Alda Sinha better known by her stage name Mala Sinha is a Indian Actress who worked in Hindi, Bengali and Nepali films.  Although she was an approved singer of All India Radio.  She has never done playback singing in films. As a singer, she has done stage shows in many languages from 1947 to 1975. Mala Sinha started her career as child artist in Bengali films.

In 1957, noted Bollywood actor and director Guru Datt cast Mala Sinha in his film “Pyaasa”. The spot light first shown Mala Sinha, her character had negative shades as she played an ambitious woman who betrays her impoverished poet lover (Guru Datt) for a millionaire publisher (Rehman). Mala won the audience. Her trump card was her pain-heavy eyes despite being mute about he remorse. Pyaasa remains to this day a classic in the history of Indian Cinema and a turning point for Sinha.

In B. R. Chopra’s “Gumrah” movie exmines the conflict of married woman who is caught between her feelings for her lover and her duty to her husband and family.  Mala Sinha is known for portraying strong characters on-screen, which often challenged established norms of time.

Ramesh Saigal’s film “Phir Subah Hogi” is an adaption of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel Crime and Punishment.  In this film Mala Sinha’s reputation as versatile actress. Critics believe her career’s best performances were in Bahurani, Gumrah, Gehara Dag, Apane Huye Paraye, Nayi Roshni, Japan Ara. Her character’s power was as much as the heroes and most of the time her roles were more popular than the hero.

Photo courtesy Google. Excerpts taken from Google.