Mandakini (actress)

Mandakini (Hindi: मंदाकिनी [mənd̪aːkiːni]; born 30 July 1969, as Yasmeen Joseph) is a formerBollywood actress. She had a brief, but controversial career in Hindi movies and was rumoured to have a relationship with gangster Dawood Ibrahim.

Early life

Mandakini was born in an Anglo Indian family in Meerut. Her father is British and her mother is a Kashmiri Muslim.

Career

Early career

At 16, she was cast in the lead role in Raj Kapoor's 1985 movie, Ram Teri Ganga Maili opposite his youngest son, Rajiv Kapoor. The movie was a hit, and it earned Mandakini a Filmfare nomination as Best Actress.^[2] The film also caused a stir because of two scenes - one in which Mandakini bathes in a waterfall wearing only a flimsy white saree through which her breasts were clearly visible, and another in which she was shown breast-feeding a child. Some critics claimed that the scenes were vulgar and exploitative, and were used to get around theIndian Film Censor Board's stringent rules against nudity. Kapoor, as usual, defended the inclusion of the scenes stating that they were tasteful.

Mandakini acted in a few more successful films, such as Dance Dance, with Mithun Chakraborty and Pyaar Karke Dekho with Govinda, but never managed to recreate the success of her first movie.

The Dawood Connection

In 1994, photographs began circulating of Mandakini in the presence of dreaded gangster Dawood Ibrahim. Rumours had already been doing the rounds that the two were having an affair, and the photos only served to fuel them. One of the theories put forward was that Ibrahim, who was known to have a keen interest in Bollywood and had even financed movies, had pressured Rishi Kapoor into casting Mandakini, and she was actually his mistress. Later, it was alleged that she had even moved to Dubai to be with him.^[1]

Mandakini vehemently denied all rumours linking her to Dawood.^[3] While she admitted to knowing him and being on friendly terms with him, she claimed that they did not know each other personally, let alone being a couple.^[4] She also pointed out that she had been married to R. Thakur, a doctor in Mumbai, and even gave birth to a son in 1995.

Later career

Mandakini's career suffered a serious setback. She quit movies after Zordaar in 1996, and has lived in Mumbai Andheri since, with her husband and children. Since then, she has made attempts to reinvent herself. She released two pop music albums - No Vacancy andShambala - neither of which was a success.

Currently, she runs classes in Tibetan yoga and is a follower of the Dalai Lama. Along with her husband, she runs a centre for Tibetan medicine, which is commonly known as the Tibetan Herbal Centre in the area.^[5]

In January 2010 her husband confirmed that Mandakini would be co-directing an English film with him.^[6]

Personal life

As of 1990, Mandakini is married to a Buddhist monk, Dr. Kagyur T. Rinpoche Thakur with children

Posted in: Indian film actresses (celebrity)