Baby Naaz, India’s highest paid child star, was exploited by mother; denied food, education - The Indian Express

The Hindi film industry is a brutal place for children, and has always been so. Growing up around people who are twice one’s age and living with the burden of earning for the household is not a child’s job. Baby Naaz, who was the highest-paid child star of her time and received a ‘Special Mention’ award for her work in Boot Polish at Cannes Film Festival in 1955, grew up on sets and was pampered by the likes of Raj Kapoor on films like Boot Polish, but back at home, she lived a miserable life. Naaz started earning for her family from the age of four, and despite working in 120 films, she never had any money as her mother spent all of it on a man she was having an affair with.

Naaz was born as Salma Baig and started dancing on stage at 4. She loved copying the heroines she saw on screen and enjoyed dancing. “What started as a hobby, soon became a compulsion for me,” she once told Stardust in a later interview. Her father was a struggling story writer and the family couldn’t make ends meet. Naaz started getting paid Rs 100 for every show, and before she could even realise, she became responsible for her family’s finances.

At the age of 8, Naaz got her first film offer and while her parents were not too keen on it at first, they jumped at the chance when they learnt about her remuneration. There was no time left for school and Naaz was expelled. After she did a few films, and appeared in Raj Kapoor’s Boot Polish, she became a household name, and her school called her back to finish her education. By then, she had become a cash cow for her family so no one bothered about her education.

“I left studies for my mother didn’t stop accepting films on my behalf, and my father stopped working. My mother was too used to making money out of me and didn’t want to forgo this easy life. She wanted me to work for her comforts and I was both too young and in awe of my parents to refuse,” she shared.

She worked day and night but couldn’t enjoy the money she was making. There were days when she went to bed without any food. When she came back from shoots, parents didn’t even bother to check in on her because they were busy fighting. “They fought with each other all the time. They didn’t even realise that I had come back home and gone off to sleep without food. I cannot count the times I have slept without food,” she said.

Her father was severely ill and she didn’t blame him for her condition. It was her mother who was source of all problems. “The only thing she bothered about was money. She got over ambitious,” she said.

At age 10, Naaz tried to end her life by jumping into a well, for she had heard stories about people dying by suicide. Fortunately, it was her ayah who saved her. “I felt choked. I wanted breathing space. I couldn’t take it anymore and that is when I first tried to end my life.” Naaz tried it again, but her ayah, who kept a close eye on her saved her again.

Her mother was upset, not because her daughter was troubled with such thoughts. But because her income would have stopped. “She didn’t take me in her arms and cry, nor did she plead with me not to do it again. She never shed a tear, instead, that woman slapped me hard and screamed at me.” After this, Naaz was “more miserable” than ever as things went “from bad to worse.”

After the success of Boot Polish, which also screened at the Cannes Film Festival, Raj Kapoor, who produced the film, and is said to have ghost-directed it as well, offered to sponsor her education in Switzerland, but Naaz’s mother refused. Raj promised that he would launch Naaz after she returned but her mother was scared of how the family would manage if Naaz stopped earning for five long years. “If only my mother had not been so selfish, I would have reached places today,” she said.

At 12, Naaz understood why her parents were fighting constantly. Her mother was having an affair with a cameraman named Rajendra Malloni and wanted a divorce. Her mother threw her father out of the house and for the next two years, Naaz didn’t know about his whereabouts.

Talking about Rajendra, Naaz said she “hated that man. It was because of him that my father had to leave his own house and stay in dirty hotels.” She was helpless as all the money she had made was in her mother’s name, and she didn’t have anything of her own. “I had no bank balance. Everything, the house, the property, the jewellery, the cash was in my mother’s name.”

Rajendra was seduced by Naaz’s wealth and used it to marry his three daughters. She felt that the man who “wrecked her life” was enjoying her wealth, and she could do nothing about it.

When Naaz turned 16, her mother married Rajendra and for the first time, Naaz put her foot down. She refused to live with him so a new arrangement was introduced. Her mother would live with her during the day and live with Rajendra. Naaz’s ayah would sleep with her every night. After she got some distance from her mother, she started to look for her father and after a lot of efforts, she tracked him down, and brought him home.

By then, she also cut off her mother financially and upon learning this, Rajendra left his mother. When she asked Naaz if she could move in with her, Naaz refused and asked her to live with her second husband. “She was tortured by her second husband in her last days,” she said.

Naaz was now at that age where she could have found work as a grown-up, but things did not work out as she had hoped. “My mother handled everything and she believed in making hay while the sun was shining. She made me sign every film that came my way whether my role was good, bad or indifferent. The only important thing for her was money which she wanted for herself and her second husband,” she said.

Naaz met her future husband Subiraj, who was an actor, in 1960 and after a courtship of five years, the two got married in 1965, even though their families were against it. “He was the first person in my life who tried to understand me, give me a shoulder to cry on, and share my sorrows. He gave me the love and affection I have never known.”

Naaz’s parents weren’t in favour of this union as they did not want her to convert to Hinduism. Subiraj came from the Kapoor clan as his mother was Prithviraj Kapoor’s sister. “They didn’t want daughter of a mother who had left her husband,” she said. They got married on the set of Dekh Pyaar Tumhara when he applied sindoor on her forehead. As per Khalid Mohamed, she changed her name to Anuradha, but was still known as Naaz.

Naaz and Subiraj never enjoyed a wealthy lifestyle, but could manage to make ends meet. Being together was more important than being rich, and she had experienced it first hand.

After getting married, Naaz continued to work and played smaller roles in films like Kati Patang and Sachcha Jhootha. But she never enjoyed same fame again. As a grown-up, when she tried to try for lead parts, she realised that people expected her to “compromise.” “To be very frank, the producers and heroes, except a very few, only want girls who can, along with acting in their films, warm their beds.” Naaz refused all such advances.

In the 1980s, she started dubbing for Sridevi when the actor started doing Hindi films. As per Khalid, Sridevi got upset with her when she dubbed for other female actors. “Give me a contract that I will be the only one to dub your voice till you quit working, and it’s a deal,” she reportedly said. She also started taking hosting jobs at musical shows so she could have a steady income.

But the dream of becoming a star never left her. “Somehow, at the back of my mind, there always lingers a feeling that one day, a break will come. I’ll get a chance again, when I will be able to prove that I was not just a fluke. I don’t know when I will get the name and fame again, but I will keep trying,” she said.

Sadly, it never happened. In 1995, she died at the age of 53 after battling cancer. Her dream of becoming a star again remained unfulfilled.

DISCLAIMER: This article covers sensitive topics, including accounts of severe childhood emotional distress, trauma, and suicide. The content is shared strictly for historical and biographical purposes and is not a substitute for professional health or psychological advice. If you or someone you know is experiencing emotional distress or thoughts of self-harm, please reach out for help.

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