Leela Chitnis

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Leela Chitnis
U.S.[1]
Occupation(s)Film actor, theatre actor
Years active1930s-1980s[2]
SpouseGajanan Yashwant Chitnis

Leela Chitnis (

née Nagarkar; 9 September 1909 – 14 July 2003) was an Indian actress in the Indian film industry, active from 1930s to 1980s. In her early years she starred as a romantic lead, but she is best remembered for her later roles playing a virtuous and upright mother to leading stars.[2]

Early life

She was born in a

Stanislavsky. With the theatre group, Leela played the lead role in a series of comedies and tragedies and even founded her own repertory.[4]

Career

Chitnis' early stage work included comedy Usna Navra (1934) and with her own film group Udyacha Sansar. She started acting to support her four children. She started as an extra and went on to stunt films.

In Gentleman Daku ("Gentleman Thief") in 1937, Chitnis played a polished crook dressed in male apparel and was publicised in the

Ranjit Movietone before going on to be the leading lady in Bombay Talkies
.

Specialising in controversial films that challenged accepted societal norms, especially those regarding marriage and the invidious caste system, Bombay Talkies was having limited luck at the box office. But it bounced back with Kangan ("Bangles", 1939), which introduced Chitnis playing the lead role as the adopted daughter of a Hindu priest in love with the son of a local landlord who opposes the relationship and threatens the holy man. Her love, however, stands up to his father's prejudices, an unusual theme for the time, but one that appealed to the public imagination enough to ensure it success at the box office.

With Kangan's success, Leela replaced Bombay Talkies' ravishing leading lady Devika Rani. Leela made a particularly good partner with Devika Rani's leading man Ashok Kumar for a series of box-office hits such as Azad (Free, 1940), Bandhan (Ties, 1940) and Jhoola ("Swing", 1941) that broadly deal with societal issues.. Ashok Kumar was so impressed by her acting abilities that he admitted to having learnt how to speak with his eyes from her. In 1941 Chitnis, at the height of her popularity and glamour, created history of sorts by becoming the first Indian film star to endorse the popular Lux soap brand, a concession then only granted to top Hollywood heroines.

By the mid-1940s her career went downhill as the new leading ladies came in. Leela accepted the reality and in 1948 entered the next, and perhaps most renowned, phase of her career in

Awaara (The Vagabond, 1951), Ganga Jumna (The Confluence, 1961) and, in 1965, the runaway success Guide, based on the award-winning novel of the same name by R.K. Narayan. She was busy through the 1970s, but cut down her appearances thereafter before taking the final curtain call in Dil Tujhko Diya ("I Give My Heart to You") in 1985. She then emigrated to the United States in the late 1980s to join her children. She died in Danbury
, Connecticut at a nursing home, at the age of 94.

Leela also briefly dabbled in movie-making, producing

Kisise Na Kehna ("Don't Tell Anybody", 1942) and directing Aaj ki Baat ("The Talk of Today", 1955). She also wrote and directed a stage adaptation of Somerset Maugham's Sacred Flame and published her autobiography, Chanderi Duniyet, in 1981.[2][4]

Personal life

Chitnis belonged to the Brahmin caste.[5] However, her father adhered to Brahmo Samaj, a religious movement that rejected caste.

At the age of 15 or 16, she married Dr. Gajanan Yeshwant Chitnis, a gentleman of her own community who was somewhat older than her, in a match arranged by their parents in the usual Indian way. Dr. Chitnis was a qualified medical doctor. The couple were quickly had four children, all boys. They supported India's struggle for independence from Britain and once risked arrest by harbouring

M.N.Roy
, a famous Marxist freedom fighter, in their house. After she divorced her husband, she worked as a school teacher before turning to acting.

She had four sons Manavendra (Meena), Vijaykumar, Ajitkumar and Raj. She lived with her eldest son in Connecticut in United States, until her death. She had three grandchildren then.[6]

