Leela Chitnis (09 September 1909 - 14 July 2003) was an actress in the Indian film industry, active from 1930s to 1980s. Her name before marriage was Leela Nagarkar In her early years, she starred as a romantic lead, but she is best remembered for her later roles playing a virtuous and upright mother to leading stars. Compiled by ,,, M Saleem kaifee
She was born on 09 September 1912 in a Marathi speaking family in Dharwad, Bombay Presidency, India (present day in Karnataka, India) Her father was an English literature professor. She was one of the first educated film actresses. After graduation, she joined Natyamanwantar, a progressive theater group that produced plays in her native in Marathi language. The group's works were greatly influenced by Ibsen, Shaw and Stanislavsky. With the theatre group, Leela played the lead role in a series of comedies and tragedies & even founded her own repertory.
She married a much older man named Dr. Gajanan Yeshwant Chitnis at the age of 15 or 16, and quickly had four children. The couple supported India's struggle for independence from Britain and once risked arrest by harbouring Manabendra Nath Roy, a Marxist freedom fighter. After she divorced her husband, she worked as a school teacher and began acting on stage in melodramas typical of the time. She appeared in several movies and went through a Bombay university to be hired by a major studio, Bombay Talkies, it hired only college graduates.
She had four sons Manavendra (Meena), Vijaykumar, Ajitkumar and Raj. She lived with her eldest son in Connecticut in United States, until her death. She had three grandchildren then.
Chitnis' early stage work included comedy "Usna Navra" (1934) and with her own film group Udyacha Sansar. She started acting to support her four children. She started as an extra and went on to stunt films.
In "Gentleman Daku" (Gentleman Thief) in 1937, Chitnis played a polished crook dressed in male apparel & was publicised in the Times of India as the first graduate society-lady from Maharashtra. By then she had already made her first major mark as an actress on the silver screen. Leela
Chitnis worked at Prabhat Pictures, Pune & Ranjit Movietone before going on to be the leading lady in Bombay Talkies.
Specialising in controversial films that challenged accepted societal norms, especially those regarding marriage and the invidious caste system, Bombay Talkies was having limited luck at the box office. But it bounced back with "Kangan"
(1939), which introduced Chitnis playing the lead role as the adopted daughter of a Hindu priest in love with the son of a local landlord who opposes the relationship and threatens the holy man. Her love, however, stands up to his father's prejudices, an unusual theme for the time, but one that appealed to the public imagination enough to ensure it success at the box office.
With Kangan's success, Leela replaced Bombay Talkies' ravishing leading lady Devika Rani. Leela made a particularly good partner with Devika Rani's leading man Ashok Kumar for a series of box-office hits such as Azad (1940), Bandhan (1940) and Jhoola (1941) that broadly deal with societal issues.. Ashok Kumar was so impressed by her acting abilities that he admitted to having learnt how to speak with his eyes from her. In 1941 Chitnis, at the height of her popularity and glamour, created history of sorts by becoming the first Indian film star to endorse the popular Lux soap brand, a concession then only granted to top Hollywood heroines. Composed by ,,, M Saleem kaifee
By the mid-1940s her career went downhill as the new leading ladies came in. Leela accepted the reality & in 1948 entered the next, and perhaps most renowned, phase of her career in "Shaheed". Cast as the hero's suffering, ailing mother, she played this role to perfection. For 22 years, Chitnis played the mother of the later leading men including Dilip Kumar, often playing an ailing mother or a mother going through hardships and struggling to bring up her offspring. In fact she created the archetype of the Hindi Film mother, which was continued by later actresses. Leela's maternal histrionics were portrayed in a range of films such as "Awaara" (1951), "Ganga Jumna" (1961) and, in 1965, the runaway success "Guide", based on the award-winning novel of the same name by R.K. Narayan. She was busy through the 1970s, but cut down her appearances thereafter before taking the final curtain call in "Dil Tujhko Diya" in 1985. She then emigrated to the United States in the late 1980s to join her children.
