EXCLUSIVE: Helen recalls struggles her family faced while migrating from Burma: We walked for 9 months to India

Veteran actor Helen was loved for her performances in the movies like Howrah Bridgem, Awaara, China Town, Teesri Manzil and several others. She was also popularly known as the ‘dancing queen’ due to her stellar dance performances. The veteran actress was the third guest on the Arbaaz Khan hosted chat show, The Invincibles. In an interview exclusively released on Bollywood Bubble, Helen recalls struggles her family faced while migrating from Burma.

Helen on struggles while migrating from Burma’

When Arbaaz Khan asked the veteran actress about the struggles her family faced while migrating from Burma, she mentioned they walked to India over a span of 9 months.

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She said, “All this credit goes to my mother. I don’t remember much, but little incidents here and there, I do remember. This is while coming from Burma, during the Japanese invasion. We had to Trek. We walked here.“

The veteran actor further shared that around 300-350 people migrated from Burma. She mentioned that it was her mother, her little brother and her. Helen Ji said, “My mother, my little brother and myself. And my mother was pregnant too and she lost my little sister there.”

She continued, “When we went to the airport, Burma airport, to catch the last flight. But the Japanese came and bombed the last aircraft. I remember one incident when the bombing had come over the airport, she just put herself over her two children. I remember that very vividly. Phir uske baad kya hua mujhe malum nahi (Then I don’t know what happened after that). Kyunki uske baad we got together and we started walking out of Burma. I believe it was a 9 months Trek.”

When asked what was her first destination when she came to India, the veteran actress said, “In India, it was Assam.” After Arbaaz Khan asked if she came to Mumbai next, the actress said, “No no. It was Kolkata. From Kolkata we went with my stepfather. We went to Hyderabad. From Hyderabad we came to Bombay.”

Take a look at the full conversation below:

Meanwhile, the veteran actress is known as one of the most sought-after dancers during Bollywood’s golden era. Born on November 21, 1938, in Myanmar’s Burma, she migrated to India at a young age with her family. For the unversed, when the Japanese army invaded Burma, the veteran actor’s family decided to trek to India.

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