Filmography

Actress

  • Shri Satyanarayan (1935)
  • Dhuwandhar (1935)
  • Chhaya (1936) - Chhaya
  • Wahan (1937) - Princess Jayanti
  • Insaaf (1937)
  • Gentleman Daku (1937)
  • Master Man (1938)
  • Raja Gopichand (1938)
  • Jailor (1938) as Kanwal
  • Chhote Sarkar (1938)
  • Sant Tulsidas (1939) - Ratnavali
  • Kangan (1939) - Radha
  • Chhotisi Duniya (1939)
  • Ghar Ki Rani (1940) - Arundhati
  • Bandhan (1940) - Beena
  • Azad (1940)
  • Ardhangi (1940) - Arundhati
  • Kanchan (1941)
  • Jhoola (1941) - Geeta
  • Kisise Na Kehna
     (1942)
  • Rekha (1943)
  • Manorama (1944)
  • Kiran (1944)
  • Char Aankhen (1944)
  • Shatranj (1946) - Shobharani
  • Dev Kanya (1946)
  • Bhakta Prahlad[7]
  • Ghar Ghar Ki Kahani (1947)
  • Andhon Ki Duniya (1947) - Sushila
  • Shaheed (1948) - Mrs. Dwarkadas
  • Namoona (1949)
  • Aakhri Paigham (1949)
  • Saudamini (1950)
  • Awaara
     (1951) - Leela Raghunath
  • Saiyan (1951) - Rani Sahiba
  • Sangdil (1952) - Dhaayi Maa
  • Maa (1952) - Bhanu's & Raju's mother
  • Naya Ghar (1953)
  • Hari Darshan (1953)
  • Baadbaan (1954)
  • Aaj Ki Baat (1955)
  • Funtoosh (1956)
  • Basant Bahar (1956) - Gopal's mother
  • Aawaz (1956) - Mrs. Bhatnagar
  • Naya Daur (1957) - Shankar's Mother
  • Sadhna
     (1958) - Mohan's Mother
  • Post Box 999 (1958) - Mrs. Gangadevi (as Lila Chitnis)
  • Phil Subha Hogi
     (1958) - Sohni's Mother (uncredited)
  • Dhool Ka Phool (1959) - Gangu Dai
  • Ujala
     (1959) - Ramu's Mother (as Leela Chitnes)
  • Main Nashe Mein Hoon (1959) - Mrs. Rajni Khanna
  • Kal Hamara Hai (1959) - Hiralal's wife
  • Barkha (1959) - Mrs. Haridas
  • Maa Baap (1960) - Raju's Mother
  • Kanoon (1960) - Kalidash's Wife
  • Bewaqoof (1960) - Mrs. Leela Rai Bahadur
  • Parakh (1960) - Mrs. Nivaran
  • Kohinoor (1960)
  • Kala Bazar (1960) - Raghuvir's Mother
  • Hum Hindustani (1960) - Savitri Nath
  • Ghunghat (1960) - Laxmi's Mother
  • Mehlon Ke Khwab (1960)
  • Apna Haath Jagannath (1960) - Lajwanti Malhotra
  • Dharmputra (1961) - Meena's mother
  • Aas Ka Panchhi (1961) - Mrs. Nihalchand Khanna
  • Ram Lila (1961)
  • Kanch Ki Gudiya (1961) - Raju's Mother
  • Hum Dono (1961) - Anand's Mother
  • Gunga Jumna (1961) - Govindi
  • Char Diwari (1961) - Sunil's mother
  • Batwara (1961) - Suhagan / Suhagi
  • Naag Devata (1962)
  • Man-Mauji (1962) - Bhagwanti
  • Dr. Vidya (1962)
  • Prem Andhala Asta (1962)
  • Asli-Naqli (1962) - Renu's mother
  • Aashiq (1962) - Mrs. Amar Singh
  • Dil Hi To Hai (1963) - Nanny / Yusuf's foster mother
  • Pahu Re Kiti Vaat (1963)
  • Suhagan (1964) - Uma & Vijay Kumar's mother
  • Dosti (1964) - Mrs. Gupta
  • Zindagi (1964) - Beena's mother
  • Shehnai (1964) - Grandmother
  • Punar Milan (1964) - Sonal's mother
  • Pooja Ke Phool (1964) - Mrs. Singh (Balam's Mother)
  • Aap Ki Parchhaiyan (1964) - Mrs. Dinanath Chopra
  • Guide (1965) - Raju's Mother
  • Johar-Mehmood in Goa (1965) - Pandit's Wife
  • Waqt (1965) - Mrs. Mittal
  • Nai Umar Ki Nai Fasal (1965)
  • Mohabbat Isko Kahete Hain (1965) - Leela
  • Faraar (1965) - Mrs. Choudhry
  • Phool Aur Patthar (1966) - Blind Beggar
  • Aurat (1967) - Parvati's Mom
  • Majhli Didi (1967) - Kishan's Mother
  • Gunahon Ka Devta (1967)
  • Dulhan Ek Raat Ki (1967) - Nirmala's mother
  • The Killers (1969)
  • Rambhakta Hunuman (1969)
  • Prince (1969) - Mrs. Shanti Singh
  • Intaquam
     (1969) - Mrs. Mehra
  • Badi Didi (1969) - Mother
  • Man Ki Aankhen (1970) - Mrs. Dinanath
  • Jeevan Mrityu (1970) - Ashok's Mother
  • Bhai-Bhai (1970) - Radha
  • Mehmaan (1973) - Rajesh's mother
  • Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein (1977)
  • Satyam Shivam Sundaram: Love Sublime
     (1978) - Bade Babu's Wife
  • Janta Hawaldar (1979) - Naani
  • Aangan Ki Kali (1979)
  • Takkar (1980) - Ganga & Pritam's Mother
  • Bin Maa Ke Bachche (1980)
  • Ramu To Diwana Hai (1980)
  • Dil Tujhko Diya (1987) - Mrs. Sahni (final film role)

Director

Producer

References

  1. ^ a b "Leela Chitnis dead". The Hindu. 16 July 2003. Archived from the original on 23 February 2004. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  2. ^
    New York Times
    . Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  3. ISBN 9781351565905
    . Retrieved 5 July 2017.
  4. ^ a b "Leela Chitnis". The Independent. 3 October 2013. Archived from the original on 21 August 2017. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
  5. ^ Martin, Douglas (17 July 2003). "Leela Chitnis, 93, an Actress in Scores of Bombay Movies". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2 June 2016. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
  6. ^ "The star next door". India Today. 15 May 1994. Archived from the original on 17 July 2015. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  7. ^ "Bhakta Prahlad (1946)". Archived from the original on 27 November 2020.

External links

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