Yesteryears evergreen star, Helen Richardson Khan, who performed the famous item number, ‘Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu’ in the movie ‘Howrah Bridge’, is still remembered by us.

Born on Oct. 21, 1939 in Burma, Helen shifted to Mumbai after she lost her father during the Second World War. She had to quit school to support her family as her mother’s nursing job wasn’t enough to run the family.
One of her family friends named, Cuckoo hired Helen to perform in her chorus dancing troupe. Helen performed solo dance in movies ‘Alif Laila’ and ‘Baarish’.

After her performance in ‘Howrah Bridge’ took the audience by storm, she was hailed as the ‘Cabaret Queen’. Interestingly, most of the time, Asha Bhosle was often roped in to sing peppy tracks for which Helen was supposed to perform.

Though not an established actress, she was seen enacting a lot of vamps and supporting roles to perfection. She even won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for ‘Lahu Ke Do Rang’.

Apart from acting, Helen has performed in numerous concerts in London, Hong Kong and Paris. Helen tied the knot with Salim Khan in 1980, and the couple adopted a girl, Arpita. Actor Salman Khan was her step-son.

Helen was also honored with Padma Shri Award from the Indian government.

(By: Deepika Jayasurya)