Bindu (actress)

Bindu was born to film producer Nanubhai Desai and Jyotsna in Hanuman Bhagda, a small village in the Valsad district in Gujarat and was raised alongside her seven siblings. Bindu's father died in 1954 when she was 13 and being the eldest daughter, the burden of earning money fell on her shoulders.

Actors/Directors/Producers Aruna Irani, Indra Kumar, Adi Irani and Firoz Irani are her first cousins (Their mothers are sisters).Bindu had early successes with Do Raaste and Ittefaq in 1969, receiving her first and second nominations for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. Then she went on to write her success story with Shakti Samanta's Kati Patang (1970), where she had a sizzling cabaret dance, "Mera Naam Shabnam" to her credit; a number which is even today remembered as one of the highlights of the film.

Bindu's mesmerising performances in 1974 as a seductress in Imtihan, and as a nymphomaniac in Hawas, left critics and audiences asking for more, earning two nominations for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. With a string of hits behind her, she successfully managed to break out of the myth that married actresses usually do not go to become sex symbols, especially in the Hindi film industry. She is the third point in the 'holy trinity' of item number queens. Along with Helen and Aruna Irani, Bindu defined the Bollywood 'cabaret' dance number and the role of the 'Vamp'.

Her acting ability was seen in films like Hrishikesh Mukherjee's films, as the deglamorised role of wife to Ashok Kumar in Arjun Pandit and in Abhimaan, where she won raves for playing a very sympathetic character. She received two more nominations for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. She proved to be just as convincing as the crippled woman in Chaitali. She played Mona Darling, the villain's moll in Zanjeer, thus becoming one of her most iconic roles.

She was paired opposite Prem Chopra regularly in films such as Lagan, Kati Patang, Do Raaste, Chhupa Rustam, Prem Nagar, Phandebaaz, Tyaag, Nafrat, Gehri Chaal and Dastaan where she played an adultress, receiving her seventh nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. She even danced with Sivaji Ganesan in the Tamil film Naladhu Oru Kudumbam in 1979.She did 13 films with Rajesh Khanna from 1969 film Do Raaste to 1986 film Adhikar.

An impending pregnancy, followed by a miscarriage, brought about a lull in her career and on the advice of her doctors she had to end her stint as the glamorous 'vamp' – dancing and all in 1983. However, she did not stay away for long and returned to the silver screen with character roles – Hero, Alag Alag, Biwi Ho To Aisi and Kishen Kanhaiya and with many other such movies she managed to re-establish herself as the unmerciful and cruel mother-in-law, or the cynical aunt.

In the later stages of her career, she made fewer on-screen appearances, like the ones in Shola Aur Shabnam, Aankhen which highlighted her comic side, and followed with other light and funny performances in Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!, Main Hoon Na, and Om Shanti Om.