that anyone above the poverty line should pay market rates for electricity to ensure that state resources are prioritised for the most vulnerable.
“Rich people shouldn't even be getting subsidised electricity. If I could, though obviously I can't do it in a single stroke, I would like to remove subsidised electricity from all these rich people.
“Anybody above BPL (Below Poverty Line) should not be paying subsidised rates for electricity. They should pay the market rate,” he said.
Beyond direct welfare, Abdullah highlighted the restoration of the ‘Darbar Move’ and the introduction of free education and bus travel for women as key milestones in his 20-month-old administration.
Speaking on the composite culture of J-K, Abdullah said the traditional biannual shift of the capital has allowed a new generation of employees from Jammu, who had never worked in the Valley before, to bond with their Kashmiri counterparts.
“The distance between Jammu and Kashmir has reduced to a great extent,” Abdullah said, adding that the two regions historically come together during times of adversity, whether after natural disasters or security crises.
Replying to a query on Kashmiri Pandits who migrated to various camps in Jammu, Abdullah said the question needs to be asked of the BJP as to why they are still in camps.
“Please ask the BJP how many more elections do they want to exploit their (Kashmiri Pandits’) votes before actually doing something to bring them back,” Abdullah said.
Terming the migration “deeply unfortunate”, Abdullah said, “We want those who left in the late 80s, early 90s, to come back. I have always maintained that they left because their sense of security was snatched away. They will come back only when that sense of security is restored. And we have not been able to do that so far.”
Crediting former prime minister Manmohan Singh for building the Jagti township in Jammu for migrants and creating a job quota for them, Abdullah said that nothing more has been done for the community since then.
To a question on dynastic politics following the recent defeat of M K Stalin in Tamil Nadu, Abdullah dismissed the idea that the defeat of established leaders is a verdict on their lineage, and argued that belonging to a political family only "opens a door" but does not guarantee a seat at the table.
“What keeps it open is your own performance,” Abdullah said, pointing out that even non-dynastic leaders like Mamata Banerjee faced electoral setbacks.
He also dismissed rumours of an imminent Cabinet reshuffle in J-K as “absolute lies”.
