Miss Mimmy

QAMYAB – THE FORGOTTEN GEMS OF BOLLYWOOD

Qamyab is our humble tribute to all those lesser-known actors, one hit wonders and junior artists who we see umpteen times but don’t know about; beyond their faces. These actors have been an integral part of Bollywood but didn’t get their due. This series is our sincere attempt to put a name to these faces, familiarize them to our readers and celebrate their achievements in life – however big or small. We believe that every artist contributes in his/her own way to the cinema’s success. Qamyab will explore the unknown lives of such actors and artists as we believe even these forgotten gems of Bollywood deserve their due recognition today.

A popular punchline by actor Vijay Raaz in the film Welcome (2007) went like this: Sadak se utha ke star banaunga (I will make someone a star by picking him up from the street). The 1989 Marathi blockbuster Hamaal De Dhamaal had the heroine Varsha Usgaonkar accepting a bet from Hindi star Anil Kapoor to make a coolie (played by Laxmikant Berde) a film star

One doesn’t expect such rags to fame stories to happen in the real world, do you? Well, our today’s forgotten gem, our 100th in this series, was actually picked up from the streets of Mumbai by a well-known director and her one scene appearance in his film made her a household name

There is a lot of speculation and fake information about these two actors and most believe Dosti is their only film, which isn’t true. Some rumours about their death are widespread, which are also fake. For the first time, we will be covering the two actors jointly in our ‘Qamyab’ article as like their inseparable characters in Dosti, we feel we should tell their life journey jointly and not separate them. So, here we go…

Both, Sushil Kumar and Sudhir Kumar were unknown to each other before Dosti. They got this opportunity of a lifetime, as many still believe that Dosti was their first and only film but both actors had acted in films before.

It might surprise our readers that Miss Mimmy would beg for a living until director Indra Kumar spotted her at a traffic signal. She was also said to be mentally unstable. Let’s deep-dive in to this story behind Indra Kumar’s uncanny discovery

After Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988), none of Aamir Khan’s films worked at the box office and the media was on verge of writing him off as the new age Kumar Gaurav. During this time, director Indra Kumar, younger brother of veteran actress Aruna Irani, decided to make a romantic musical movie with him and Madhuri Dixit in lead roles.

The film, titled Dil, revolved around college students played by Aamir and Madhuri, who share a Tom and Jerry relationship but later, fall in love. There was a boxing scene, where Aamir challenges to kiss Madhuri in public if he wins the bout. But in return, Madhuri Dixit challenges him to kiss her friend Miss Mimmy if he loses. The ugly and grossly obese Miss Mimmy frightens the daylights out of Aamir Khan as well as his opponent played by Adi Irani (younger brother of Aruna Irani and Indra Kumar).

During the boxing sequence, whenever Aamir Khan and Adi Irani feel that they are getting knocked down, they would see Miss Mimmy like a nightmare and get back to fight. Finally, Adi Irani loses the bout and has to kiss her.

While shooting this scene, Adi Irani was shocked to see Miss Mimmy on the sets as he knew her background. Indra Kumar then told him that he has to kiss Mimmy for the scene. Adi was shocked to hear this from his elder brother. But when Miss Mimmy comes to kiss Adi, the scene gets cut. Indra Kumar ensured Adi gave the right exasperated expression in that vital scene and there was no actual kiss.

The real reason behind Adi Irani being so disgusted during the scene was he knew Miss Mimmy was a beggar on the streets of Bandra as he often spotted her at traffic signals. It was on one such occasion that Indra Kumar and his assistant were travelling in the car between Bandra to Khar in Mumbai.

Indra Kumar spotted Miss Mimmy at the Bandra junction and immediately told his assistant that this is the kind of girl I am looking for that scene in Dil. While the assistant wasn’t too sure, Kumar made up his mind to train her in acting and cast her in this small role. Next, Indra Kumar took Miss Mimmy under his wings and taught her how to act in that particular scene.

Dil went on to become a big hit and Miss Mimmy’s scene became its highlight with the audience laughing aloud when her face appears on screen.

After seeing Miss Mimmy in Dil, the public travelling enroute Bandra, were taken by shock to see her begging and wondered if she is the same girl they had seen in the movie. A few presumed it could be her lookalike. It was only a few years later, it emerged that Miss Mimmy was indeed, the girl begging on streets of Bandra.