Helen, Queen of the Nautch Girls

Helen, Queen of the Nautch Girls
@Pradip Bhaumik, 1974 Mechanical Engineering

I read a fascinating fairy tale in my childhood – Helen of Troy, the most beautiful woman in Greek Mythology. Queen Helen was abducted, resulting a historic war between the Greeks & Trojan armies, aiming to rescue their Greek queen, captivated by the Trojan king. It was a mesmerizing story to read which had loose resemblance with our Indian epic, Ramayana.

In the Indian silver screen, there is another Helen who is notable, though for a different reason, but for her to struggle to excel. Finally, she proved herself to be a legend in a men’s dominated industry. It was her own but epic battle remain in industry actively for almost seven decades. There is the caption that precipitates Helen, dancer superstar of Indian cinema, bursting onto the screen in a cacophony of jangles and spangles

In my pre- adolescent age, I got a chance to watch a Hindi movie ‘Howrah Bridge’ along with my uncle. I could remember the dancing queen Helen for the first time though I could not understand the story of the movie at that tender age.

My uncle sowed the seed of interest of movie in me. So, I continued. In the middle of 60’s, I remember, watched a Hindi movie ‘Teesri Manzil’ bunking off my school. It was a mesmerizing experience to see Helen dancing with the song-‘O Haseena Zulfon Wali ……. ‘, pairing with Shammi Kapoor.

By then Helen’s name became synonymous with cabaret dances of Hindi movies. I could get another chance to watch an old black & white movie ‘Howrah Bridge’. And this time, saw Helen’s dance to Geeta Dutt’s song ‘Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu’. Slowly, in the ’60s & ’70s decades, our Hindi movie adopted the added attraction where Helen in a key role of dancing, and in acting too.

With my growing age & a bit of maturity, I could slowly realise the struggles of movie actors to remain in the industry, like all other professions. Guru Dutt’s Hindi movie ‘Kaagaz Ke Phool’ describes how dark is the film life, day-to-day challenges to remain floating in the industry. A series of flops can ruin the career of even an established film star. But still, Helen’s film career spanned incredibly almost for seven decades.

Coming to the point of Bollywood nautch queen, Helen Ann Richardson Khan (née Richardson, known mononymously as Helen); was born on 21 November 1938), in Rangoon, Burma. Her father was an Anglo-Indian, named George Desimier who died during the 2nd world war. When the Japanese captured Burma, Helen was only 5 years old. They had to flee to India after the Japanese invaded Burma. Her Burmese mother, Marlene & brother and sister left Burma for an uncertain future, trekked to Dibrugarh, Assam along with many other Indian families, with no money, no belonging. During the difficult long journey through forest & hill, her mother miscarried along the way. Occasionally they received help from the British army in transportation, found refuge & treated blistering feet. Finally, they reached Dibrugarh, like a skeleton due to under nourishment and hardship for such a long strenuous journey. Many children, women & men in this group died on the way due to starvation, diseases, and wound injuries, and the number of fellow group members was reduced to half. They were admitted to hospital and stayed two months to recover their health.

From Dibrugarh they reached Kolkata. Her mother earned a living by working as a nurse. With her meagre salary it was difficult to run a family of four. Helen quitted school & joined as a dancer in group dance in the movie. She had no formal training in dancing. However, a family friend, Cuckoo Moray who was an established dancer & actor in the film industry, found her job as group dancer. In her teenhood she used to work staggering two shifts in a day, year after year to make a living for her family (mother, sister & brother). She left school midway to earn a living. Helen doesn’t dwell on her childhood but gives you the impression what a difficult time it was for the family and was probably the defining experience that made her such a tireless, hard-working performer (she often worked in two long daily shifts when making pictures with only a brief break for lunch between morning and evening).

At the age of 12 she used to be part of a group dancing in a movie. In 1951 she got a good break as one of the group dancers in the film Awara. In 1958 at the age of 19, she got another break in Shakti Samanta’s movie ‘Howrah Bridge ‘. The dance with Geeta Dutt’s song ‘Mera naam Chin Chin Chu …….’ became iconic popular. The movie was a smashing hit. After that she was famously called Chin Chin girl & never looked back.

