Daily Times

Bollywood actor, Salman Khan and father Salim Khan have taken on the task of making Helen Khan’s biopic. Helen, who is also the wife of Salim Khan, has had a colourful and exciting life.

Helen Khan, the Cabaret Queen of Bollywood and silver screen’s darling has ruled over cinemas in the 1960’s and 70’s and is still loved and remembered as the bold, beautiful and quirky cabaret dancer. But Helen’s personal life is as illustrious and fascinating as her professional career as Bollywood’s first cabaret dancer.

Born in 1938, to an Anglo-Indian father and Burmese mother, Helen’s life is nothing short of exciting. She not only portrays the life of an Anglo-Indian woman of a colonial and post-colonial generation but also tells a beautiful tale of a golden haired woman introducing cabaret to a conservative and male dominant Bollywood.

At a time when women were only sari clad damsels in distress making for mere accessories for male actors’ heroism, Helen dropped the sari and the distress and danced to piya tu ab tou aja in a short cabaret dress, she presented a woman complete in herself and hardly ever in need of a hero for saving.

In a recent comedy show when asked who Hel would like to play her in a biopic, she replied with “Padukone” within a single breath. Deepika has been seen briefly as cabaret dancer in a song in Om Shanti Om where she perfectly nailed Helen’s iconic cabaret moves. Here is to hoping Helen’s wish comes true and Mastaani plays Helen in Helen’s biopic.