Padmini Kolhapure (born 1 November 1965) is an
Indian actress who appeared in
Bollywood films during the 1970s and 1980s.
Early life
Padmini Kolhapure is from a
Maharashtria family. Her father, Pandharinath Kolhapure is a classical singer whose family was from Kolhapur and Goa. Her mother, whose family hailed from Mangalore, held a job working for the airlines. Her father's first cousins are singers
Lata Mangeshkar and
Asha Bhosle.
Career
As a child, she sang in the chorus for songs in films like
Yaadon Ki Baaraat,
Kitab and
Dushman Dost along with her sister Shivangi (married to
Shakti Kapoor). Padmini also later sang for her own films like
Vidhaata ("Saat Saheliyan"),
Hum Intezaar Karenge and
Sadak Chaap (with Kishore Kumar). She also released an album with Bhappi Lahri called
Music Lovers. She performed for the Greater London Council at the
Royal Albert Hall in London with Baapi Lahiri and his troupe in 1986.
It was
Asha Bhosle who suggested Padmini's name to
Dev Anand, who then cast her in
Ishq Ishq Ishq (1975). This led to other films, such as
Dreamgirl (1978),
Zingagi, and
Saajan Bina Suhagan (1978).
Her mother quit her airlines job to be a full-time chaperone as Padmini picked up more roles. Her most famous child role was playing a child in
Raj Kapoor's 1977 film
Satyam Shivam Sundaram. Her success led to her most controversial role in
Insaaf Ka Tarazu (1980), a remake of
Lipstick (1976), where she played the rape victim that was originally played by......
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