Over the next few years in ‘Gumnaam’ she was nominated as best supporting actress for the Filmfare award where she danced fascinatedly with Asha Bhosle’s song ‘Is duniya me jeena hai to ……’. With Shammi Kapoor she had performed many hit dances like ‘Suku Suku …’ in ‘Janglee’, ‘Yammi Yammi’ in ‘China Town’, ‘O Haseena Zulfonwali’ in ‘Teesri Manzil’ , Muqabla Humse Na Karo in ‘Prince’ , etc. Probably her western look did not match the look of Bollywood’s traditional Indian look to be a heroine in a movie. She rarely got roles as the lead heroine in movies. So, Helen opted dancing which proved to be her fortune throughout ‘60s, ‘70s to ‘80s However, given opportunities, she could prove her acting skill in supporting roles in a good number of films & her acting was appreciated by the audience. And by this time new generation dancing girls moved in like Aruna Irani, Bindu, Padma Khanna, etc. but Helen proved herself to be undisputed queen of dance for a stretch of few decades.

In many films she performed dances, and sensitive supporting roles, but according to the cinema plot she had to be ultimately killed to make way for a good natured conventional looking heroine at the hand of a handsome hero. She acted as heroine in a hindi movie ‘Cha Cha Cha’ in 1964, but the film was not a commercial success. She danced & acted in south Indian, Punjabi & Marathi movies also. In 1983 she formally retired from the roles of dancing girls from movies. Later, she continued to act in character roles in ‘Khamoshi, the Musical‘ (1996), ‘Mohabbatein’ (2000), ‘Hum Dil Deke Chuke Sanam’ (1999), ‘Humko Deewana Kar Gaye’ (2006). She acted as the mother of hero, Salman Khan in Hindi film ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’ (In real life she is the stepmother of Salman Khan).

In Bombay Talkie (1970), it is more of a tribute to her by the Merchant Ivory filmmaking team as an iconic and enduring presence in Bollywood films. Helen, accompanied by numerous chorus girls, performs a dance on the keyboards of a giant typewriter while flirting and singing a duet with her co-star, Shashi Kapoor. While that musical number, which is being shot for the film-within-a film storyline of Bombay Talkie, marks her only appearance in the movie,

She was nominated for best supporting actress in films: Gumnaam (1966), Shikaar (1969), Elaan (1972), Lahoo Ke Do Rang (1980), Khamoshi, The Musical (1997). She received a filmfare award for best supporting actress role in Lahoo Ke Do Rang movie.
She was also honoured with:
* Filmfare lifetime achievement award 1999
* Padma Shri, the 4th highest India civilian award by the Government of India 2009.
* Raj Kapoor award 2022.

When looking back to 70 years of her film career, it epitomises her struggle, tenacity, resolve, determination, professionalism in a male dominated industry. It is not an easy task for a woman to remain in the patriarchal film business for seven decades. She featured in more than 700 films which I am afraid any other actor can match this record. She was also known for wearing revealing and sensual costumes in her films as well as various wigs and coloured contacts. This made her easily standout and combined with her beauty and talent. It was easy for Helen to steal any scene she appears in even though she was never a huge Bollywood star in the traditional sense.

In 1973, James Ivory & his team made a 31-minute documentary film Helen, the Queen of Nautch girls as a homage to the Indian movie dancer who may possibly hold the title of the most famous and beloved of all Bollywood film legends. It is more of a tribute to her by the Merchant Ivory filmmaking team as an iconic and enduring presence in Bollywood films. During this time Hazel-Eyed-Chic-Sleek-gorgeously glamorous twinkle-toed charmer of the silver screen incidentally had the 500th film of her career in Dil Daulat Duniya. Perhaps it is a record all over the world for any film artist. This half an hour documentary sketches a portrait of the public & private personae of all-singing, all dancing deities of the most prolific film industry of the world. The strict ethical code in Indian culture with kissing scenes & even affectionate touching expressly forbidden by the censors, her dance assumes a surrogate sensuality that the characters themselves cannot consummate. In spite of conservative Indian social sentiments, Helen’s projected vulgarity, there is an overriding awe of her grace and sensuality that deems her worthy of Merchant Ivory’s timeless tribute.

In 1999, Canadian filmmaker Eisha Marjara made an experimental film entitled Desperately Seeking Helen that was a highly personal account of her search in India for the famous superstar among other things. The film’s first screening was held in India during International Film Festival Mumbai. It was ranked as the “Theater Critic’s Choice” in the Chicago Reader, year 1999. It also earned special mention from Planet Television at the Internationales Dokumentar Film Festival München, 2000, at the 1999 Locarno Film Festival, and also won the prestigious SRG SSR Award and the Silver Pardino – Leopards of Tomorrow award.

Coming to her personal life, she is now about 86 years old, happy in life with extended family of step sons, husband Salim Khan, and his first wife Salma.

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