Helen

ma and were killing Burmese ruthlessly. Many families travelled by feet as there were no means of transport due to Second War trauma. They faced hard times, with no food, no water and sometimes no rest. Their feet had blisters yet they kept walking. On the way Helen’s mother had a miscarriage and her brother was seriously ill. Thus the family was subjected to stiff atrocities before they reached Kolkata. In Kolkatta, her mother got a job of a nurse but the salary was not sufficient to feed the family hence Helen quit school and began dancing in films.

Raj Kapoor advised Helen to learn dancing Cukoo, a popular yesteryear dancer in films was the family friend of Helen, hence when she came to know about the financial condition of the family she urged a filmmaker to cast young Helen as a dancer in chorus. The film was Shabistan in 1951. She also got an opportunity in Raj Kapoor’s Awaara. Though she was a chorus dancer in Awaara , yet Raj Kapoor noticed her. He witnessed sign of a great dancer in Helen and recommended her to get training in classical dance. Helen took the advice seriously and learned classical dancing from dance Guru P.L. Raj , a distinguished name in choreographers before Saroj Khan, Farah Khan Etc took over. Recalling her dance guru, Helen in an interview said, “In those days dancing school were costly but thank god, P.L. Raj , popular film Choreographer, helped me to learn all kinds of dances. Guruji began with Manipuri style. Then I learnt Bharat Natyam and later Kathak. Thanks to training in dance, I was flooded with solo dance in films.” With the song Mera naam Chin Chin Chu …. Helen becomes a star Among her solo dance include solo dance numbers in Alif Laila (1953) and Hoor-e-Arab (1955.). However her first hit song as solo dancer was Mr John O Baba Khan……… in the film Baarish. This song was quite famous and it was this song that filmmaker Shakti Samanta happened to watch and offered Helen her career’s most popular song that made her a star over night! Any guess which was this song? Well the song is Mera naam Chin Chin Chu….from the film Howrah Bridge. Helen becomes No 1 cabaret star Helen ruled the 50’s and 60’s as number 1 cabaret dancer. Among her most successful songs include Oh haseena zulphon wali… (Teesri Manzil); Aa Jaane Jaan……(Intaquam ), Piya Tu Ab To Aaja …. (Caravan ); Mehebooba mehebooba … (Sholay) and of course her career best Yeh mera dil pyaar ka deewana… (Don) Helen's transition to heroine Few may be aware that Helen also did a film as heroine. The film was Cha Cha Cha ( 1964) opposite B-Grade actor Chandershekher. The film had hit songs like Ek chameli ke mandave tale ek chameli ke mandave tale…. Wo hum na the wo tum na the….. It was a musical love story and tapped Helen’s classical dancing skills but the film failed. Again in Imaan Dharam, she was made heroine opposite Amitabh Bachchan but the film failed. Hence her career as heroine ended! Helen excelled in supporting roles After failure of Cha Cha Cha and Immaan Dharam, she attempted character roles and won good response in films like Woh Kaun Thi, Gumnaam, Shikari, Elaan, Lahu Ke Do Rang, Don etc. In fact in her second inning with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s – Khamoshi: The Musical, she was widely applauded. What is interesting is that she won four Filmfare nomination for Best Supporting Actress – Gumnaam (1966), Shikari (1969), Elaan (1972) and Khamoshi: The Musical (1997).