Meena Kumari

The image of her limpid eyes and tremulous voice remains to epitomize the tragic heroine of the Hindi film. In 2003 she published a book, Traci Lords: Underneath It All. Pakeezah (1971), jointly conceived with her husband, was completed shortly before her tragic death on March 31, 1972 and was her last great performance. She has since become an active gay rights advocate. Her screen image of a tormented, self-mortifying woman became an extension of her own personality. In 1995 Traci made her solo debut, in colaboration with Juno Reactor, called "1000 Fires". Like the heroine of the film, she increasingly took to drink and embarked on the road to gradual ruin. In the 1990s, Lords began developing a career as a singer performing backing vocals for Manic Street Preachers on the single "Little Baby Nothing", also appearing in the music videos of other performers and groups.

Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (Master, Mistress and Servant 1962) became in more than a symbolic way the crossroads of her life. Lords also appeared in continuing roles in several television series, including Married with Children (1987), Roseanne (1988), Melrose Place (1992), and Profiler (1996), with single appearances in MacGyver (1985), Highlander (1992), Tales from the Crypt (1989), and Hercules (1995), among others. A collection of her poems in Urdu under the pen name Naaz was published after her death. Some of her more notable films include Not of this Earth (1988), John Waters's Cry Baby, (1990) and Blade, (1998). She was also a poet in her own right, and was able to lend to the characters she played a certain poetic tenderness and intensity. She has played roles in a number of B-movies. However, her strong independent spirit would not be subordinated by her husband's genius and they eventually separated in 1964. Lords has since moved into mainstream films and television with some success.

She married Kamal Amrohi who directed some of her best films. While Lords decries the pornographic film industry, she continues to use the stage name she gave herself as a minor. One reason for this popularity was her private life, which at times rivaled the plot of any movie. But industry insiders, like Ron Jeremy and Ginger Lynn, as well as boyfriends say they never saw her use drugs and that she was fully aware of her actions even if, as a minor, she could not legally consent. However, her studied reserve, chaste diction and -- most of all -- extraordinary voice, that struck the right balance between the erotic and the pathetic, ensured her place in the hearts of the Indian movie-going public. Government prosecutors declared that Lords was a victim of a manipulative industry, while Lords has claimed that she was drugged and made to do things she did not want to do. The following years saw her appear in a number of films, where she played many, largely indistinguishable, self-mortifying women. The controversy still sparks debate.

She was never really able to shake off this image of a tragidienne, and at times this severely impeded her in the exercise of the full range of her histrionic talents. In parts of Europe and other regions where the minimum legal age for involvement in pornographic films is lower, Lords' films are still available, and they are commonplace on the Internet. Her evocative portrayal of the perennially suffering Indian woman struck a responsive chord in millions of women. Only one of her films, Traci, I Love You was actually produced after her eighteenth birthday, and is the only one of her films commonly and legally available in the United States. By 1953, Meena Kumari had starred in three other commercially successful films: Daera, Do Bigha Zameen and Parineeta. Parineeta became a turning point in her career. Instead, the agents and producers who accepted her fake IDs were charged and people affiliated with the films in question experienced legal troubles for years. She therefore heralded a new era of actresses that included Nargis, Nimmi, Suchitra Sen and Nutan. Lords herself was never charged, since as a minor she was unable to give legal consent to perform sex acts on film for money.

Meena Kumari entered the limelight at a time when histrionics were taking over from glamour (as epitomized by such beauties as Naseem, Veena, Sofia and Jayshree). The case gave government prosecutors a high profile, unequivocal violation of the law to use in prosecuting the pornographers and distributors associated with Lords' films as effectively as possible. Her early films were rather unremarkable and mythological. Adult book and video stores needed to pull hundreds of thousands of her videos and films from their shelves to avoid the serious accusations of trafficking child pornography. She took on the name Meena Kumari for Vijay Bhatt's immensely popular musical Baiju Bawra. The ensuing prosecution cost the pornographic film and distribution industry millions as they were obligated by law to pull her videotapes and magazines from store shelves. Mahajabeen acted in her first film at the age of six. X-Citement Video.

Her mother Prabhawati (later Iqbal Begam), a stage dancer and actress, was a descendant of the Tagore family. See United States v. Her father Ali Bakhsh was an actor in films and Parsi theatre, apart from composing music for a few films. But in 1986, federal authorities discovered she was underage while making movies and they arrested the owners of her movie agency and X-citement Video, Inc. She was born Mahjabeen Bano in Bombay. She even modeled for widely distributed adult magazines, such as Penthouse, in the same September 1984 issue that exposed Miss America 1984, Vanessa Williams. She shot into stardom in 1952 with the release of Baiju Bawra. By the time she was 18, she'd appeared in one hundred and seven adult films.

