Dina

QAMYAB – THE FORGOTTEN GEMS OF BOLLYWOOD

Qamyab is our humble tribute to all those lesser-known actors, one hit wonders and junior artists who we see umpteen times but don’t know about; beyond their faces. These actors have been an integral part of Bollywood but didn’t get their due. This series is our sincere attempt to put a name to these faces, familiarize them to our readers and celebrate their achievements in life – however big or small. We believe that every artist contributes in his/her own way to the cinema’s success. Qamyab will explore the unknown lives of such actors and artists as we believe even these forgotten gems of Bollywood deserve their due recognition today.

Just like its double role movies, Bollywood has its share of doppelganger or lookalikes where two actors resemble each other a lot. The best example is Rajesh Laher, who was a lookalike of Rishi Kapoor and played his brother in Zinda Dil (1975). In this millennium, Salman Khan introduced Sneha Ullal in Lucky No Time For Love (2005) as a lookalike of Aishwarya Rai. Five years later, he worked with Zareen Khan in Veer (2012), who bore an uncanny resemblance to Katrina Kaif.

Our forgotten gem for today, also resembled a popular actress of the ’70s and ’80s and many must have mistaken her for the Dev Anand discovery Tina Munim. She is the one film wonder Dina, who came from a filmy background but couldn’t make it big in the industry. Her full name is Dina Rondo (sometimes written as Dena Rondeau).

Dina was a charming and beautiful youngster, who carried all the attributes to be an actress. But the ’70s Bollywood was primarily dominated by established stars of that era and a rank newcomer like Dina couldn’t make a place for herself in one of the biggest film industries of the world and vanished within no time, but her natural beauty and cuteness still remains fresh in the minds of her fans.

As aforementioned, Dina belonged to a filmy background as her mother Ramola was a popular actress in the ’40s. But as time passed, she was forgotten by everyone. Ramola was born in a Jewish family as Rachel Cohen. She was married twice, though not much is known about her first husband.

Her second husband Lesile Rondeau was a Captain in the British Air Force, who helped to train Indian pilots in Indian Air Force post-independence and had two daughters Dina and Linda. Both were raised in Calcutta (now Kolkata).

Following the footsteps of her mother, Dina decided to become an actress and started modelling at a tender age. During one of her assignments, she got selected for a lead role in a big film by veteran filmmaker H.S. Rawail. The movie was none other than the super hit Laila Majnu (1976).

Dina was almost finalised for Laila Majnu with lover boy Rishi Kapoor as her co-star. But H.S. Rawail’s son Rahul Rawail came across newcomer Ranjeeta and pitched her name to his father. Ranjeeta ended up doing the film and became a star.

Few years later, Dina signed another big banner film. The movie was titled Ahsaas (1979) and it was made under the banner of G.P Sippy, whose film Sholay (1975) was the biggest blockbuster of all time and was still running to packed houses across India even after two years of its release.

Ahsaas (1979) was a teenage love story of a runaway couple almost on the lines of Raj Kapoor’s blockbuster Bobby (1973). It had the Kashmiri actor Parvez as Dina’s co-star. Her character was of a modern teenage girl and thus, Dina had to expose a lot and was seen in two-piece bikini and skimpy clothes in many scenes. There was also a love making scene in the movie between her and Parvez

Industry bigwigs like Shammi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Amjad Khan, Simi Garewal, Shashi Kapoor, Bindu and many others appeared in a cameo. Dina was introduced along with actors like Rakesh Bedi, Parvez and Kiran Vairale. Funnily, many websites have mistaken Dina Rondo to be veteran actress Dina Pathak, who was also in a supporting role in Ahsaas and wrongly credited her as its leading lady.

Ahsaas was a tender teenage romance where the underage couple elope to escape their parent’s wrath and then, the heroine (Dina) realises she’s pregnant. The topic was quite bold for the ’70s. It was expected to primarily appeal to the young audience. Unfortunately, the movie didn’t work unlike Sippy’s earlier productions and bombed badly at the box office.