so far unbeaten record of securing all the nominations in the best actress category for sahib bibi aur ghulam aarti and main chup rahungi at the 10th edition in 1963 as well as the sole posthumous nomination for pakeezah in 1973her record for the highest number of filmfare best actress awards four went unbroken for 13 years from 1966 till nutans win in 1979 and her record for the highest number of nominations in this category 12 was broken after 35 years by madhuri dixit in 2008it was not only about awards though her strong roles and fame made even established male stars chary of appearing opposite her her selfconfessed avid fan and early biographer renowned journalist vinod mehta noted that even dilip kumar grew flustered in her presence and raaj kumar frequently forgot his dialoguesbut she was encouraging to newcomers and some of the earliest successes of sunil dutt rajendra kumar dharmendra and even vinod khanna mere apne were opposite heralthough she was ruthlessly typecast onscreen as a quietly suffering woman in thrall to a dominant male figure meena kumari intelligent and sensitive as she was did not remain entirely passive and found free selfexpression in urdu poetry where under the pen name naaz she could fashion some imaginative and striking imagery or convey motifs of endearing wistfulness or restrained sadnessshamaa hoon phool hoon ya ret pe qadmon ka nishaanaap ko haq hai mujhe jo bhi ji chahe keh lein is a couplet that uncannily echoes the crushed socialconforming desiredenied woman she played in countless tearjerkersor even ab yahaan kuchh nahin sunta hai sunata haidekh ke veerana log abh bhi yehi kehte haikisi dulhan ka maqbarah hai yeh khandar to nahinbut then this was inaccessible to the majority who only had recourse to some transliterations occasional translations and of course the record i write i recite in which she performed some of her compositions set to music by the evergreen khayyamscholar noorul hasan who notes meena kumaris flirtations with the pen are as seductive as her universally celebrated femininity has brought her poetry to a wider audience translating nearly 50 of her works into english while also providing a transliterated version of the original for the bilingual connoisseurher poetry also is a critical reaction to popular culture especially the bollywood version of itthis is brought out well in the nazm titled khaali dukaanthe empty shop with its wistfully expressed requirement of pyaar ka ek khoobsurat khwaab and mohabbat ka ek purtapak lamha but bas inhi ek do cheezon ki main khareedar thi aur waqt ki dukaan in cheezon se khaali hai the translation i came looking for nothing but theseand the shop of timesupplies none of these things faithfully reproduces the rhythmher poetry may be sad joyless pessimistic morbid but was entirely in character with her life or at least her comprehension of her life as vinod mehta observed in meena kumari the classic biographybut there was another side to meena kumari toothough typecast as a tragedienne she