Nowadays, the film careers of Bollywood actresses do not end as soon as they get married and have children. But, a few decades back, once an actress was married and settled down into family life, her career was considered to be over. Today, we will tell you about a Bollywood actress who was a superstar in the 60s and 70s. She left many projects midway for her marriage but fate played such a cruel game that this actress became a widow just 11 months after her wedding, at the age of only 25.
Instead of supporting her in this great sorrow, her family members only blamed her. After some time, when she returned to films, she fell in love with superstar Kishore Kumar and married him, but this marriage also did not last long and loneliness once again engulfed the actress' life. If you have not recognized her yet, then let us tell you that we are talking about the famous actress of the 60s and 70s, Leena Chandavarkar.
Leena Chandavarkar, who made her Bollywood debut with the film Mann Ka Meet in 1968, got married at the age of just 24. Leena Chandavarkar was a superstar in her own right who worked with many prominent actors including Rajesh Khanna, Dharmendra, Jeetendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Vinod Khanna, Dilip Kumar, Sunil Dutt, and Raaj Kumar. She was one of the topmost heroines in the early 70s alongside Hema Malini and Mumtaz. It was superstar Nargis who groomed her to be an actress.
At the age of 24, Leena Chandavarkar had an arranged marriage with Siddharth Bandodkar, who was the brother of Shashikala Kakodkar, the then Chief Minister of Goa, Daman and Diu, and the son of late Dayanand Bandodkar, the first Chief Minister of Goa, Daman and Diu.
Despite marrying into a wealthy political family, Leena Chandavarkar was riddled with pain as she became a widow after 11 months of marriage, at the age of 25. Just 11 days after the marriage, her husband Siddharth suffered an accidental gunshot wound.
Despite long treatment, Siddharth died just 11 months after the marriage, for which the family members taunted Leena Chandavarkar a lot. Tired of the taunts, Leena Chandavarkar was in such pain that she even decided to die by suicide, but later she chose to return to films.
After the death of her first husband, Leena Chandavarkar made a comeback on the big screen with Dilip Kumar in the film Bairaag. After this, she also worked in many other films. During the shooting of Pyaar Ajnabi Hai, the hero of the film Kishore Kumar fell in love with her and both started spending time with each other.
The family members were initially not ready for her marriage to Kishore Kumar, who was thrice married and 20 years older than her. Kishore Kumar even staged a sit-in outside Leena's father's house to marry her and finally, the marriage took place with everyone's consent. She had a son with Kishore Kumar named Sumeet Kumar.
However, Leena's luck turned out to be bad this time too, as just 7 years after the marriage, Kishore Kumar died and the actress became a widow again at the age of 37.
Leena Chandavarkar is 74 now and lives with her son Sumeet, her stepson Amit Kumar, and his wife.
READ | Mukesh Ambani's daughter Isha's diamond charms feat her twins' name were designed by this woman, Shloka Mehta is her..
