Meena Shorey was not in Bedari, even if you check the film credits at vidpk, Meena’s name is absent. It was a mistake made by Yasin Gurdeja in his film directories and then people copying from it without double checking.

In the 50′s, Meena was still playing the leading roles in all her films with the exception of Sarfarosh (1956), where she was the 2nd heroine and according to her Sabiha Khanum changed her role.

I also saw ‘Bedari’ online and Meena Shorey was nowhere to be seen!

However, some blogs as well as Dr. Bukhari’s single page directory shows her name in the cast of Bedari. Of course, she is a 4th or 5th name in this film and not a leading role.

There is a possibility that the print of “Miss 56″ doesn’t exist anymore. That is the case with many old Indian and Pakistani movies from the 30′s, 40′s and 50′s. India’s first talkie Alam Ara doesn’t survive anymore. It’s last surviving print was consumed by the fire in Pune archives. Indian movies are more popular in Pakistan, and prints of many old Indian movies which aren’t easily available in India have survived in Pakistan and many released by M.M. Video. But, the Pakistani films themselves are very hard to find even in Pakistan. I tried to locate Miss 56, but no one knows if the print exists or not.

In the latter part of her career, Meena mostly appeared in cameo roles, maybe that is why it is hard to complete her filmography. By the way, Meena didn’t work in Bedari (1957), the heroine was Raagini.

Yes, many other Indo-Pak artistes died in poverty including famous dancer Cuckoo, actress Raagini, Asha Posley, and many others..

I have read about Nawaz Sharif helping Meena financially for treatment on Mazhar.dk website. I don’t know if it is true or not.

When you do research on some artiste, you find conflicting information in sources, and when it is hard to confirm, you don’t include it. For example, many sources say Shamshad Begum stopped singing in late 60′s. That is false. Shamshad Begum sang her last 3 songs in 1981 and so on …