Hema Malini was born in Madras on October 16, 1948. A trained Bharat Natyam dancer, she made her debut in films with Raj Kapoor's ‘Sapnon Ka Saudagar’ in 1968. After a few moderate films she got break with ‘Johnny Mera Naam’, which turned out to be a golden jubilee hit, co-starring the evergreen Dev Anand. But it was with ‘Seeta Aur Geeta’ in 1972, that she established herself as queen of box-office. This double role as twin sisters won her the Best Actress Award.

Following a series of hits like ‘Raja Jani’ (1972), ‘Jugnu’ (1973), ‘Sholay’ (1975), ‘Dream Girl’ (1977) & many more with Dharmendra & also starring opposite Amitabh Bachchan, in series of hit films like ‘Naseeb’ (1981), ‘Desh Premee’ (1982), ‘Satte Pe Satta’ (1982) ‘she strengthened her position further. With a glamour girl image attached to her, she proved her acting abilities with sensitive performance in 'Laal Patthar' (1971), 'Khushboo' (1975), ‘Kinara’ (1977), 'Meera' (1979) etc.

In the 1980s she concentrated on her dance performances and turned to playing strong characters with feminist undertones on both film and TV in fact giving a finely modulated performance in

Rihaee’ (1988) as a woman who has an affair when her husband is away and has another man's child.

She has dabbled in other channels of film production having produced ‘Swami’ (1977), ‘Sharara’ (1984), ‘Aawargi’ (1987) and ‘Marg’ (1992 but unreleased) besides directing ‘Dil Aashna Hai’ (1991) and ‘Mohini’ (1994) for Television. She is still seen in the occasional film (Hey Ram (2000)) but she is content today to see elder daughter Esha try to make her mark as an actress. She has also directed TV serials Noopur (1990) and Women of India (1996). Hema Malini was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1999 for her contribution to Indian