Bindu Desai

reference Bindu popped into the world on April 17th, right into a Gujarati Desai family with filmi blood running deep. Dad Nanubhai made movies, mom Jyotsna ruled the stage—so, yeah, it’s no shock she wound up in the thick of Bollywood by ’62. She started out in ‘Anpadh’—playing the brainy daughter to Mala Sinha’s not-so-brainy character. Sounds basic, but then came ‘Do Raaste,’ and suddenly, Bindu was the queen of the juicy, not-so-nice roles. People still remember her as Shabnam from ‘Kati Patang’—that song? “Mera Naam Shabnam…”? Still a banger, honestly. She nailed the art of being that bad girl who keeps the hero on their toes, usually with a sly smirk and some killer dance moves. But, real talk, her off-screen life was no cakewalk. Her dad passed when she was just 13, and she had to step up for her family. That’s a lot for a teenager, but she hustled hard, building a career that spanned decades. Somewhere along the way, she married Champaklal Zaveri, a dude who actually had her back and cheered her on. Bindu’s filmography is wild—over 160 movies. She went from the sixties right up to ‘Main Hoon Na’ in 2004, switching it up from vamps to strict moms, from dancers to flat-out scene-stealers. She’s got the legend status now, and honestly, she earned every bit of it.