Leela also briefly dabbled in movie-making, producing "Kisise Na Kehna" (1942) and directing "Aaj Ki Baat" (1955). She also wrote and directed a stage adaptation of Somer-set Maugham's Sacred Flame & published her autobiography, "Chanderi Duniyet" in 1981.
She died on 14 July 2003 in Danbury, Connecticut at a nursing home, at the age of 94.
Filmography of Leela Chit is -
1987 Dil Tujhko Diya - Mrs. Sahni
1980 Bin Maa Ke Bachche
1978 Satyam Shivam Sundaram - Bade
Babu's Wife
1977 Palkon Ki Chhaon Mein
1973 Mehmaan - Rajesh's mother
1970 Bhai-Bhai,
Jeevan Mrityu - Ashok's Mother
Man Ki Aankhen - Mrs. Dinanath
1969 Badi Didi
Intaquam - Mrs. Mehra
Prince - Mrs. Shanti Singh
1967 Aurat
Dulhan Ek Raat Ki - Nirmala's mother
Gunahon Ka Devta
Majhli Didi - Kishan's Mother
1966 Phool Aur Patthar - Blind Beggar
1965 Waqt - Mrs. Mittal
Johar-Mehmood in Goa - Pandit Wife
Guide - Raju's Mother
Faraar - Mrs. Choudhry
Mohabbat Isko Kahete Hain - Leela
Nai Umar Ki Nai Fasal
1964 Aap Ki Parchhaiyan - Mrs. Dinanath
Dosti - Mrs. Gupta
Pooja Ke Phool - Balam's Mother
Punar Milan - Sonal's mother
Shehnai
Suhagan - Uma & Vijay's mom
Zindagi - Beena's mother
1963 Dil Hi To Hai - Nanny Yusuf's foster
mom
1962 Aashiq
Asli Naqli - Renu's mother
Man Mauji - Bhagwanti
Naag Devata
1961 Aas Ka Panchhi - Mrs. Nihalchand
Batwara
Char Diwari - Sunil's mother
Dharmputra - Meena's mother
Gunga Jumna - Govindi
Hum Dono - Anand's Mother
Kanch Ki Gudiya
1960 Parakh - Mrs. Nivaran
Bewaqoof - Mrs. Leela Rai Bahadur
Ghunghat
Hum Hindustani - Savitri Nath
Kala Bazar
Kohinoor
Maa Baap - Raju's Mother
1959 Barkha - Mrs. Haridas
Dhool Ka Phool - Gangu Dai
Kal Hamara Hai
Main Nashe Mein Hoon - Mrs. Rajni
Ujala - Ramu's Mother
1958 Phil Subha Hogi - Sohni's Mother
Post Box 999 - Mrs. Gangadevi
Sadhna - Mohan's Mother
1957 Naya Daur - Shankar's Mother
1956 Aawaz Mrs. Bhatnagar
Basant Bahar - Gopal's Mother
Funtoosh
1955 Aaj Ki Baat
1954 Baadbaan
1953 Hari Darshan & Naya Ghar
1952 Maa - Bhanu's & Raju's mother
Sangdil - Dhaayi Maa
1951 Awaara - Leela Raghunath
Saiyan - Rani Sahiba
1950 Saudamini
1949 Namoona
1947 Ghar Ghar Ki Kahani
1946 Shatranj
1944 Char Aankhen
1943 Rekha
1942 Kisise Na Kehna
1941 Jhoola & Kanchan
1940 Ardhangi, Azad, Bandhan,
Ghar Ki Rani
1939 Chhotisi Duniya, Kangan &
Sant Tulsidas
1938 Chhote Sarkar, Jailor, Raja Gopichand
1937 Insaaf, Wahan
1936 Chhaya
1935 Dhuwandhar & Shri Satyanarayan
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