#GoldenFrames: Leela Chitnis

A non-conformist Leela Chitnis was the first educated lady in Bollywood and a feminist long before the word was even popular. The actress appeared in some forty movies from 1936 to 1978. Unlike other actresses who quit acting instead of working as character artists, Chitnis moved gracefully from leading lady to character actress as she aged. Leela Chitnis— the very mention of her name conjures up an image of the long-suffering widowed mother, coughing consumptively and feebly feeding herself a spoonful of life-supporting cough syrup. But Bollywood's iconic 'mother' portrayed a range of roles. With her trademark eyebrows, eloquent eyes, delicate features and astounding screen presence, she defied tradition by entering the Indian films and then essaying roles that majorly challenged India's caste system.

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Pic Courtesy : Wikipedia

Born to a Brahmin family on September 9, 1909, in Dharwar, India, she was one of the first educated women to enter the Hindi film industry. Her father was an English professor. Even though she belonged to a progressive family, Chitnis married at the early age of 15 to Dr Gajanan Yeshwant Chitnis, who was sixteen years older than her. The couple supported India's struggle for independence from Britain and also risked arrest by harbouring a Marxist freedom fighter, Manabendra Nath Roy.

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Chitnis along with her husband were blessed with four children. But eventually, her marriage experienced trouble and the couple parted ways. After separation from her husband, Chitnis started her job as a school teacher. Her interest in drama led her to join Natyamanwantar, which specialised in Marathi plays. Prejudices hardly abashed her as she came from a priestly caste. "She was a feminist before the word became popular," Leela Chitnis' son, Manavendra Chitnis once told in an interview.

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To support her family, Chitnis eventually moved to Mumbai and started working as an extra. She did small roles in mythological movies. Interestingly, the actress even did a male crook in the movie 'Gentleman Daku' (1937).

(Photo: Leela (right) in a still from the movie 'Gentleman Daku')

In This Pic : leela chitnis, goldenframes

After a brief stint with Prabhat Pictures at Pune, her career blossomed as an actress when she joined Bombay Talkies. The actress, who worked as an extra in around eleven movies, got her big break as a lead in 'Kangan' opposite superstar Ashok Kumar. The movie was about an adopted daughter of a Hindu priest who falls in love with a local landlord's son who opposes the relationship and threatens the holy man. Her love stands up to his father's prejudices, an unusual theme, but one that appealed to the public imagination enough to ensure it was a success. The film was directed by German filmmaker Franz Osten and Josef Wirsching handled the camera.

(Photo: Ashok Kumar and Leela Chitnis in a still from the movie 'Kangan')

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