Breakthrough and Stardom
Recognising her star potential, she soon became the protégé of Filmistan Studios' owner Tolaram Jalan, who relaunched her with Tumsa Nahin Dekha (1957). The film was primarily produced as a vehicle for promoting Ameeta as a new star. Great care was taken with her make-up, wardrobe and lighting, to present Ameeta in the most flattering and adventagous way possible. Furthermore, much of the film's extensive publicity also centred around the actress. Ironically, the film's huge success at the box office made the then struggling Shammi Kapoor an overnight sensation instead.
Though Shammi Kapoor effectively stole the attention and applause for Tumsa Nahin Dekha, the films prolific run at the box-office resulted in Vijay Bhatt casting Ameeta in the highly coveted feminine lead for Goonj Uthi Shehnai (1959), a role originally intended for super-star Meena Kumari. The film co-starred a then up-and-coming Rajendra Kumar and coupled with an exceptional music score, it became one of the top grossing films of 1959. Yet despite a mature and sensitive performance, Ameeta was overlooked and Rajendra Kumar was given credit for the film's emphatic success.
In fact, although she proved lucky as a leading lady for Shammi Kapoor and Rajendra Kumar, both of whom went on to scale the heights of super-stardom, Ameeta herself never really benefited or capitalised on these successful films. Although showing strong potential and displaying all the requisite qualities of the emerging breed of Mod heroines, fully fledged stardom failed to materialise.
Roles in multi star-cast films like Raakhi (1962), which also featured Ashok Kumar, Waheeda Rehman, and Pradeep Kumar, failed to cement her star status, and she was repeatedly sidelined by her co-stars.
Her last prominent role in a big budget successful movie was as Naseem Ara in Mere Mehboob (1963). Ameeta played one of the films two heroines, alongside Sadhana and opposite Rajendra Kumar. Despite the presence of Sadhana, who was by then the bigger star, Ameeta was given a new glamorous look, was photographed well with luminous Technicolor close-ups, and had two of the films popular songs picturised on her. Although it was an important role unlike her co-stars Rajendra Kumar, Ashok Kumar, Sadhana and Nimmi, she was billed below the title, further diminishing her tenuous star status. Yet again despite the films big box-office success and a well received performance resulting in her only Filmfare award nomination as Best Supporting Actress, Mere Mehboob did not really further her career, and major stardom continued to elude her.
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