Meena Shorey

Meena Shorey
Meena Shorey in Actress (1948)
Born	Khurshid Jehan 17 November 1921 Raiwind, Punjab, British India
Died	9 February 1989 (aged 67) Lahore, Pakistan
Resting place	Lahore
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1941–1979
Spouse(s)	Zahur Raja Al Nasir Roop K. Shorey Raza Mir Asad Bokhari

Meena Shorey (1921–1989) was an Indian cinema and later Pakistani cinema actress, who worked in Hindi/Urdu and Punjabi films. Credited in films by her mononym, Meena, her real name was Khurshid Jehan. She started her acting career playing a character role, as Ambhi, Raja of Taxila's sister in Sohrab Modi's Sikandar (1941). Married to her third husband, Roop K. Shorey, by the mid-1940s, she found fame when she acted in her husband's film Ek Thi Ladki (1949), opposite actor Motilal. The story was written by I. S. Johar, who also starred in the film. The "foot-tapping" music composed by Vinod became a "huge hit", with Meena becoming an "icon" for the "new liberated" young women. Meena was acclaimed as the "Lara Lappa Girl", from the song of same title in the film. She was one of the first women to be recognised in Indian cinema as a "comedienne of calibre".

In 1956, she went to Lahore, Pakistan with her husband, where they were invited by Pakistani producer J.C. Anand to make a film there following her mass popularity with the public in both India and Pakistan.. The film Shorey made was Miss 56, a copy of the Guru Dutt-Madhubala starrer Mr. & Mrs. '55. Instead of returning to India when her husband did, she decided to stay back in Pakistan, continuing her acting career there. Some of her best films in India included the Punjabi film Chaman (1948), Actress (1948), Ek Thi Ladki (1949), Dholak (1951), and Ek Do Teen(1953).

Meena was born Khurshid Jehan, on November 17, 1921, in Raiwind, Punjab, British India, the second of four children. Her family was poor and her father squandered what little property they had. He then worked at a dyeing business in Lahore, which also failed. Meena's elder sister, Wazir Begum, who was married and lived in Bombay, had their mother and siblings come there. Sohrab Modi noticed Meena at the launch of his film Sikandar (1941), which she attended with her brother-in-law, and offered her a supporting role in the film, giving her the name, Meena.