Leela Chitnis was an early actress in the Indian film industry.

Early life

She was born in Dharwar, Karnataka

Karnataka

Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...

 to an English professor. She was one of the first educated film actresses. Her father was part of a Marathi

Marathi language

Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...

 theatre company called Natyamanwantar.

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.

She was publicized in the Times of India as the first graduate society-lady from Maharashtra

Maharashtra

Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...

. By then she had already made her first major mark as an actress on the silver screen. Chitnis worked at Prabhat Pictures, Pune

Pune

Pune , is the eighth largest metropolis in India, the second largest in the state of Maharashtra after Mumbai, and the largest city in the Western Ghats. Once the centre of power of the Maratha Empire, it is situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ...

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

Bombay Talkies

The Bombay Talkies Limited was a movie studio produced 102 movies, founded in 1934 in Malad, Bombay , India, by Himanshu Rai, Rajnarayan Dube and Devika Rani along with businessmen like F. E...

 which saw her overtake and outshine Devika Rani

Devika Rani

Devika Rani Chaudhuri Roerich was an early Indian movie star.- Career :Born in Waltair , Devika Rani came from a distinguished background: she was the great-grandniece of the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore and her father, Col. M. N. Chaudhuri, was the first Indian Surgeon-General of Madras...

. Her association with Bombay Talkies

Bombay Talkies

The Bombay Talkies Limited was a movie studio produced 102 movies, founded in 1934 in Malad, Bombay , India, by Himanshu Rai, Rajnarayan Dube and Devika Rani along with businessmen like F. E...

 shot her to stardom and she made a particularly good partner with Devika Rani

Devika Rani

Devika Rani Chaudhuri Roerich was an early Indian movie star.- Career :Born in Waltair , Devika Rani came from a distinguished background: she was the great-grandniece of the Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore and her father, Col. M. N. Chaudhuri, was the first Indian Surgeon-General of Madras...

's leading man Ashok Kumar

Ashok Kumar

Ashok Kumar also fondly called Dadamoni was an Indian film actor. Born Kumudlal Ganguly in Bhagalpur, Bengal Presidency he attained iconic status in Indian cinema...

. Ashok Kumar was so impressed by her acting abilities that he admitted to having learnt how to speak with his eyes from her. By the mid 1940s her career went downhill as the new leading ladies came in. For 22 years, Chitnis played the mother of the later leading men including Dilip Kumar

Dilip Kumar

Dilip Kumar , is an Indian actor and a former Member of Parliament.He lives in Pali Hill, Bandra in Mumbai, India. He is commonly known as "Tragedy King",and is described as "the ultimate method actor" by Satyajit Ray....

, often playing an ailing mother or a mother going through hardships and struggling to bring up her offspring. In fact she created the archetype of the Hindi Film mother, which was continued by later actresses. She continued doing films and then emigrated to the United States in the late 1980s to join her children. In 1941, she was the first Indian actress to endorse Lux (soap)

Lux (soap)

Lux is a global brand developed by Unilever. The range of products includes beauty soaps, shower gels, bath additives, hair shampoos and conditioners. Lux started as “Sunlight Flakes” laundry soap in 1899....

. She died in Danbury

Danbury, Connecticut

Danbury is a city in northern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It had population at the 2010 census of 80,893. Danbury is the fourth largest city in Fairfield County and is the seventh largest city in Connecticut....

, Connecticut

Connecticut

Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

 at a nursing home, at age 93.

Personal life

Her father was adhered to Brahmo Samaj, a religious movement that rejected caste.

She married a much older man named Dr. Gajanan Yeshwant Chitnis at the age of 15 or 16, and quickly had four children but later divorced. The couple supported India's struggle for independence from Britain and once risked arrest by harboring Manabendra Nath Roy, a Marxist freedom fighter. After she divorced her husband, she worked as a school teacher and began acting onstage in melodramas typical of the time. She appeared in several movies, and went through a Bombay university in order to be hired by a major studio, Bombay Talkies; it hired only college graduates.

She is survived by her sons Manavendra, Benoy and Raj, and by three grandchildren.

Trivia

• 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.

