Mandakini

Mandakini was initially discarded by Bollywood Few many know that Ram Teri Ganga Mali is not the debut film of Mandakini. In fact she was initially discarded by Bollywood when she tried her luck in early 80’s. Since was a newcomer and neither had a godfather nor was a trained actress or had stage background. Hence she was ignored by Bollywood. Hence to survive she did few Bengali films but her heart was in Mumbai. She kept struggling in Mumbai. Fortunately in Mumbai, eminent film producer Ranjit Virk, who had produced hit films like Amitabh Bachchan’s Be-naam and Dharmendra’s Krodhi (directed by Subhash Ghai) was impressed by her beauty. He was making a movie to launch his son Aman Virk and was looking for new actresses. Hence he signed Mandakini for his film Mazloom and changed her name from Yasmeen to Madhuri. Raj Kapoor changed Madhuri to Mandakini Though Ranjit Virk did the Mahurat of his film Mazloom with fanfare but the shooting of the film got delayed. Meanwhile Mandakini gave screen test to Raj Kapoor. Raj Kapoor was so overwhelmed by her stunning beauty that he signed her and changed her name from Madhuri to Mandakini for his film Ram Teri Ganga Mali. The film became a box-office sensation and Mandakini became a star, overnight! Mandakini failed to uphold her stardom After the huge success of Ram Teri Ganga Mali, Mandakini’s career was marred by films that she had signed before Ram Teri Ganga Mali. All the film producers who had left their films incomplete; hastily completed their films and released to bank on the stardom of Mandakini’s success. Even Ranjit Virk, producer of her first signed film Mazloom, released film and soon her other films too released like Simhasanam (Telugu), Aar Paar, Om etc. but since most of the films were outdated and haphazardly completed failed miserably. Surprisingly, also the big banner films failed that Mandakini had signed after Ram Teri Ganga Maili’s success like Raj N. Sippy’s Jeeva opposite Sanjay Dutt, K. Bapaiah’s Aag Aur Shola opposite Jeetendra, Salim’s multi-star film Loha with Dharmendra and Shatrughan Sinha, Surendra Mohan’s multi-star film Hawalaat with Mithun Chakraborty and Rishi Kapoor etc. In her short career of over six years, besides Ram Teri Ganga Maili, she did only few hit films, like Dance Dance with Mithun Chakraborty, Jaal with Jeetendra and a cameo in Anil Kapoor’s hit film Tezaab. Mandakini and her infamous connection with Dawood Ibrahim More than the success of Ram Teri Ganga Maili, Mandakini became infamous for the photograph with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim in media and TV. Soon after the photo was published in media in 1994-95, several stories were circulated stating she is the moll of the don. Some even claimed Dawood, who was known for financing films those days had forced RK films to cast her in the film Ram Teri Ganga Maili. However Mandakini in her interviews has consistently denied all these as rumors. She claimed that after the success of Ram Teri Ganga Maili, she was doing many foreign tours. Once at Dubai when she was doing a show she attended an Indo-Pak cricket match. Incidentally Dawood Ibrahim was also watching the match. Just like any other fan, he too was her fan. As the two chatted for few minutes, a TV camera captured their picture and things became difficult for her. The media made her life hell circulating stories that she had married Dawood and the two have a son. But Mandakini has denied and clarified that she has no romantic connection with Dawood Ibrahim in her umpteen interviews.