Rakhee Gulzar

Raakhee Gulzar ( Majumdar; born 15 August 1947), professionally known as Raakhee, is an Indian actress who has appeared in Hindi and Bengali films. In her four decades of acting, she has worked in more than 100 films. Raakhee has won several awards including two National Film Awards and three Filmfare Awards. In 2003, she received Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian award. Raakhee made her film debut with the Bengali film Badhu Bharan (1967). She had her first Hindi film with Jeevan Mrityu (1970). Raakhee's career marked a turning point with Aankhon Aankhon Mein (1972), Daag: A Poem of Love (1973), for which she won her first Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress, and 27 Down (1974). She won her first and only Filmfare Award for Best Actress for Tapasya (1976). She went on to establish herself as one of the leading actresses of Hindi cinema with films like - Kabhi Kabhie (1976), Doosra Aadmi (1977), Trishna (1978), Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (1978), Jurmana (1979), Shakti (1982), Ram Lakhan (1989), for which she won her second Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress, Baazigar (1993), Karan Arjun (1995), Border (1997), Ek Rishtaa: The Bond of Love (2001) and Shubho Mahurat (2003). For the last of these, she won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress. Raakhee married poet, lyricist and author Gulzar in 1973 with whom she has a daughter, writer and director Meghna Gulzar. In 2022, she was placed in Outlook Indias 75 Best Bollywood Actresses list. Early life Raakhee was born in a Bengali family at Ranaghat in the Nadia district of West Bengal in the early hours of 15 August 1947, just hours after the independence of India. She received her early education in a local girls' school. Her father had a flourishing shoe business in his native village of Kushtia located in Meherpur, East Bengal which was then a part of Nadia district of undivided India (modern-day Bangladesh), before the partition of India, and thereafter he settled in West Bengal. Whilst still a teenager, Raakhee had an arranged marriage to Bengali journalist/film director Ajay Biswas, which ended shortly afterwards.