Leena Chandavarkar

Leena Chandavarkar (born 29 August 1950) is an Indian former actress who appeared in Bollywood movies as a leading actress and now appears in reality shows. She was an actress during the late 60s and early 70s. She played leading heroine opposite almost all superstars during that era and was frequently paired opposite Rajesh Khanna, Dharmendra, Jeetendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Vinod Khanna, Dilip Kumar, Sunil Dutt and Raaj Kumar. Leena Chandavarkar was born to a Konkani Marathi speaking Army officer Sreenath Chandavarkar at Dharwad in Karnataka in 1950. She was supposed to debut with the film Maseeha (1967) opposite Sunil Dutt costarring Raaj Kumar and Mumtaz too under the direction of Sunil Dutt himself. The film got shelved and she made her debut under the direction of Sunil Dutt with the movie Man ka Meet in 1968. The movie was a hit and she became an overnight star. She was one of the topmost heroines in early 70s alongside Hema Malini and Mumtaz. She had an elder brother Anil Chandavarkar who married director Atmaram's daughter and has a daughter from the marriage. He died by suicide in 1985. She quit Bollywood after marriage with singing legend Kishore Kumar only to return for two movies later.