Veteran actor Kamini Kaushal He passed away on Friday at the age of 98. The actress, who made her debut in films with Chetan Anand’s Neecha Nagar, was one of the most popular actors of the time, and during her initial years in films, she and Dilip Kumar made a great on-screen duo. They first worked together in the 1948 films Nadiya Ki Baar and Shahid, and developed a fondness for each other that was very evident to those around them. Dilip Kumar wrote about his relationship with Kamini on and off screen in his autobiography, Dilip Kumar: Matter and Shadow, and expressed his love for her. She said they were “devastated” when their relationship ended because she married her brother-in-law.
“I had an understanding and easy-going co-actress in Kamini Kaushal who was very attentive to the director’s requirements and had the intelligence to understand the intrinsic sensitivity of some of the most poignant situations in the script. She was an artiste who could perform with the required authority when needed,” he shared. Kamini graduated with honors in English from Lahore and was fluent in the language, and this impressed Dilip even more as he enjoyed his conversations with her. “She had a remarkable fluency in English, which was unusual in those days for an actress,” he wrote, recalling that she was someone with whom he could have “interesting conversations.”
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Dilip Kumar and Kamini Kaushal in a still from the movie Shahid. (Photo: Express Archives)
After Shahid and Nadia Ki Baar, the two also worked together in Shabnam and Arzoo, and Dileep felt attracted to his co-star just like him, and was also more interested in scientific discussions. Since her birth name was Uma, he addressed her as Uma, writing: “I prefer the company of learned and informed colleagues. Stardom has bothered me more than it has pleased me, and I think I was more intellectually than emotionally attracted to Uma, with whom I could talk about matters and topics that interested me outside of our business relationship. If this was love, it might as well have been. I don’t know and I don’t think it matters anymore.”
He said that despite what the rumors said, they behaved with dignity and did not allow their private lives to become a matter of gossip. “If we were romantically involved, there was no public exhibition of it, and decorum in business was consciously maintained,” he wrote. However, this association was short-lived as her brother ordered Kamini to sever ties with Dilip.
Kamini’s husband Kaushal ‘understood’ her love for Dilip Kumar
According to famous dancer Sitara Devi, who was then married to K Asif, and shared a friendship with Dilip Kumar, the actor was very sad when Kamini walked out of his life, and described her as his “first love”. Sitara Devi wrote in the same book: “I feel she was his first love. She was as educated and well-spoken as he was, and could engage him in intelligent conversation.” However, when I asked Dilip about his relationship with Kamini, he “remained silent and changed the subject.” However, after a few months, she saw him break down as he looked sad and hurt. “I thought it was the pain of being separated from his love,” she said, adding: “While he was talking to us, I saw tears welling up in his sad eyes.”
Dilip Kumar and Kamini Kaushal have worked in 4 films together. (Photo: Express Archives)
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Kamini Kaushal married her brother-in-law PS Sood in 1948, after her sister’s death. Kamini had promised her sick sister that she would take care of her children, and she kept her promise. In a conversation with Filmfare, she shared, “I loved my sister dearly. I was afraid that my nieces, who were around two and three years old, would get stuck without a mother. It seemed like an ideal solution. It was not a sacrifice. What’s more, my husband was a decent and respectful human being.” The couple went on to have three more children.
Sitara Devi shared that at the time Dilip started falling in love with Kamini, she was already married, and wrote, “She married her sister’s husband when her sister died and she became the mother of her children. So there was no way Dilip Bhai could marry her.”
Kamini’s brother ordered Kaushal to end their association
Since the pairing of Dilip Kumar and Kamini Kaushal was successful on screen, and they started getting close on screen as well, her brother felt it was wise to end this association. “She received a warning from her brother and told Dilip bhai that she will not work with him or see him anymore,” Sitara Devi shared.
Kamini shared with Filmfare in 2014 that her husband understood what was happening in her life and was supportive despite it. She shared that when her engagement with Dilip Kumar ended, they were “devastated”. “We were devastated. We were so happy with each other. We had a wonderful relationship. But that’s life. I can’t abandon people and say ‘Enough now, I’m leaving!’ I took on the girls. I wouldn’t be able to show my face to my sister. My husband, who is a good person, understood why this happened. I shared the love with everyone.”
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Dilip Kumar and Kamini Kaushal in Nadia Ki Baar. (Photo: Express Archives)
Dilip Kumar could not recognize her in his old age
Even though they parted ways, she never stopped caring about him. Years later, in 1998, when Dilip Kumar was having some health problems, Kamini checked up on him and sent him some children’s films so that he could distract him. He shared in his autobiography, “On another occasion, when I was suffering from a heart ailment in 1998, Uma (Kamini Kaushal), after many years, called my office. She had some close friends who wanted to meet me and Saira arranged for them to come home. She also made me talk to Uma, who learned about my condition and that I was going to undergo open-heart surgery.” He added: “I thought it would be a good idea for me to watch some entertaining children’s movies to pass my time after surgery. Sarah and I appreciated the gesture and I felt it was very thoughtful of her.”
However, as Dilip grew older and his health deteriorated, there came a time when he could not even recognize her. She once told Filmfare that she “felt sad” when this happened. She said: “He did not recognize me. It broke my heart. It broke my heart when I saw him looking at me with a blank look. He looked at me and I looked at him. He finds it difficult to recognize anyone. I felt sad. What an era we have lived through.”
(Tags for translation)Kamini Kaushal
