By Jagmohan Singh Barhok
On Her Birth Anniversary
‘Ulfat ki rakhna sharam
balam tumhen meri kasam
o dekho meri kasam
ulfat ki rakhna sharam
balam tumhen meri kasam’
Punjabi cinema was born in Lahore which was “Hollywood” of North India before Independence. Lahore had the largest number of cinema houses. It also boasted of at least two film studios. Lahore shared the latter distinction with Calcutta, Bombay ,Pune & Kolhapur, and, besides, had a very enthusiastic, receptive audience. Calcutta, and not Bombay, was then the tinsel town of the country. Calcutta and Bombay based movie-makers, understandably, used to prefer releasing their films in Lahore first.
Th first Punjabi ‘talkie’ “Pind Di Kudi” ( The Village belle) was completed and released in Lahore. in 1936,while the first Indian ‘talkie’, “Alam Ara” was released there only five years earlier in 1931. “Pind di Kudi” was an instant hit because of the double entendre used in its dialogues, and its melodious folk music.
After the partition of the country the film industry was divided .The Punjabi films suffered the worst set back as the film production almost stopped in the East Punjab territory comprising of Punjab Haryana & Himachal Pradesh. Films were produced either in Bombay or Calcutta. Some of the prominent producers, and film actors had since moved to Pakistan causing a void. Bombay was seen , by many, as their choicest haven. K.D. Mehra”s “Posti” starring Shyama, Manorama, Amarnath, Randhir, & Majnu , Rajendra Sharma’s “Madari” featuring Kuldip Kaur, Om Prakash, Madan Puri, Meena Shorey, Amjad Hussain’s “Billo”, S.P.Bakshi’s musical blockbuster “Kaude Shah”, Jugal Kishore’s “Bhangra” ,”Mamaji” & “Satluj De Kande” were some of the succesful & most talked about films after partition. Paucity of fund & talent, especially actresses to play the lead as heroine, caused major set back to the industry in later years. Most films had comedians like Sunder, Majnu & Khraiti to play the hero. There were only two known actresses available -Nishi & Indira Billi, the latter being the subject of this write up.
Indira Billi was noticed first by comedian Bhagwan of “Albela” fame. She was cast in his film titled “Rangeela” (1953). Raj Kapoor who visited the shooting site saw her a potential actress & cast her in “Shree 420” (1955). She played daughter of an industrialist. She also worked in “Basant Bahar”(1956), “Yahudi” (1958) & “Dil Deke Dekho” (1959) appearing in smaller roles. The dame luck never seemed to smile on her. Resultantly, a depressed actress, as she thought she was, took to Punjabi films where she was respectfully welcomed as a heroine receiving recognition and significant popularity. She worked in “Kiklee” , “Do Lachhi “Mamaji” (1964), “Shokan Mele Di ‘(1965), “Shehar Di Kudi”(1966) opposite Shiv Kumar,”Khed Pritan De” (1967), “Mukhda Chan Warga” , “Pardesan” opposite Prem Chopra (1969) & Buta Singh Shad’s “Kulli Yaar Di” . “Kankan De Ohle” also starring Dharmendra, Asha Parekh, Jeevan & Ravinder Kapoor, was perhaps one of her last Punjabi multi-starrer films as an actress.
Interestingly, she also kept doing Hindi films vis a vis Punjabi movies, most of these were ‘B’ grade like “Jungle Ki Duniya” (1959), “Maya Mahal (1963), Jungle Boy (1963), Tarzan Aur Jadugar (1963), “Pahadi Nagin”,”Awara Badal”, , “Arab Ka Lal”, “Aaya Toofan” (1964),”Teen Sardar” (1965) “Son of Zimbo (1966), “Thakur Jarnail Singh”(1966), “Sheba and Hercules” (1967), “Tarzan in Fairyland” (1968) and “CID Agent 302” (1968), occasionally doing ‘A’ class films like “Mere Huzoor” (1968) starring Raj Kumar, Mala Sinha & Jeetendra playing a courtesan – Firdous begum.
The actress was called ‘Billi’ because of her eyes and later she became popular as indira Billi. Her notable films include the likes of “Phool Aur Paththar” (1966), “Husn Aur Ishq” (1966), “Tarzan and Herculas” ( 1966), & Naag Puja” (1971). She worked opposite Balraj Sahni in “Black cat”, Bharat Bhushan in “Basant Bahar”,Dilip Kumar in “Yahudi”, Dhamendra in “Kankan De Ohle”, Shammi Kapoor in “Dil Deke Dekho” , Raj Kapoor in “Shree 420” & Dev Anand in “Asli Naqli” with a lovely number rendered by Rafi “Cheda Mera Dil Ne Tarana Tere Pyaar Ka” with the camera repeatedly focused on her . She also appeared in the much acclaimed historical movie “Jahan Ara”(1964) as a wicked ‘Roshanara’.She also made her presence felt,playing a vamp,in “Meri Surat Teri Ankhen”(1963) with some lovely songs under the music score Sachin Dev Burman.
