Indian Film Actresses 6 - Bollywood and More

Here is my sixth Hub in my series about the women of Indian cinema.
Like all the others, this features women from not only Bollywood, but Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada cinema as well.
We have actresses, dancers, models, politicians, and one lady that really wasnt even an actress, but made the actresses look good.
Well, sound good a least...

Geeta Dutt is a little different as in she wasn't an actress or a model, but a playback singer.
A playback singer is a singer whose singing is prerecorded for use in movies.
Yes, it's lip-syncing.
But from what I understand, in Indian cinema, it's looked at the way we look at a stunt person taking over for an actor or actress in an action role.
Anyway, Geeta was born on November 23, 1930 in Faridpur, Bangladesh and she passed away on July 20, 1972.
During her career, she is said to have done over 1000 songs in Hindi films Marathi, Bengali, Nepali, Maithili, Bhojpuri and Punjabi
She did act in at least one film, 1967's Badhu Bharan.

Indian actress Gouthami Tadimalla (or Gautami) has appeared in sixty five Tamil films, eight Telugu films, ten Hindi films, tweleve Malayalam films and one Kannada film.
She made her acting debut in the 1983 action film, Andha Kanoon.
Then she appeared in the 1988 Tamil film, Guru Sishyan.

Another Hindi film actress and dancer with an unlikely name, Helen Richardson was born on October 21st, 1939 in Burma.
She made her acting debut in the 1951 film Awaara in an un-credited role as a dancer.
Helen then appeared in several films as a dancer and in the 1958 film Howrah Bridge, she performed in the song Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu, which was sung by...Geeta Dutt.
Evidently, Getta went on to do a lot of voice work for Helen.
Helen went on to appear in over 300 films, all the way up to 2007's Marigold.
In 2009, she was honored with the Padma Shri, an award given by the Government of India generally to Indian citizens to recognize their contributions to Arts, Education, Industry, Literature, Science, Sports, Medicine, Social Service and public life.

Indian film actress and politician Jaya Prada was born on April 3rd, 1962 in Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Jaya made her acting debut in the 1974 film, Bhoomikosam, and went on to appear in 190 films.
Jaya started in politics in 1994, and was elected Member of Parliament afterward.

Kajal Aggarwal was born on June 19, 1985 in Luhiana, Punjab, India.
She made her acting debut in the 2004 Bollywood romance film, Kyun...! Ho Gaya Na.
Kajal has gone on to appear in seventeen films, with five being released this year.

Kajol is another actress that I have mentioned in several Hubs.
She was born on August 5, 1975 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
While Kajol has only appeared in thirty five films, you wouldn't know it from looking at the amount of awards she has been nominated for and won.
She has won six Filmfare Awards and been nominated for five, she's won four Star Screen Awards and been nominated for nine, she's won four Zee Cine Awards and been nominated for five, she's won two Bollywood Movie Awards, two Sansui Viewer's Choice Awards, been nominated for two International Indian Film Academy Awards, and nominated for a 2007 Stardust Award.

I had never heard of the stunning Kalpana Pandit till I started researching this article.
So far, she only has a few films to her credit, Love Khichdi (2009), but she has Love Game set for 2010, and Struggler set for 2011.
But I keep seeing pictures of this lovely young lady at major Hollywood premiers, so we may be hearing a lot more from her very soon.

Kangna Ranaut was born on March 20th, 1987 in Bhambla, Himachal Pradesh, India.
She started out as a model, moved to theatre, and made her acting debut in the 2006 Bollywood film, Gangster.
Her role as Simran in that film got her a Filmfare Best Female Debut Award.
Actually way more than that.
Her role in Gangster got her an Asian Festival of First Films, Best Actress Award, Filmfare Fairever Fresh Face of the Year Award, the IIFA Best Female Debut Award, the Star Screen Award for Most Promising Newcomer - Female, the Zee Cine Award for Best Female Debut, the Stardust Superstar of Tomorrow - Female and the Bollywood Movie Award - Best Female Debut
She has gone on to do eight more films, and has at least five more set for 2010, and two more already planned for 2011.

Kanika Subramaniam was born Divya Venkatasubramaniam on July 3, 1982 in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India.
Kanika really doesn't limit herself to just one role.
She's been an actress, a dubbing artist, a playback singer, and a TV anchor.
Kanika made her acting debut in the 2002 Tamil film, Five Star.
She has gone on to appear in fourteen Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam films with three more in production.

Another Bollywood actress I have done several entries on is the lovely Kareena Kapoor.
Kareena was born on September 21, 1980 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
She is the daughter of actors Randhir Kapoor and Babita, and the sister of Karisma Kapoor.
Kareena made her acting debut in the 2000 film, Refugee along with the also debuting Abhishek Bachchan.
She has gone on to appear in almost forty films, one of the latest being the Bollywood blockbuster 3 Idiots, the highest grossing Bollywood movie of all time.