[rajnish manga]

Mehta rightly points out that in “every frame of the film she fills the screen with her presence”, along with focusing on the great sex appeal that Meena exuded in the immortal song “Na jao saiyya chhuda ke baiya” from the unforgettable Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam. An excerpt from Meena’s diary comes in handy for throwing a light on the great performance she gave in the film: “This woman (Chhoti Bahu) is troubling me a great deal. All day long — and a good part of the night — it is nothing else but Chhoti Bahu’s smiles, hopes, tribulations… Oh! I am sick of it!”

Meena acted as Chhoti Bahu when she was 32 years old and at the peak of her career. Chhoti Bahu was a character of a submissive Hindu Bengali wife clamouring for her philandering husband’s love and attention. The husband, a decadent zamindaar, remains unmoved by her efforts. To please him she starts drinking and ultimately finds some solace in another man. But the results are tragic. Meena’s real life intersected with this film as this was the time when she started to imbibe – starting with small doses of brandy turning into a full-scale addiction. Guru Dutt’s full use of Meena’s beauty and acting skills makes this character an unforgettable one. More so as it was off-beat, challenging the primacy of a suffering sati saavitiri of mainstream Bollywood’s imagination. At a deeper level, this was also a parable of changing social structures in a world unsure of the direction it was taking.