Bela Bose is an Indian dancer and actress who was active in
Hindi films
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...
during the 1960s and 70s.
Early life
Bela Bose was born in
Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
in a well-to-do family. Her father was a cloth merchant and her mother was a homemaker. Following a bank crash that wiped out their fortune, the family relocated to
Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
in 1951. She started her career as a schoolgirl as a group dancer in films to help support her family after her father's death in a road accident. She picked up more films after she finished her schooling.
Career
Bela Bose began to receive independent credit from the late 1950s. Her big break came when she was asked to do a dance number with
Raj Kapoor
Raj Kapoor (pronunciation: aːd͡ʒ kəpuːɾ born Shrishti Nath Kapoor; also known as Ranbir Raj Kapoor; 14 December 1924 2 June 1988) was an Indian actor, film director and producer, who worked in Hindi cinema. He is considered one of th ...
in ''Main Nashe Mein Hoon'', released in 1959. Her first leading role was in ''Sautela Bhai'' (1962) opposite Guru Dutt at age 21. She honed her acting skills performing in Bengali plays. Her career consisted of more than 150 films. In ''Hawa Mahal'' (1962), she played the role of Helen's sister.
She was often called upon to play the role of a vamp. Conservative in real life, she lost some roles because of her refusal to wear a swimming costume onscreen.
Some of her roles were in
Bimal Roy
Bimal Roy (12 July 1909 – 8 January 1966) was an Indian film director. He is particularly noted for his realistic and socialistic films such as ''Do Bigha Zamin'', ''Parineeta (1953 film), Parineeta'', ''Biraj Bahu'', ''Devdas (1955 film), D ...
's ''
Bandini'' (1963), F.C. Mehra's ''
Professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...
'' (1962) and ''
Amrapali
Āmrapālī, also known as "Ambapālika", "Ambapali", or "Amra" was a celebrated ''nagarvadhu'' (royal courtesan) of the republic of Vaishali (located in present-day Bihar) in ancient India around 500 BC. Following the Buddha's teachings, she b ...
'', Atmaram's ''
Shikar'', ''Umang'', ''Yeh Gulistan Hamara'', ''Dil Aur Mohabbat'', ''Zindagi Aur Maut'' and ''
Wahan Ke Log''. Later, she became a character actress and played the villainous sister-in-law in the hit mythological film ''
Jai Santoshi Maa
''Jai Santoshi Maa'' is a 1975 Indian Hindi-language devotional film directed by Vijay Sharma and written R. Priyadarshi. Santoshī Mā (also called Santoshi Mata) is the goddess of satisfaction. Usha Mangeshkar, sang the devotional songs for t ...
''.
Her husband,
Ashish Kumar, was an actor.
She married him in 1967 and gradually eased out of films after giving birth to a daughter and a son.
Selected filmography
References
External links
*
Actresses in Hindi cinema
Living people
Indian film actresses
Indian female dancers
20th-century Indian actresses
Place of birth missing (living people)
Year of birth missing (living people)
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