Early life
Kaushal was born to a Botanist and Professor at Govt. College Lahore, now Lahore University, Pakistan. She did her B.A. (honours) in English literature from Kinnaird College in Lahore, British India now Pakistan. Her sister died leaving behind very young children and Uma married (or was made to marry) her sister’s husband. Her husband, Sood was an officer in the Bombay Port Trust.
Career
There is also a mention of her having been a stage actress in Delhi. She worked as a radio artist before she was discovered by Chetan Anand as the lead for his film Neecha Nagar. This movie was done before her marriage and released in 1946.
After Neecha Nagar she returned to Lahore, and after marriage settled in Bombay, soon offers started coming in, and in the coming decades Kamini Kaushal worked with all the top leading men of her time such as Ashok Kumar, Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar ('Shaheed' (1948), 'Nadiya Ke Paar' (1949), 'Shabnam' (1949) and 'Arzoo' (1950).).
In 1965 she moved to playing character roles with a film called Shaheed . As a character artist she was a fixture in seven Manoj Kumar films right up to Dus Numbari in 1976. She has had a long stint in films with releases right up to 2003. She made the transition to character roles very easily and has excelled in them ever since.
Dilip Kumar in his biography has admitted his attraction to her. He said that she was his first love. There were rumors of an affair between the two. But there is no source giving her side of the story or of her acknowledgement of the same.
She also stepped into writing children’s stories. Her stories used to be published in the children's magazine "Paraag" and she dabbled in television doing serials like "Chand Sitare" on Doordarshan, and in 1986, she made an animation film "Meri Pari".
At present she works in the highly popular serial, "Shanno Ki Shaadi" on STAR Plus. She plays the role of Bebe, the grandmother of Shanno, the main protagonist played by Divya Dutta.
Award
- 1956: Filmfare Best Actress Award: Biraj Bahu
