The unsustainable and full of turns world of Bollywood is a tough nut to crack. It can take you to the dizzy heights of success at one moment and throw you on the ground at another moment. In the history of the Hindi cinema, we have witnessed numerous superstars coming to the roads after one big-budget flop movie. While the showbiz world of Bollywood has been filled with the rags to riches success stories, it also doesn’t have fewer riches to rags stories where the superstar lost all their riches and wealth. Here’s a list of all the Bollywood celebrities who were hit hard by life, went bankrupt, and faded into oblivion.
1. AK Hangal: Bollywood actor who gave many tremendous performances and established himself as a legend. The actor even participated in the Indian Freedom Movement and had even been jailed for it. But even after all these achievements, he went penniless and couldn’t even afford his treatment during his old age.
2. Meena Kumari: Active between 1939 to 1972, the Bollywood industry never produced an actress like Meena Kumar. The reel life tragedy queen witnessed many tragedies in real life and even suffered from depression, insomnia, alcoholism, and rising debt.
3. Nalini Jayawant: Best known for her performance in 1941’s Bahen, Nalini Jayawant managed the crush of hearts during the 40s. However, she retired in the late 60s, and passed away in 2010, alone and in financial trouble.
4. Bhagwan Dada: Born as Bhagwan Abhaji Pala, known for his song Shola Jo Bhadke was one of the biggest comedians Bollywood has ever seen. The actor was so influential that his steps and style were copied by stars like Amitabh Bachchan and Mithun. At one point, Bhagwan Dada owned a 25-room house in Juhu and 7 cars, but after a string of flops, he went bankrupt and ended up living in a chawl in Mumbai.
5. Parveen Babi: She did not only give brilliant performances in Namak Halal, Shaan and Amar, Akbar Anthony but was also the first B-town diva to appear on the cover of the Time magazine. Babi, who suffered from schizophrenia, in the later years of her career went bankrupt and failed to pay even her medical bills!
6. Achala Sachdev: Worked in more than 120 movies, featured in new-age movies like DDLJ, Achala Sachdev was an actress ever Bollywood celeb adored but it seems like destiny didn’t adore her much. When she passed away in 2012, she was blind, paralyzed, and penniless from years living alone.
7. Satish Kaul: The veteran actor known for working in over 300 films in both Hindi and Punjabi movies lived in old age homes for several years as he had no home to live in and no money to meet his basic needs. Kaul had worked in films like Bandh Darwaza and Ram Lakhan to name only a few.
8. Vimmi: Worked with veteran actors like Sunil Dutt, BR Chopra, and many more, Vimmi left a chance to put her right foot forward. But her career in Bollywood didn’t go well and she started her textile business. At the same time, her textile business also failed and she fell into depression and alcoholism. She died of liver disease at the age of 34 in abject poverty.
9. Sulochana: Sulochana's real name was Ruby Myers, and she was arguably the highest-paid silent movie star of Indian cinema. She was of Jewish ancestry, hailing from the community of Baghdadi Jews in India. However, with the advent of talkies, work dried up and she went bankrupt. She died in 1983, impoverished and unable to even pay rent.
10. Bharat Bhushan: Bharat Bhushan was a legend of his time, debuting in the film Chitralekha and going on to act in cult classics like Baiju Bawra. He even starred opposites the likes of Madhubala and Nutan. While he was one of the highest-paid actors at one point, he suffered massive losses after going into production with his brother and was never able to recover from the blow.
