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Leela Chitnis, famed Bollywood actress, dies at 93
Danbury, Connecticut, July 15: Leela Chitnis, a pioneer of early Indian cinema who used her roles to challengeIndia`s caste system, is dead. She was 93.
Danbury, Connecticut, July 15: Leela Chitnis, a
pioneer of early Indian cinema who used her roles to challenge
India`s caste system, is dead. She was 93.
An early star in Bollywood, Chitnis moved to the
United States in the 1980s. She had lived for years at a
Danbury nursing home, where she died of complications from a
fall, her son said.
Chitnis faced social disapproval when she took up
acting in the 1930s to support her four children, her eldest
surviving son, Manavendra Chitnis, told the news-times of
Danbury.
``She was a feminist before the word was popular,``
Chitnis said.
``At the time, any Indian woman who went on the stage was considered a prostitute. But she was very defiant, very strong-willed.``
With her trademark arched eyebrows, Chitnis rose to fame in movies produced by Bombay Talkies, one of the country`s earliest Hollywood-style film studios. Many of the films were controversial, challenging aspects of Indian society. ``She was less a glamour actress than an intellectual one,`` said Jyotirmoy Datta, arts editor for the New York-based News-India Times. ``She often played an aristocratic matron in white widow`s clothes, so snobbish that she would barely acknowledge those of lesser station.``
In the 1930s and early 1940s, Chitnis costarred in a series of films opposite legendary actor Ashok Kumar.
Bureau Report
``At the time, any Indian woman who went on the stage was considered a prostitute. But she was very defiant, very strong-willed.``
With her trademark arched eyebrows, Chitnis rose to fame in movies produced by Bombay Talkies, one of the country`s earliest Hollywood-style film studios. Many of the films were controversial, challenging aspects of Indian society. ``She was less a glamour actress than an intellectual one,`` said Jyotirmoy Datta, arts editor for the New York-based News-India Times. ``She often played an aristocratic matron in white widow`s clothes, so snobbish that she would barely acknowledge those of lesser station.``
In the 1930s and early 1940s, Chitnis costarred in a series of films opposite legendary actor Ashok Kumar.
Bureau Report