Leena Das

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.

So far, we have covered many dancers cum actresses like Cuckoo, Faryal, Bela Bose, Laxmi Chhaya and Huma Khan, who have contributed to Bollywood with their moves and grooves. These actors also got a chance to showcase their acting chops along with dancing expertise.

But our forgotten gem for today, rarely got a chance to act and was mainly known for her seductive dance numbers and long legs. It might not be easy for our young readers to guess her but the ’70s and ’80s Bollywood buffs would have already recollected that the long-legged lady is none other than Leena Das. Leena couldn’t reach the pinnacle of stardom like other actor-dancers did but nevertheless, commands a huge fan following even today for her own distinct style and of course those long legs!!

The prime reason why Leena Das wasn’t able to make headway on the acting front in Bollywood was became she only spoke English and wasn’t too familiar with Hindi.

Born in 1959 to a Catholic mother and a Bengali father, Leena followed Christianity as her religion. She was a typical Catholic girl, who would attend mass regularly and was often spotted at the Wednesday Novena held at the famous St. Michael Church, Mahim.

As her parents belonged to two different faiths, she respected both the religions and when she entered the film industry, she was credited as Leena Das or Leena D’Souza in some films. However, she later came to be known as Leena Das only.

In the ’70s era, Parveen Babi was the only actress known to give bold interviews in film magazines, which included speaking openly about live in relationships, extra marital affairs and admitting to her smoking and drinking habits. Leena Das was not too far behind Parveen in giving such bold interviews and would openly talk about her seductive dance numbers and declare not having any hesitation in doing semi-nude scenes in movies.

Leena was fond of dancing right since her childhood and learned Kathak from Guru Gopi Krishna. At the age of just thirteen, she got a chance to be part of Mohammed Rafi’s musical troupe, which would travel to Europe and America.

This brought recognition to Leena at a very early age and film offers started coming her way when she was not even fifteen years old. It is commonly believed that Leena Das made her debut in Kahani Kismat Ki (1973) but her actual debut came in Manoj Kumar’s Shor (1972) where she was seen in the song ‘Paani re paani’.

Having said that, it was Arjun Hingorani’s Kahani Kismat Ki, which proved out to be the turning point in Leena’s career when she did the cabaret song ‘Tu yaar mera, dildaar mera’. Leena Das became an instant sensation after this particular song and many noticed her for the first time in this film as she was the solo dancer here unlike her actual debut Shor, where she was a part of a large group.

After the success of Kahani Kismat Ki, Leena Das was flooded with offers for similar sensuous numbers. Though there were dancing legends like Helen, Bindu and Aruna Irani still ruling the roost, Leena managed to carve her own identity and was somehow never compared to these ladies.

Leena appeared in some big as well as successful films of those times like Ajanabee (1974), Faraar (1974), Chalta Purza (1977), Hum Kisi Se Kum Naheen (1977), Agent Vinod (1977), Don (1978), Qurbani (1980), Hotel (1981), Namak Halaal (1982), Haadsa (1983), Purana Mandir (1984), Manzil Manzil (1984), Mera Faisla (1984), Arjun (1985), Aitbaar (1985), Kala Dhanda Goray Log (1986), Itihaas (1987), Insaaf (1987), Marte Dam Tak (1987), Vardi (1989), Lashkar (1989) and many others.

The multistarrer actioner Lashkar remains her last notable work in Bollywood in which Leena played the cabaret dancer Monica dancing on the song ‘Piye ja pilaye ja’ and is shown as the girlfriend of actor KK Raj. Though she had a few obscure releases after this, her last major success is Lashkar.

Over the years, Leena Das performed on many sensuous and seductive songs and was often seen in skimpy outfits like a swimming costume or a two-piece bikini. Though Leena was trained in classical dance, she hardly got to perform the same and was restricted to western cabaret numbers only. In her early days, she tried to get acting roles but couldn’t succeed. Bollywood utilised her only for seductive or item songs.

In 1990, Leena featured on vinyl LLP cover of Prakope and many record companies used her popularity to sell their records. Earlier, she featured prominently on main poster of the Rajinikanth starrer Gangvaa (1984).

As aforementioned, Leena was known to give bold interviews and was unapologetic about wearing a swim suit or a two-piece bikini. She had the confidence and svelte body to carry it well. In her interviews, she also mentioned that her family didn’t have any problem with her dresses and skin exposure as her family was not conservative and supported her fully in her profession.

Leena’s point of view was that when you are coming to Bollywood, you have to set your mind about working according to the vision of the producer and director. Likewise, she said that if a filmmaker wants to shoot a scene on a pool side or beach, you cannot wear a saree or salwar. It has to be a swimsuit. The best example of this can be noticed in the song ‘Tum aur main’ in Aitbaar where Leena Das is seducing Raj Babbar in a two-piece skimpy outfit under a shower making her look semi-nude. It remains her boldest appearance ever.

Leena Das had mentioned in an interview that a few industry folks as well as outsiders mistook her bold attitude and would try to act smart with her but she knew how to deal with them and generally avoided such guys.

While being ultra glamorous on screen, Leena Das was totally different in real life and would often go out to shop in the market like a normal lady without any make up.

Though Leena Das tasted success at a very young age, she never really made it to the top bracket. She spent around sixteen years in Bollywood and worked with biggies like Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna, Rishi Kapoor, Mithun Chakraborty and then new dancing sensation Govinda. At one point of time, she was said to be close to Shahid Rafi, son of legendary singer Mohammed Rafi and they dated for some time. There were rumours of an impending marriage, which turned to be untrue.

Leena’s last Hindi release was the B grader Apradhini in 1992 after which she quit the film industry. Besides Bollywood, she worked in many regional cinemas like Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Bengali, Punjabi and Bhojpuri in her sixteen-year-old movie career.