Filmography

Actress:

• Dil Tujhko Diya (1987) .... Mrs. Sahni
• Bin Maa Ke Bachche (1980)
• Satyam Shivam Sundaram: Love Sublime (1978) .... Bade Babu's Wife
• Mehmaan (1973) .... Rajesh's mom
• Bhai-Bhai (1970)
• Jeevan Mrityu (1970) .... Ashok's Mother
• Man Ki Aankhen (1970) .... Mrs. Dinanath
• Badi Didi (1969) .... Mother
• Intaquam (1969) .... Mrs. Mehra
• Prince (1969) .... Mrs. Shanti Singh
• Aurat (1967)
• Dulhan Ek Raat Ki (1967) .... Nirmala's mom
• Gunahon Ka Devta (1967)
• Majhli Didi
  Majhli Didi
  Majhli Didi is a 1967 Bollywood film directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, based on Bengali language story, Mejdidi by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, and starring Dharmendra and Meena Kumari....
  
  (1967) .... Kishan's Mother
• Phool Aur Patthar (1966) .... Blind Beggar
• Waqt (1965) .... Mrs. Mittal
• Johar-Mehmood in Goa (1965) .... Pandit's Wife
• Guide (1965) .... Raju's Mother
• Faraar (1965) .... Mrs. Choudhry
• Mohabbat Isko Kahete Hain (1965) .... Leela
• Nai Umar Ki Nai Fasal (1965)
• Aap Ki Parchhaiyan (1964) .... Mrs. Dinanath Chopra
• Dosti (1964) .... Mrs. Gupta
• Pooja Ke Phool (1964) .... Mrs. Singh (Balam's Mother)
• Punar Milan (1964) .... Sonal's mom
• Shehnai (1964)
• Suhagan (1964) .... Uma & Vijay Kumar's mom
• Zindagi (1964) .... Beena's mom
• Dil Hi To Hai (1963) .... Nanny/Yusuf's foster mother
• Aashiq (1962)
• Asli-Naqli (1962) .... Renu's mother
• Man-Mauji (1962) .... Bhagwanti
• Naag Devata (1962)
• Aas Ka Panchhi (1961) .... Mrs. Nihalchand Khanna
• Batwara (1961)
• Char Diwari (1961) .... Sunil's mom
• Dharmputra (1961) .... Meena's mom
• Gunga Jumna (1961) .... Govindi
• Hum Dono (1961) .... Anand's Mother
• Kanch Ki Gudiya (1961)
• Parakh (1960) .... Mrs. Nivaran
• Bewaqoof (1960) .... Mrs. Leela Rai Bahadur
• Ghunghat (1960)
• Hum Hindustani (1960) .... Savitri Nath
• Kala Bazar (1960)
• Kohinoor (1960)
• Maa Baap (1960) .... Raju's Mother
• Barkha (1959) .... Mrs. Haridas
• Dhool Ka Phool (1959) .... Gangu Dai
• Kal Hamara Hai (1959)
• Main Nashe Mein Hoon (1959) .... Mrs. Rajni Khanna
• Ujala (1959) (as Leela Chitnes) .... Ramu's Mother
• Phil Subha Hogi (1958) (uncredited) .... Sohni's Mother
• Post Box 999 (1958) (as Lila Chitnis) .... Mrs. Gangadevi
• Sadhna (1958) .... Mohan's Mother
• Naya Daur (1957) .... Shankar's Mother
• Aawaz (1956) .... Mrs. Bhatnagar
• Basant Bahar (1956) .... Gopal's mom
• Funtoosh (1956)
• Aaj Ki Baat (1955)
• Baadbaan (1954)
• Hari Darshan (1953)
• Naya Ghar (1953)
• Maa (1952) .... Bhanu's & Raju's mom
• Sangdil (1952) .... Dhaayi Maa
• Awaara (1951) .... Leela Raghunath
• Saiyan (1951) .... Rani Sahiba
• Saudamini (1950)
• Namoona (1949)
• Ghar Ghar Ki Kahani (1947)
• Shatranj (1946)
• Char Aankhen (1944)
• Rekha (1943)
• Kisise Na Kehna (1942)
• Jhoola (1941) .... Gata
• Kanchan (1941)
• Ardhangi (1940) .... Arundhati
• Azad (1940)
• Bandhan (1940) .... Beena
• Ghar Ki Rani (1940) .... Arundhati
• Chhotisi Duniya (1939)
• Kangan (1939) .... Radha
• Sant Tulsidas (1939) .... Ratnavali
• Chhote Sarkar (1938)
• Jailor (1938) .... Kanwal
• Raja Gopichand (1938)
• Insaaf (1937)
• Wahan (1937) .... Princess Jayanti
• Chhaya (1936) .... Chhaya
• Dhuwandhar (1935)
• Shri Satyanarayan (1935)

Director:

• Aaj Ki Baat (1955)

Producer:

• Aaj Ki Baat (1955) (producer)

External links