At heart, Leena Chandavarkar, now Leena Ganguly, remains the sweet and innocent little girl who dared to stray into the big, bad world of movies.
Thrilled that someone could actually now want to write and read about her, she admits that she was so unsophisticated when she came in that had she come in today, she would not have got work at all.
Like with all middle-class families, Leena’s father was aghast when a teenage Leena declared her ambition. “My father took me to my nana to convince me against it, but instead, he told my father, ‘What’s wrong with that?’ ”
Though not confident about her looks, Leena took part in the United Producers’ Talent Contest, but though many producers liked her, her under-18 status became a no-no. A desperate Leena even tried signing Marathi movies. “I gave lots of screen-tests but my age always came in the way,” she recollects.
Finally, Leena got into ads and modelled for several successful brands like Maclean’s toothpaste, Murphy Radio and Gold Spot. It was during its post-production at a Mumbai processing laboratory that Sunil Dutt saw her and decided to cast her in his ambitious production Maseeha starring Raaj Kumar, Mumtaz and himself.
The Dutts decided to groom her in dance, Hindi and Urdu, while Nargis took her under her personal wing to polish this small-town girl into ‘heroine’ material. And when Maseeha was shelved, Dutt cast her opposite his debut-making brother Som Dutt in Man Ka Meet.
Hits & misses
Though Man Ka Meet was not a success, her next two films, Jawab and Humjoli, both with Jeetendra, were hits. So were Main Sundar Hoon, Jaane Anjaane, Anhonee, Manchali, Bidaai and Qaid. In seven years, Leena worked with Shammi Kapoor, Raaj Kumar, Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Jeetendra, Sanjay Khan, Rajesh Khanna and young heroes Anil Dhawan, Rakesh Roshan and Navin Nischol.
But much more interesting were her misses. “A film with Dev sahab never took off. I could not accommodate Sharmeelee, Khilona, Kati Patang and a few more because of dates. Shashi Kapoor once barged into my make-up room to complain that I could do two films with his elder brother, but none with him. I was even offered Ganga Ki Saugandh with Amitabh Bachchan later. My father turned down Chetan Anand’s Hanste Zakhm because he did not want me to play a call-girl, but my greatest loss was Raj Kapoor’s Kal Aaj Aur Kal. My dad misinterpreted a chance remark made by Raj Kapoor and turned it down,” she says.
And then came tragedy — in 1974, suddenly, Leena decided to marry Siddharth Bandodkar from a politician’s family in Goa, but within months, Leena’s life was shattered by the death of her husband.
Life with Kishore
“After Siddharth’s death, I became a recluse, though I was completing films signed before marriage,” recalls the actress. “One day, Kishore’s man, Abdul, visited and said that Kishore had asked me to call up right away. Out of respect, I called up many hours later. And in an era when caller IDs did not exist, he picked up the receiver and just said, ‘Leena?’ I asked him how he knew it was me, but he did not reply.”
Kishore offered her three films. Leena was shocked to realise that Kishore was living all alone, so she sent him lunch once and he gently said, “Leena, if ever you want to settle down again, think of me.”
Leena’s father was against their marriage. “None of my marriages have been with the blessings of my elders,” Kishore told the actress. “Aap ke mata-pita ko main sheeshe mein utaaroonga!”
Says Leena, “And Kishore did this in very ‘filmi’ fashion, by sitting on the floor in our drawing room, and singing. My father said that he was blessing our marriage because Kishore, apart from having patience, humour and decency, had respect for elders.”
It was in 1982, when pregnant with Sumit, that Jeetendra offered her a small role in Sarfarosh (1985). Leena also sang and acted in Kishore’s Mamta Ki Chhaon Mein and sang a duet with him in Lover Boy for Meenakshi Seshadri and, long after his death, also wrote lyrics for a few albums of Amit Kumar. Today, Leena is happy looking after home and son Sumit who is into music at their studio. “He is so much like his father!” she smiles.