Mala Sinha was born into a Nepalese Christian family and named Alda. She was forced to change her name to Mala when her friends started calling her Dalda.
She was a child artiste in many Bengali films like Jog Biyog and Dhuli. Noted Bengali film director Ardhendu Bose saw her in a school play and persuaded her father to let him cast her as the heroine in his film Roshanara in 1952.
A couple of films later, Mala had to go to Bombay on a shoot. There she met Geeta Dutt, who introduced her to film director Kidar Sharma. Sharma cast her in his film Rangeen Ratein. However, her first Hindi release was Badshah opposite Pradeep Kumar.
She starred in a series of hits - Parvarish, Phir Subah Hogi, Main Nashe Main Hoon, Love Marriage, Bahurani, Anpadh, Aasra, Dil Tera Deewana, Gumrah, Aankhen, Hariyali Aur Rasta and Himalaya Ki God Mein, among others.
Mala Sinha never shied away from working with newcomers. Some of these went on to become major movie stars - Dharmendra, Sunil Dutt, Sanjay Khan and Amitabh Bachchan. In many movies, her name was listed before the male leads in the credits.
In 1966, she appeared in a Nepali film called Maitighar opposite newcomer CP Lohani. Love blossomed on set and the two married soon after. They had a daughter named Pratibha.
Despite being nominated several times, Mala Sinha never won a Filmfare award throughout her career. She was however honoured with the Star Screen Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007.