Meena Kumari (August 1, 1933 - March 31, 1972) was an Indian actress, whose name has become synonymous with the tragic heroine. She quickly became one of the most popular starlets in town and is considered by many to be one of the first porn queens. NewDelhi: East West Press, 1974. Later, while attending Redondo Union High School, she ran away from home and had an abortion. While living with a forty-something boyfriend posing as her stepfather, she used a friend's sister's birth certificate and a fake driver's license indicating that she was twenty-two years of age to fake her way into the porn industry, starting with Jim South's World Modeling Agency. The Kaleidoscope of Indian Cinema. At fifteen she fled from her abusive, alcoholic father to Lawndale, California with her mother and three sisters. Mahmood, Hameeduddin. She made her stage name by combining the first name of her high school best friend, Traci, and the last name of her favorite actor from Hawaii Five-O, Jack Lord.

London: British Film Institute; New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1994. Traci Elizabeth Lords was born Nora Louise Kuzma on May 7, 1968, in Steubenville, Ohio. Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema. She first achieved notoriety for her underage appearances in pornographic films, but is now pursuing a mainstream career. Rajadhyaksha, Ashish; Willemen, Paul. Nora Louise Kuzma (born May 7, 1968), better known as Traci Elizabeth Lords and Tracy Lords, is an American actress. What Gets Me Hot! (1984) (as Tracy Lords) - Lannie.

Tracy Lords (1984) (as Tracy Lords). Those Young Girls (1984) (as Tracy Lords) - Tracy Lords. Sexy Shorts (1984) (music video compilation) - Miss Georgia (segment "Gimme Gimme Good Lovin'", uncredited). The Sex Goddess (1984) - Marilyn West.

The Night of Loving Dangerously (1984) (as Tracy Lords). Miss Passion (1984). Lust in the Fast Lane (1984) (as Tracy Lords) - Jackie. Breaking It (1984) - Jodie Brown.

Bad Girls III (1984). We Love to Tease (1985). Two-Timing Tracie (1985). Tracy in Heaven (1985) - Monika Hart.

Tailhouse Rock (1985) - Stacey. Sizzling Suburbia (1985). Sister Dearest (1985). Sex Waves (1985).

Sex Shoot (1985) (as Tracy Lords). Portrait of Lust (1985) (as Tracy Lords) - Mirage. Porn in the USA (1985) (as Tracy Lords). Perfect Fit (1985) - Diane.

Peek a Boo Gang (1985) - Tracy. New Wave Hookers (1985) - Devil. Love Bites (1985) - Nurse. Ladies in Lace (1985) - Linda.

Just Another Pretty Face (1985). Jean Genie (1985). It's My Body (1985) - Maggie. Huge Bras 3 (1985).

Hollywood Heartbreakers (1985). Holly Does Hollywood (1985) - Tracy. Harlequin Affair (1985) - Tracy. The Grafenberg Spot (1985).

Future Voyeur (1985). Erotic Zones Vol. 1 (1985) (as Tracy Lords). Erotic Gold (1985). Electric Blue 28 (1985) - Nikki (scenes deleted).

Electric Blue 21 (1985) - Suzy/Jane. Electric Blue 20 (1985). Educating Mandy (1985) - Mandy. Dream Lover (1985).

Dirty Pictures (1985). Diamond Collection 73 (1985). Diamond Collection 69 (1985). Country Girl (1985) - Billie Jean.

Black Throat (1985) (scenes deleted on re-release) - First Whore. Aroused (1985) - Allison. Another Roll in the Hay (1985). Adventures of Tracy Dick: The Case of the Missing Stiff (1985) - Tracy Dick.

Adult 45 (1985). Murder in High Places (1991) - Diane. The Tommyknockers (1993) - Nancy Voss. Dragstrip Girl (1994) - Blanche.

As Good as Dead (1995) - Nicole Grace. First Wave (1998) (as Traci Elizabeth Lords) - Jordan. They Shoot Divas, Don't They? (2002) (as Traci Elizabeth Lords) - Mira. Deathlands (2003) - Lady Rachel Cawdor.

Team (1999) (as Traci Elizabeth Lords) - Mira. D.R.E.A.M. Not of This Earth (1988) - Nadine. Fast Food (1989) - Dixie Love.