There is something about Helen that makes people across generations remember her with great fondness
Main saare zamaane ke gham ki dawa hoon.” proclaimed a song from the 1971 film Adhikaar, about the dancer gyrating to the song on screen. At once named H-bomb at the height of her career, and the salve to soothe broken hearts, Helen Jairaj Richardson Khan rules popular imagination even now - nearly half a century after she waltzed into people’s hearts with “Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu”, the iconic number from Shakti Samanta’s film Howrah Bridge in 1958.
Humble Beginnings
Born in 1938 in Burma to an AngloIndia father and Burmese mother, Helen has the typical rangs-to-riches story. Turns out, it is even heart wrenching.
Recalling horrific times, Helen says, “My father died during the Second World War. My family mother, brother and sister escaped to India on foot and trekked to escape from the Japanese occupation of Burma. We walked through wilderness and habitation, surviving on the generosity of people, for we had no food and few clothes. Occasionally, we met British soldiers who provided us with transport, found us refuge and treated our blistered feet and bruised bodies and fed us. By the time we reached Dibrugarh in Assam, my mother had had a miscarriage, my brother was critically ill and all of us were reduced to bare bones. After spending two months in Dibrugarh Hospital, we moved to Calcutta, where my mother found a job as a nurse.”
But this wasn’t adequate to support the family of four and Helen had to quit her schooling to support her family. She was then introduced to Bollywood when a family friend, an actress known as Cukoo, helped her find jobs as a chorus dancer in the films Shabistan and Awaara. She soon featured as a solo dancer in a few films like Alif Laila (1954) and Hoor-e-Arab (1955). But it was her dance in Chin Chin Chu that got her noticed. From then on, there was no looking back.
Changing Landscapes
Helen's hour-glass figure, fair skin and piercing eyes made her one of the most physically unique stars in Bollywood at the time. Helen singlehandedly changed the entire scenario of dance in Hindi cinema from the early 50s to the late 70s. She transformed the ‘dance of seduction’ into an art and gave it a definite and respectable identity because, despite those scintillating gyrations in skimpy costumes. For she was a performer who could seduce with the lift of an eyebrow, a sideways glance, a flick of hair from her face, or even just a smile. In 1958, when she matched steps with her mentor Cuckoo in Yahudi in the song “Bechain dil khoyee si nazar”, the shishya had outclassed her teacher.
From an item number, then known as a ‘cabaret’ dancer, Helen raised the standard of sizzling dance numbers performed in nightclubs or as the repentant vamp, sometimes with a heart of gold in many Hindi films. Few people know Helen is a trained classical dancer. “I initially trained in the Manipuri style. Then I learnt Bharat Natyam from my guru P.L. Raj, one of the leading choreographers of the time. Kathak followed this,” says Helen. Helen performed semi-classical numbers with equal aplomb as well - but those were few and far in between such as in Gunga-Jumna and Zindagi.
Reminiscing about the dizzying heights an erstwhile chorus dancer reached, Helen credits her passion for her work and says, “For me, my work was also something I enjoyed. I loved to dance—when the music was switched on, I don’t know what happened to me. Gopikrishan used to say to me, “Kaalimaa, once the music starts Helen disappears and a new person takes over.”
The kickstarter of item numbers in Bollywood has also performed onstage in London, Paris, and Hong Kong. But Helen was not just a dancing girl. She was also nominated for the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award in 1965 for her role in Gumnaam.
In 1970, she was courted by James Ivory and Ismail Merchant of Merchant Ivory Productions, who chose her to perform a bit part in their film Bombay Talkie, which starred Shashi Kapoor and his wife Jennifer Kendal. Although a small role, it gave Western audiences a taste of Helen’s magnificent talent, and she would soon start touring across Europe, staging grand dance shows in London, Paris and Berlin etc. Merchant Ivory again gave Western audiences a glimpse of Helen in a 1973 documentary, titled Helen: Queen of the Nautch Girls.
She played dramatic roles such as the rape victim in Shakti Samanta’s 1970 film, Pagla Kahin Ka. In Mahesh Bhatt’s Lahu Ke Do Rang (1979), she also won a Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award. In 1999, her contribution to film was recognised with Filmfare’s Lifetime Achievement Award. “The Lifetime Achievement Award from Filmfare is my greatest pride,” gushes the legend, with childlike enthusiasm, who was also awarded the Padma Shri in 1999.
Personal Life
In 1957, she married Bollywood director P.N Arora but left him in 1974 as she found he was spending her money without her consent. During her marital life she became bankrupt and her apartment was seized.
Helen first met Salim Khan in 1962 on the sets of “Kabli Khan”. She was the lead actress while Salim was in a negative role. Talking about her approach to being happy and positive, she says, “I don’t remember any bad things about the past. I live only in the present. I am now leading a life of semiretirement with my husband Salim who was by my side in my most difficult days.”
Queen of Leisure
Helen officially retired from movies in 1983, but she has since then appeared in a few guest roles such as Khamoshi and Mohabbatein.
After appearing in over 700 films, Helen makes occasional appearance in films that in her own words, “take me places.” Talking about her love for travel, she says, “I am always tempted to do films that involve shooting in places I haven't been before. Like when Sanjay Leela Bhansali offered Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, I was excited at the prospect of going to Budapest where I hadn't been before.” Talking about her professional work, Helen says, “I just did a play recently. I've done TV and a few films. I have to be persuaded to act so if someone comes up with something exciting, I do take it up.”
So what does she do when she is not convinced enough to face the arclights? “I do a lot of yoga and tai chi. I love meeting up with my friends and spending quality time at our farm in Panvel.”
Helen, full of sensuality, and yet brimming with disarming warmth, made her what she continues to be for filmdom — the queen of dance.